Canola oil is pressed from the seeds of Brassica napus, a flowering plant in the mustard family cultivated widely across the Canadian prairies. Canada is the world's largest producer of canola, and the oil we source through New Directions Aromatics comes from Canadian seed, expeller pressed and then refined, bleached, and deodorized to produce a clear, neutral carrier oil well-suited for cosmetic formulation.
What RBD means
Like our olive oil, the canola we use is RBD (Refined, Bleached, and Deodorized). Expeller pressing extracts the oil mechanically from the seed without chemical solvents, producing a cleaner base oil. Refining removes free fatty acids and impurities. Bleaching (with natural clays) removes pigment. Deodorizing removes any residual scent through steam distillation.
The result is a clear, light-yellow oil with almost no scent and a stable, consistent composition. For soap-making, this predictability matters. A neutral oil behaves the same way batch to batch, which is what small-batch production requires.
Why we use it
Canola oil has a fatty acid profile dominated by oleic acid (around 60%) and linoleic acid (around 20%), which together give it good emollient properties and a lightweight skin feel. In soap formulation it contributes to a conditioning, gentle lather and a bar that rinses cleanly without leaving residue.
It's also one of the most cost-effective carrier oils available without compromising on quality, and that matters for a small-batch brand. Using canola at 10 to 30% of a soap formula allows us to balance the more expensive conditioning oils like shea, avocado, and cocoa butter while maintaining the skin feel and lather quality we're aiming for. It's not a filler. It's a deliberate formulation choice that makes the overall recipe more sustainable to produce.
Canadian sourcing
Canola as a crop was developed in Canada in the 1970s through selective breeding to reduce the erucic acid content of rapeseed oil, making it suitable for food and cosmetic use. The name itself is a contraction of "Canadian oil, low acid." Canada produces roughly 20% of the world's canola supply and is the leading global exporter.
Sourcing canola from Canada means a shorter supply chain than most carrier oils, which travel from tropical growing regions in South Asia, Southeast Asia, or Africa before arriving in Toronto. For a brand rooted in Ontario, using a Canadian-origin oil where it makes formulation sense is consistent with how we think about sourcing generally.
In our products
Canola oil currently appears in our Turmeric Revitalizing Unscented Soap, Nightwood Soap, and Rice Milk and Honey Comforting Soap, where it contributes to the conditioning profile and lather of each bar. It's an ingredient we've incorporated more broadly as we've refined our soap formulas, and one that works quietly and consistently across different scent profiles and colour palettes.
