Coconut oil is pressed from the dried meat of the coconut (Cocos nucifera), a palm native to tropical coastal regions and now cultivated across South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Africa and Latin America. The Philippines is one of the world's largest coconut producers and the origin of the organic virgin coconut oil we use at Eternal Sunday.
Why we use it
In soap-making, coconut oil is close to irreplaceable. Its high lauric acid content (typically around 48% of its fatty acid profile) is what produces a rich, dense, cleansing lather. Most plant oils produce relatively modest lather on their own; coconut oil produces abundant bubbles even in hard water, which is why it appears in nearly every cold-process soap formula worth making.
Beyond lather, coconut oil hardens the soap bar and contributes a clean, conditioning rinse. Without it, the bar would be softer, the lather thinner, and the cleanse less effective.
Virgin vs. refined
We use virgin coconut oil, cold-pressed and certified organic. Virgin means the oil is extracted from fresh coconut meat without heat or chemical processing, retaining its natural scent (a clean, light coconut note), its naturally occurring antioxidants, and its full fatty acid profile.
Refined coconut oil, by contrast, is typically extracted from dried coconut meat (copra), then bleached and deodorized. It has a neutral scent and a slightly different performance profile. For our soaps, where we're building essential oil blends on top of a base, the virgin grade's light natural scent is compatible with the formula rather than competing with it.
Organic certification
The coconut oil we use is certified organic, meaning it's grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilisers, or GMO inputs. For a product that goes on skin, and in a brand built on ingredient transparency, this matters to us. Coconut palms are relatively hardy crops that don't require heavy pesticide use, but certification provides verification rather than assumption.
In our products
You'll find coconut oil in all of our cold-process soaps, where it contributes to the lather, hardness, and cleansing performance of every bar. It also appears in our body butters at a smaller percentage, where it adds a light slip and helps the formula blend smoothly during production.
