Misconceptions About Canola Oil: What You Really Need to Know
Canola oil is a wonderful skincare oil and an excellent soapmaking ingredient, yet it has collected more than its share of internet myths over the years.
We occasionally receive questions about why we use Organic Canola Oil in our natural soap and shampoo bars, often based on misunderstandings about how canola is grown, processed, or used.
This article clears up the most common misconceptions and explains why the organic, expeller‑pressed canola oil we use at Chagrin Valley is a high‑quality, skin‑friendly ingredient — and a beautiful performer in handcrafted soap.
Myth 1: “There’s no such thing as canola — it’s man‑made.”
It’s true that canola plants didn’t exist in the wild.
But neither did most of the fruits and vegetables we eat today.
If you bite into a crisp organic apple or enjoy a vine-ripened organic tomato, you are eating foods that have been shaped by human intervention.
For centuries, farmers have used selective breeding —also called artificial selection—to create better crops.
Selective breeding is a traditional process where humans choose plants (or animals) with desirable traits and breed them over generations to enhance the characteristics they are looking for.
This is how we ended up with:
- broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale (all descendants of wild mustard)
- modern apples and tomatoes
- high‑oleic sunflower oil
Unless you are choosing heirloom varieties, most fruits and vegetables have been selectively bred over generations to enhance desirable traits like flavor, size, or yield.
Selective breeding is simply humans guiding natural genetic variation.
This is very different from genetic engineering, which involves directly altering DNA in a lab — sometimes using genes from unrelated species.
- Selective breeding: choosing the best traits from nature and guiding them over time
- Genetic engineering: directly changing the DNA in a lab
Canola belongs firmly in the first category.
Plant breeders simply guided the rapeseed plant toward a gentler profile by lowering its naturally occurring erucic acid and increasing oleic acid — the same conditioning fatty acid found in olive oil.
Over time, this careful, traditional breeding produced a mild, versatile oil that became known as “canola” (short for Canadian Oil, Low Acid).
Myth 2: “All canola oil is grown from genetically modified seeds.”
Approximately 90% to 95% of the canola grown in North America (the U.S. and Canada is genetically engineered for herbicide tolerance.
But USDA Organic canola cannot be GMO. USDA Organic standards require:
- non‑GMO seed
- no genetic engineering at any stage
So when you choose USDA Certified Organic Canola Oil, you are automatically choosing a non‑GMO oil.
That is exactly what we use.
Myth 3: “Canola oil is processed with harsh solvents like hexane.”
Almost all commercial canola oil ( more than 90%) is extracted using hexane solvent after an initial mechanical pressing, because it’s cheaper and yields more oil.
But organic oils cannot be extracted with hexane.
Our canola oil is expeller‑pressed (mechanically extracted) from the seeds. The seeds are then cleaned, gently heated, and pressed, and the oil is then refined using natural processing aids such as steam heat and diatomaceous earth — all fully compliant with USDA Organic standards.
No chemical solvents. No shortcuts.
Myth 4: “Canola oil is toxic because it can be used as an insect repellent.”
Many natural ingredients can repel insects — including neem, citrus oils, basil, garlic, and even cabbage.
Plants naturally produce compounds to protect themselves from pests.
The presence of natural plant defenses does not make an ingredient unsafe for skincare. In fact, many of the foods we eat every day contain natural pesticide compounds.
This myth confuses “plants protect themselves” with “this ingredient is harmful,” which simply isn’t accurate.
Myth 5: “Canola oil is dangerous because it’s related to mustard gas.”
This one sounds quite dramatic, but it’s completely false.
Canola belongs to the mustard family (Brassicaceae), which also includes broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radish, and arugula.
Mustard gas, on the other hand, is a synthetic chemical weapon named only for its odor. It has no botanical relationship to mustard plants or canola.
Why We Use Organic Canola Oil in Our Soap
This is the part I love talking about — because canola is genuinely a beautiful soapmaking oil.
Some soapmakers dismiss canola as a “filler oil,” but that’s only true of cheap, solvent‑extracted, GMO canola.
Organic, expeller‑pressed canola is a completely different ingredient.
1. A beautifully balanced fatty‑acid profile
- Canola sits right between olive and sunflower oils:
- Oleic acid (like olive oil): creamy, conditioning, gentle
- Linoleic acid (like sunflower oil): silky, moisturizing, softening
- A touch of palmitic + stearic acids: stability and structure
This gives you the best of both worlds — a bar that is creamy, conditioning, and silky without being heavy or greasy.
2. Creamy, stable lather
Canola enhances the creaminess of the lather and helps create a bar that feels smooth and luxurious on the skin.
3. A conditioning, moisturizing skin feel
Rich in vitamin E and natural antioxidants, canola contributes to a bar that feels gentle and nourishing for most skin types.
4. A long‑lasting, well‑balanced bar
Its fatty‑acid structure helps the bar cure well and hold its shape, improving overall performance.
5. A great choice for natural shampoo bars and shaving soap
Canola adds slip and creaminess, helping shampoo bars feel mild and easy to rinse. In shaving soap, that same creamy, conditioning lather creates a smooth glide that cushions the razor and supports a comfortable, steady shave.
The Bottom Line on Canola
At the end of the day, the concerns people have about canola — GMOs, harsh solvents, and questionable processing simply don’t apply to the oil we use.
Our canola is USDA Certified Organic, non‑GMO, and expeller‑pressed, refined only with natural aids like steam and diatomaceous earth. It’s clean, simple, and fully aligned with the ingredient standards we’ve held from the beginning.
And beyond the myths, what matters most is how beautifully it performs.
Organic canola oil helps create bars that are gentle, creamy, conditioning, and beautifully balanced. It brings a quiet reliability to a formula — the kind of steady, supportive presence that elevates everything around it.
That’s why it has stayed in our recipes all these years, and why it continues to be one of the unsung heroes of our soap and shampoo bars.
This article was updated in April 2026 to improve clarity and flow.
How We Make Soap At Chagrin Valley
