Organic Cocoa Butter

Unlike most other soaps currently available on the market, the soaps of Beaverton’s are made using cocoa butter as a key ingredient. This unique addition to our recipe is what helps make our products stand out from the average cold process bar of soap.

Chunks of processed coacoa butter ; Image: Healthline/Diana Taliun/Getty Images

Cocoa butter might be a familiar sounding ingredient to some, especially for those who are well acquainted with the delicious experience of consuming cocoa in the form of chocolate, but what exactly is cocoa butter? Collected from the seeds of the cacao fruit, commonly referred to as cacao “beans”, cocoa butter is the naturally occurring mixture of fats that is separated from the other components of cacao after fermenting, drying, and grinding raw cacao beans into what is known as “chocolate liquor”. The delectable chocolate products many know and love are made by mixing extra cocoa butter back into the chocolate liquor, often followed by the addition of other enhancers such as sweeteners and/or creamers. The fatty properties of cocoa butter are what give chocolate its irresistible melty character, and many of these traits also make cocoa butter a great addition to natural bar soaps.

Dried cocoa "beans" ; Image: One Green Planet/Graham Crumb

With its creamy saturated fats and the rich mixture of fatty acids contained within them, cocoa butter enhances both the cleansing function and health benefits of Beaverton’s soap bars. When used to make soap, the high amounts of lauric acid, myristic acid, and palmitic acid in cocoa butter add powerful cleansing action and a pleasant lather, while also adding physical strength to individual bars of soap, helping them last longer and hold up against the wear and tear of scrubbing the body.

Cocoa pods ripening on the coacoa tree ; Image: Wikipedia/Medicaster

Beaverton’s handmade soaps are specifically formulated so that small quantities of plant fats are not converted into soap and remain in the final bar, allowing them to nourish the skin in their original form. Along with coconut oil and shea butter, cocoa butter is one of the plant fats found in Dr. Beaverton soaps that contains a notable amount of arachid acid, a fatty acid that provides soothing moisturization to skin and helps prevent soap from losing its strength before reaching the consumer. Cocoa butter is also somewhat unique in that it contains palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid part of the category known as “omega-7” fatty acids. These rare monounsaturated fatty molecules are associated with their own set of health benefits, and palmitoleic acid is no exception. In addition to its moisturizing properties, palmitoleic acid is believed to promote healthier hair, healthier nails, better function of the skin barrier, and reduced inflammation.

An open cacao pod ; Image: Rainforest Cruises

Along with its fatty acids, the vitamins and minerals found in cocoa butter also make their way into the soaps of Beaverton’s. Cocoa butter is high in vitamin D2, which stimulates the skin’s natural maintenance mechanisms to improve moisture retention, further enhancing the moisturizing capabilities of cocoa butter soaps. In addition to this, cocoa butter contains notable amounts of potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, and copper, all of which work together with skin to encourage better healing, strength, and cellular regeneration within the skin.