Coconut Oil Allergy & Handmade Soap

September 21, 2026

A coconut allergy is a pretty big barrier when it comes to plant-based cold process soaps. Most, if not all, plant based cold process soap recipes are made with coconut oil because of its cleansing ability once it's converted into soap. I've heard of kokum butter being used as a substitue for coconut oil, but have never tried it myself because the oil is not very accessible to me.

Here at Hen Valley Soap the only coconut free soaps I have are tallow based.

Coconut Free Soaps

What is tallow? Tallow is rendered suet fat from cattle, sheep or goats. The suet fat is the hard fat, not the soft fat you see on cuts of meat. Tallow is made by melting down the fatty tissue and filtering out bits of meat and impurities. They call this rendering. You can wet render where you add water to the fat, or you can dry render where nothing is added to the fat. I get my cattle suet fat from Ottawa Valley meats. I wet render for the first render and dry render for the next two-three renders. Fat is rendered until all the impurities and water are gone.

Tallow has been used for soap making for centuries. It's a traditional ingredient in soap making that's making a come back today because it is an eco-friendly product that created a skin nourishing long-lasting soap. Tallow on its own creates a very gentle soap that is suitable for all skin types including dry and sensitive skin. Tallow an be blended with other skin loving ingredients like olive oil, shea butter, mango butter, avocado butter, castor oil, avocado oil, and jojoba oil.

The two coconut free soaps I offer are 100% grass fed tallow with a creamy lather, and a tallow, olive oil and castor oil soap. Both are unscented, but you don't have to settle for unscented.

Fragrance & Colour

I use natural colourants like clays, indigo powder, activated charcoal, and oil infusons. With natural colourants you have the rainbow to choose from for the colour of your soap! You aren't limited to a colourless bar.

I use essential oils for fragrance in my soaps with a few clean certified fragrance oils. You aren't limited to a soap without fragrance.

Customizing Your Own Soap

This blog post has been my application to you to be your coconut oil free tallow soap maker. Coconut oil free soaps are made to order to your specifications. You can choose your fragrance and colour or choose to have it "naked" without colours or fragrance.

Ordering a coconut oil free soap from us is a One bar commitment, and depending on the recipe a bar will cost you $8-11. There may be shipping costs and duties (I'm in Canada) as well.

Order Fulfillment Time

I can usually make a soap a few days after it was ordered and paid for. Once the soap is made it takes four weeks to cure before it can be shipped. It could take as much as 5 weeks to receive your soap after it was ordered.