Why Are Vegetable Butters Solid At Room Temperature & Oils Liquid?

Cocoa Butter

Whipped Butter

The reason for butter being solid at room temperature and oils liquid is very simple:

• Oils and fats have a different balance of fatty acids.
  

Oils (or liquid butters/fats) have very few saturated fats and a lot more unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats have a lower melting point so the fat remains liquid at room temperature.

Butters (or solid oils/fats) have a lot of saturated fats and fewer unsaturated fats. Saturated fats have a higher melting point so the fat remains solid at room temperature.

Although we call it coconut oil it's actually a butter as it is almost entirely composed of saturated fats.

How does this matter for your hair?

You should think about fats as falling into three categories when it comes to your hair:

• Saturated fats can penetrate right into the hair cuticle
  
• Monounsaturated fats can penetrate right into the hair cuticle
  
• Polyunsaturated fats cannot penetrate right into the hair cuticle
  

If you are doing a hot oil treatment you may therefore want to use more penetrating butters. This explains why I use a lot of solid butters in my hot oil treatment recipes. 

If you are sealing your hair you might want to blend your butters with an oil because the polyunsaturated fats in liquid oils coat the outside of hair and may therefore seal for longer. Most butters usually only have 3-5% polyunsaturated fats.

​Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.


You might also like: 

• Neno Natural's DIY Hair Recipes
• What Is The Basic Formula For A Whipped Hair Butter?

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