Jojoba as a raw material: which form suits your product?

We supply jojoba in five forms: organic golden-yellow, conventional golden-yellow, colourless, wax and butter. On this page, we explain how they differ and when our customers choose each form.

Short answer: golden-yellow jojoba retains the raw material's natural colour and light scent. Colourless jojoba is decolourised and deodorised after pressing and is therefore neutral. Jojoba wax and jojoba butter are solid forms made from jojoba oil and hydrogenated vegetable oil. Which form is suitable depends on what you are making and how much the jojoba itself should contribute to the colour, scent and texture of your final product.

Jojoba is technically a liquid wax

Most vegetable oils consist of fats. Jojoba consists almost entirely of wax esters, long molecules that are chemically more similar to a wax. In the trade, it is called jojoba oil, and that is what we call it too.

This has two implications when working with jojoba.

Jojoba becomes rancid less quickly. Wax esters react with oxygen much more slowly than the fats in most oils. This makes jojoba one of the more stable raw materials in our range. The shelf life of your batch is stated in the product specification. How you store the oil also affects jojoba.

Jojoba becomes cloudy or solid in the cold. Jojoba solidifies at low temperatures, often at around 10 °C. We regularly receive questions about this in autumn and winter. At room temperature, the oil naturally becomes clear again. Its quality is not affected.

Golden-yellow or colourless

Our golden-yellow jojoba is cold-pressed and not processed further. The oil retains its natural colour and a light characteristic scent. As it is a natural product, a new batch may vary slightly in colour from the previous one. Harvest, origin and season all play a part.

Our colourless jojoba is also cold-pressed and then decolourised and deodorised using physical methods. Nothing is added. The result is a clear, virtually odourless oil that is nearly identical from batch to batch.

We are often asked whether colorless jojoba is less pure. It is not. Both consist of one ingredient; the difference lies in the processing. You can read more about this in our blog about cold-pressed and refined oil.

Wax or butter

Jojoba wax and jojoba butter are often confused. Both are solid, and both are made from jojoba oil with hydrogenated vegetable oil. The ratio determines whether the result is a hard wax or a soft butter.

That is why the INCI name of both products is Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil and Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil. You use this name on your label and in your product dossier.

• Jojoba wax: hard, off-white beads with a melting point of 60 to 70 °C. Gives a product firmness.
• Jojoba butter: soft, ivory-colored, and spreadable, with a melting point of 50 to 60 °C. Gives a product a soft, rich texture.

All forms side by side

Characteristic	Golden yellow	Colorless	Wax	Butter
Form	Liquid	Liquid	Hard beads	Soft and spreadable
Color and scent	Golden yellow, with a slight natural scent	Clear, virtually odorless	Off-white	Ivory to light yellow
Variation between batches	Can be visible	Virtually the same	Small
Organic	Yes, also available conventionally	Yes	No	No
Packaging	500 ml to 180 kg drum	500 ml to 190 kg drum	1 kg to 17 kg big bag	25 kg

When do our customers choose which jojoba?

Which form works best varies by product. This is what we see with our customers:

• Hairdressers use jojoba in hair oils, serums, and scalp products. For clear serums, they often choose the colorless variety so the product does not turn yellow.
• Nail salons use jojoba as a base for cuticle oil. Because jojoba goes rancid less quickly, a bottle can remain on the worktable for weeks.
• Massage therapists choose jojoba because it glides without feeling heavy and leaves few marks on linen.
• Aromatherapists often work with colorless jojoba. It has virtually no scent of its own, so the aroma of the essential oils remains pure.
• Soap makers incorporate jojoba oil into their soap and sometimes use the wax beads as a natural scrub particle.
• Candle makers add jojoba wax to their wax blend as a plant-based alternative to beeswax or paraffin.
• Cosmetic brands with a fixed product range and their own fragrance usually choose colourless, because every production run then looks the same. Brands that put jojoba itself at the heart of their product more often choose golden yellow.

Organic or conventional

We supply golden yellow jojoba organically and conventionally. Both are cold-pressed and consist of a single ingredient. The difference lies in cultivation and certification.

If you tell your own customers that you work with organic raw materials, you need the organic variant. It falls under our SKAL certification. If organic production is not relevant to your story, conventional is more affordable.

Documentation

In your customer account, you will find the product data sheet (PDS), safety data sheet (SDS) and certificate of analysis (COA) for your batch for each jojoba product. You need these for your product dossier, and you can use them later to check which batch you worked with.

If you order the quantity for an entire production run at once, you work with the same batch from start to finish. With golden yellow jojoba, this prevents colour differences between your products.

Under your own brand

You can sell jojoba under your own name with our organic jojoba ready to label in 100 ml bottles. Just add your own label. Would you like your own packaging or a larger run? Then take a look at our options for private label.

So, which jojoba should you choose?

Golden yellow if jojoba's own colour and light fragrance may be part of your product.

Colourless if you're looking for a neutral base for your own colour and fragrance, and every batch needs to be identical.

Wax for firmness, butter for a soft, rich texture.

You can order jojoba from us together with your other butters, waxes, carrier oils and essential oils. For larger volumes or regular orders, we'd be happy to prepare a quotation.

Not sure which form is right for your product? Send us a message about what you make, and we'll help you think it through.