Teach Soap

Does anyone know if sweet almond oil is an allergen for people with tree nut allergies? Or when the oil saponifies, is the potential allergen eliminated? I don't use it much (generally as a carrier for some colorants); in an 8 pound batch I would only include 1 tsp of colorant/SAO mixture. I'm assuming I would still include that on the label.
Peggy

As I understand it (and I'm not a doc), allergens are in the proteins, not the fat. But...

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
Like us: http://www.facebook.com/AvitalsApiaries

I would include the almond oil on your label and have people decide for themselves.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Most people that are allergic to a nut will avoid all forms of that substance. My grand-dtr is allergic to almonds and I would not use almond oil or butter in the soaps I send to them. I did ask BB once about the almond FO and there is no real almond in it so that was safe for me to use. But even then my dtr rightfully questioned it when she got that bar of soap.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Thanks for the feedback. Related to that--what is a good substitute to sweet almond oil for mixing colorants? I've always used SWO because it has a long shelf life. Any other thoughts?
Peggy

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Melifera - almost correct. The allergens *are* the proteins. Or at least short sections of them that set up an immune response from the bodies' white blood cells are. Oils, therefore, cannot, by definition confer an allergy. However (and this is sortof important), there is no way to guarantee that the oils are completely free from those proteins. For instance, one of the substances used in some of the theatres I work in use a peanut-derived compound, but due to the extremely high purification, there is no risk to those who are allergic to peanuts.

Clear as mud, eh?

Adam

This doesn't apply to nut allergies, but my brother is very allergic to mangos. He uses my shaving soap which has mango butter in it on his face, near his mouth with no reaction. Mango butter comes from the nut while he's allergic to the flesh. Go figure.

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Same with my Mom and macadamia nuts. She used a hand lotion made with macadamia oil and her hands got hugely swollen and itchy. Now I read EVERY label for her (she never takes her glasses when she shops).

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I recently came across a family that had all 4 kids highly allergic to nuts, she would not even let them stand by my market table.

My sister is very allergic to aloe and it seems they are putting it in everything nowadays, including many feminine hygiene products, which is really causing problems for her.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I agree Linda, curtain substance will show up in amost everything! Its like jumping on the bandwagon. So read, read, read!

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!