Palm oil has a bad reputation, and I understand why. Headlines about rainforest destruction and orangutan habitat loss are real, and "palm oil free" has become a marketing badge on half the handmade soap industry.
So here's the part most sellers won't tell you: I use palm oil in my soap. I use it on purpose, I source it responsibly, and I'd rather explain my reasoning than hide from the question. If you're deciding whether that's okay for you, you deserve the full picture — from someone who actually puts it in the pot.
Why Palm Oil Is in My Formula
Palm oil hardens the bar. That's its job.
A bar with enough palm holds its shape for weeks in a steamy shower instead of turning to mush in your soap dish. Hardness is where a handmade bar's real value comes from — a $10 bar that lasts three times as long is cheaper per wash than a soft bar at half the price. You can read the full job description of every oil in my formula in The Winning Combination, but palm is the backbone of bar longevity.
The alternative would be to load up on more coconut oil — but all-coconut bars are drying, and I formulate for skin, not for marketing badges.
What "RSPO-Certified Sustainable" Actually Means
I use palm oil certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) — the industry's main certification body. What that means in practice:
- Growers are audited against environmental and social standards — protecting primary forest and High Conservation Value areas, and prohibiting planting on land cleared after defined cutoff dates
- Certification covers fair treatment of workers and smallholder farmers, since palm is a livelihood crop for millions of families
- Certified supply chains are tracked so certified oil can be traced back to audited sources
Is the system perfect? No — no certification system is, and I'll never claim otherwise. But it's audited, it's improving, and it's the difference between responsibly grown palm and oil with no paper trail at all.
The Uncomfortable Math Nobody Mentions
Here's what the "palm oil free" conversation usually leaves out: palm is the most land-efficient oil crop on earth. It produces dramatically more oil per acre than any alternative. When brands boycott palm and swap in coconut, olive, or sunflower, that demand doesn't vanish — it moves to crops that need far more land to produce the same amount of oil, often with far less oversight.
A blanket palm boycott doesn't stop palm farming. It just rewards the least accountable growers — while audited, certified growers lose the market incentive to keep improving. Demand for sustainable palm is what moves the industry. That's why I source the way I do.
What This Means for Your Bar
- You get a hard, long-lasting bar that survives real shower life
- You get a plant-based, vegan soap bar — palm, coconut, olive, castor, cocoa butter, shea butter. Nothing else, no filler.
- You know exactly what's in it — I'm a soap maker, not a marketing department. I'm more like a chemist: I understand what I'm making and why every ingredient is in the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is palm oil bad for you in soap?
No. Palm oil is a saponified plant oil — after saponification it contributes hardness and mild, stable lather. The health conversation around palm concerns tropical deforestation and some hydrogenated food applications, not soap made with responsibly sourced palm.
What does RSPO certified mean?
RSPO — the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil — audits growers against environmental and social standards: forest protection, workers' rights, and traceability. Certified oil can be tracked through the supply chain to audited sources.
Do handmade soap makers need palm oil?
Not all — but a palm-free bar usually needs a reformulation to stay hard and long-lasting, often with more coconut (which can be drying) or hydrogenated oils. Well-formulated bars exist on both sides; what matters is that the maker knows why each oil is there.
Does palm oil make soap drying?
No — hardness and dryness are different properties. Palm contributes hardness; dryness comes from an imbalanced formula, usually too much coconut oil or too little superfat. A well-balanced bar with palm cleanses without stripping.
Get started with The Garden Soapery and experience a bar made by someone who can tell you exactly what's in it — and why. Shop the collection today to find your new everyday essential.