How Our Soap is Made
What is Natural Soap?
Natural Soap is defined many ways by many different companies and individuals. However, we differentiate our soaps as "all natural" when they contain no synthetic (man-made) materials. Example: most soaps contain "fragrance" which is a synthetic/man-made chemical. However, Essential Oils are the natural version of fragrance, in that, they are highly aromatic fluids taken from nature (plant leaf, flower petals, tree bark, etc.). We only use natural ingredients where no synthetic fragrances are used. To get the desired colors for our soap bar we use herbs, clays, and water based pigments.
What is Handmade Soap
This is a term that means the soap is processed by hand, usually in small batches. Handmade soap is not necessarily "all natural". Some companies, other than us, use this term loosely and may simply use "melt and pour soap" which is commonly known as glycerin based soap, where it is called handmade soap because they mixed a bit of color and fragrance into it by hand. All of our soap is truly handmade from scratch and we NEVER use melt and pour soap in any element of our soap making process.
How is Soap Made? Saponification:
The chemical reaction of making soap, called saponification, is a complete process. During this reaction the sodium hydroxide and oil molecules combine on a molecular level and are chemically changed into soap. Properly done this reaction results in the sodium hydroxide being used up in the saponification process to turn the oil into soap. We make sure that our ratios are done properly to not only ensure a proper soap bar but one that is of the highest quality. It is important to note that the act of sodium hydroxide and oil turning into soap is not something unique to us solely, but is the case with all natural cold process soaps. We chose to list our ingredients by their names prior to reaction. Similar to how ingredients are listed on food items. Other soap companies may choose to list the ingredients after completing the process as it "removes" the name of sodium hydroxide. Examples might be "soaponified vegetable oils" or "sodium olivate"(olive oil soap). These are just ways that different companies say the same thing. We feel that our customers would better understand the ingredients by making them familiar names rather than something more foreign.