Abstract

Mature fruits of Telfairia occidentalis were purchased from a local market in Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The seeds were separated from the fleshy mesocarp, washed with water and sundried. The cotyledons were separated from the seed coat and then oven-dried at 105 – 110 °C for 24 hours. The dry seeds were blended into powder and the oil cold-extracted with n-hexane. The oil extracted was used to prepare copper, nickel and zinc soaps. The soaps were characterised using standard methods and then applied as additives in the production of body pomades. Several tests were performed on the control and the metallic soap pomades to establish the effectiveness of the metallic soaps in pomade production. All the prepared metallic soaps were sparingly soluble in kerosene and methanol and exhibited no foaming characteristics. The properties of the pomades imply that the metallic soaps of T. occidentalis have good potential in the cosmetics industry.

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