How to Read a Soap Label: Sodium Olivate, Cocoate and More
Sodium olivate, sodium cocoate, tetrasodium EDTA: soap labels use names that hide simple ingredients and flag added ones. Here is a decoder for the bar in your hand.
Key takeaways
- Names like sodium olivate and sodium cocoate are simply olive and coconut oil after they have become soap.
- Soap labels come in two styles: what went in (oils, water, sodium hydroxide) or what came out (saponified oil names and glycerin).
- Fragrance, CI numbers, EDTA, etidronate and BHT are common commercial extras worth noticing.
- Some extras that sound technical, like sodium lactate or sodium chloride, are simple and gentle.
Soap labels can look like a chemistry quiz. Sodium olivate? Tetrasodium etidronate? The good news is that once you learn a handful of names, reading a soap label takes about ten seconds. This guide focuses only on bar soap, so you can tell quickly whether a bar is simple chemical free soap or a commercial formula with a long tail of extras.
First, Notice Which Style the Label Uses
Handmade soap labels usually follow one of two styles, and both are honest:
- "What went in" style: olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, water, sodium hydroxide, lavender essential oil.
- "What came out" style: sodium olivate, sodium cocoate, sodium shea butterate, water, glycerin, lavender oil.
A third common form is "saponified oils of olive, coconut and shea." All three describe the same kind of bar. If sodium hydroxide on a list worries you, our article on whether lye in soap is safe explains why a finished bar contains none.
Decoding the Saponified Names
When an oil reacts with sodium hydroxide, it gets a new name: sodium plus the oil, ending in "-ate." Here are the ones you will meet most:
| Label name | Made from | What it brings to the bar |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium olivate | Olive oil | Mild, gentle cleansing, slow lather |
| Sodium cocoate | Coconut oil | Big bubbles, strong cleansing, hardness |
| Sodium shea butterate | Shea butter | Creamy feel, firm bar |
| Sodium castorate | Castor oil | Stable, lotion like lather |
| Sodium avocadate | Avocado oil | Soft, conditioning feel |
| Sodium palmate | Palm oil | Hardness, long lasting bar |
| Sodium palm kernelate | Palm kernel oil | Bubbles, similar to coconut |
| Sodium tallowate | Beef tallow | Hard, traditional bar |
| Sodium lardate | Pork lard | Mild, creamy, traditional bar |
| Sodium stearate | Stearic acid (from plant or animal fats) | Hardness; common in commercial bars |
If you prefer a vegetable based bar, the animal fat names (tallowate, lardate) are the ones to look for. If you prefer to avoid palm, watch for palmate and palm kernelate; our article on palm free soap explains why many makers leave it out. For how the plant oils compare, see the best oils for soap.
Glycerin and Water
Glycerin is formed naturally during soapmaking, so seeing it on a handmade label is a good sign. Commercial makers sometimes remove it and occasionally add some back. Water is present because bars retain some moisture even after curing. Read more in natural glycerin in handmade soap.
Scent: Named Oils vs "Fragrance"
Essential oils usually appear with a botanical name, such as Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) oil, Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) leaf oil, or Cedrus atlantica (cedarwood) bark oil. You can look each one up.
"Fragrance" or "parfum" is different. It is a single word that can stand for a blend of many undisclosed components. It is not necessarily harmful, but it is the one ingredient you cannot fully read. Our guide to fragrance in soap explains why it is the ingredient to question.
Color: CI Numbers and Natural Colorants
Colors in cosmetics are often listed by Color Index number. A few you may see in soap:
- CI 77891: titanium dioxide, a white mineral pigment.
- CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499: iron oxides, mineral pigments in red, yellow and black.
- Other CI numbers (for example in the 10000s to 60000s range) are typically synthetic dyes and lakes.
Simple bars are often colored with clays, charcoal, or plant powders listed by their plain names, or left uncolored. See synthetic dyes vs natural colorants.
Common Commercial Extras
| Name | What it does | Worth noticing because |
|---|---|---|
| Tetrasodium EDTA | Chelator: binds minerals in hard water, helps shelf life | Synthetic and poorly biodegradable |
| Tetrasodium etidronate | Chelator, helps prevent discoloration | Synthetic additive a simple bar does without |
| BHT | Antioxidant to slow rancidity | Synthetic preservative some people prefer to skip |
| Sodium lauroyl isethionate | Synthetic detergent | Signals a detergent bar, not true soap |
| Fragrance (parfum) | Scent | Undisclosed blend |
None of these is necessarily dangerous at the levels used, and regulators allow them. They simply mark the difference between a minimal bar and a commercial one.
Technical Names That Are Actually Simple
- Sodium chloride: table salt, sometimes added for a harder bar.
- Sodium lactate: the sodium salt of lactic acid, often from fermentation, used to harden bars.
- Citric acid or sodium citrate: from citrus or fermentation, can help soap rinse cleaner in hard water.
- Kaolin or bentonite: natural clays for slip and color.
- Tocopherol: vitamin E, used as an antioxidant for the oils.
A Ten Second Method
- Read the first three ingredients. Saponified oils or plant oils plus sodium hydroxide means true soap.
- Scan for fragrance or parfum.
- Scan for CI numbers outside the mineral pigments.
- Scan for EDTA, etidronate and BHT.
- Check that what is left is recognizable: oils, water, glycerin, named essential oils, clays.
Ingredients in cosmetics are generally listed in descending order of amount, with those under 1 percent allowed in any order at the end. Keep in mind that true soap sold only for cleaning is not regulated as a cosmetic in the US, so some handmade bars use plain English rather than official names. That is fine, and if a label is missing, ask the maker.
Front of the Box vs Back of the Box
The front panel is where marketing lives, and the back panel is where the facts live. Words like "natural," "pure," "gentle," "dermatologist tested" and "made with essential oils" have no fixed legal definition for soap in the US. A bar can say "with shea butter" on the front and list shea near the very end of the ingredients, after fragrance. "Made with essential oils" can sit on a bar that also contains fragrance. Even "unscented" can mean a masking scent was added to cover the smell of the base. None of this is unusual, and it is not always meant to mislead. It is simply why we suggest flipping the bar over before deciding anything. If the ingredient list agrees with the front panel, you have found a brand worth trusting.
Practice on a Real Label
Here is the list for our Body Bar in plain terms: saponified olive, coconut, shea, castor and avocado oils, with essential oils. Everything on it appears in the tables above. For a wider look at reading every product in your cabinet, not just soap, the main site has a full guide to reading cosmetic ingredient labels.
From the ranch
Made in small batches, without the ingredients discussed above.
Questions people ask
What is sodium olivate in soap?
Sodium olivate is olive oil that has been turned into soap by reacting with sodium hydroxide. It is the main ingredient in castile soap and is known for mild, gentle cleansing.
What does sodium cocoate mean?
Sodium cocoate is the soap made from coconut oil. It gives a bar big, fluffy bubbles and strong cleansing power, so makers usually balance it with gentler oils like olive or shea.
Why does my soap list sodium hydroxide?
Some makers list the ingredients that went into the batch, including lye. The lye is consumed in the reaction that makes soap, so a properly made and cured bar contains no free sodium hydroxide.
What is tetrasodium EDTA doing in soap?
Tetrasodium EDTA is a chelator that binds minerals in hard water and helps commercial soap stay stable on the shelf. It is permitted, but simple handmade bars generally do not need it.
Sources and further reading
- US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Cosmetics Labeling Guide
- US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Soaps
- Personal Care Products Council, International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook
- European Commission, CosIng cosmetic ingredient database
This guide is for general education and is not medical advice. If you have a skin condition, allergy, or are pregnant or nursing, talk with your doctor or a board certified dermatologist about the products that are right for you.
