All About Soap

Benefits of Our Handmade Soap

*Unlike most soaps at the store, our soap still contains the glycerin (a natural skin softener), so it’s very moisturizing!!

*We avoid preservatives, colorants (even minerals), synthetic dyes, and fragrances in our soap.

*We keep the ingredients simple to ensure a great quality product at a great price

*This is the same soap I make for our family and I have very high standards.

*People often comment “I feel really clean after using your soap.”

Our Revelation with Real Soap

My first encounter with real soap changed my thinking about skin care products. I received a sample of goat milk soap after buying goat milk. I used it with my next bath and never enjoyed a bath more. I loved the way my skin felt upon getting out, I felt really clean. I was hooked. My first question was why does my skin feel so much better? I had believed that I was buying the best soap I could get. It looked natural and moisturizing, and smelled clean. What was different about this handmade soap? What I discovered shocked me and left me feeling cheated by the soap industry. I learned that not all soap is created equal. The biggest issue I found was that soap manufactures take out all of the glycerin from their soap and use it in their lotions and creams. Glycerin is a natural emollient or skin softener produced during the soap making process, and without it, our skin is left feeling dry. Of course we reach for that lotion loaded with more toxic ingredients. It gets worse. Then I started reading the labels on the soap products in the store. I couldn’t pronounce most of the ingredients and my research into these ingredients produced very concerning repercussions. I’m afraid our desire for cheap products has led to many unintended consequences.

Our skin is the body’s largest organ. I know from my nursing training that it’s a great way to get medicine to the blood stream, like pain patches, for example. This epiphany made me realize that all these toxic chemicals that I was putting on my skin were going into my body. It didn’t take me long to realize that we were done with that soap. My husband wasn’t convinced, but offered to try it if I was willing to make it. I was willing because I wanted the control of knowing what was going in the soap, and I wanted to leave out the colors and fragrances found in most “natural soaps”. After using my soap, I noticed he didn’t buy his Dial soap anymore. His skin also stopped looking so dried out. After giving it as gifts we were encouraged by a lot of recipients to sell our soap, and that’s what started our natural skin care business.

History and the Process of Making Soap

It is uncertain who produced the first soap, but the most widely known story comes from the city of Rome, about 1000 BC. It is told that the rain coming down Mount Sapo mixed with the fats and the ashes from the sacrifices taking place at the top of the mountain, and produced a soapy substance. As this ran down the hill, it eventually ended up in the river at the base of the hill. Women gathering around to wash their clothes noticed that their clothes were cleaner. There are several more tales of soap’s introduction told in other parts of the world, so it is unsure what culture truly produced the first soap. In more recent history, women would soak their wood ashes in rain water to make their own lye, and then add this to whatever fat they were producing on their farm. I have heard that this soap was more harsh than the soap we have come to love today because of the inconsistent process. If the process contains too much lye, the soap will be too harsh, and if there’s too much oil, it will be greasy and lack cleaning ability. It’s so important to understand the process and to know how to evaluate problems when they arise.

When I first started making soap I was determined that I was going to make soap without lye. Ads boasted slogans like “lye free” or “does not contain lye.” I wasted hours researching how these people were making soap without lye. As it turned out, it’s not possible to make soap without lye. When soap is made correctly, all of the lye will be saponified or used up in the process. This must be why they felt they could claim this, even though it is truly an ingredient in their soap. The very simplified explanation of making soap involves combining the right amount of oils or fats, with lye that has been mixed into distilled water, at just the right temperature. Once these ingredients have saponified, or mixed to the right consistency, the soap is poured into a mold where it will remain for at least one day. During this time, the soap heats up and forms into a gel. After this time, the soap is cut and left to cure for about 4 weeks where it becomes even more mild.

Some Harmful Ingredients found in most commercial soaps and some “natural” soaps:

My list of harmful ingredients is just a small group of the potentially harmful ingredients found in most commercial soaps and some “natural” soaps with a very brief description of some of the consequences. Even just one of these ingredients is enough to make me avoid these soaps. I admire and love a pretty bar of soap, and I have spent time researching a natural way to color our soaps. After my research, the only thing I felt comfortable using was spices, herbs, and essential oils. Everything else I researched seemed to carry some risk, even if small. I also enjoy the natural color of our soap, but we find that a lot of people are attracted to colorful, fragrance filled handmade bars. Even though I’m sure that adding some of these colors and artificial fragrances would sell more soap, I truly care about my customers and won’t sacrifice their health for an outer appearance and sale. In researching this topic, I was overwhelmed with the amount of toxins that are being put in skin care products. Here are just a few of my concerns…

Colorants: Our natural colorants used for dyeing up until about 1856 have been almost entirely replaced with synthetic dyes. Before this time, roots, bark, and berries, to name a few, were used. Man-made dyes or synthetic dyes are now made from resources such as petroleum byproducts or minerals. Coal tar, used to make synthetic dyes, is known to contain lead and arsenic. While the FDA limits the amount of each, how are we really to know that it’s all being tested? I don’t feel any amount is safe. Although the use of colorants in skin care products has not been studied, many of these colorants found in food have been shown to cause major health problems. Whatever we put on our skin is absorbed into our body. This is just one of the reasons we avoid colorants in our food and skin care products.

Sulfates: They strip the skin of its natural oil and are very irritating, especially to people with sensitive skin.

Fragrances: Fragrances are added to products to make them smell better, smell more natural, or cover up bad smells. They are very popular since they are cheap to produce, and their fragrance tends to last a lot longer than essential oils. I recently learned that hundreds of synthetic ingredients can be hidden under the term fragrance. These can include hundreds of toxic ingredients that don’t have to be listed. This is allowed so that companies can keep their trade secrets from being known. Many of these are known to cause cancer, birth defects, nervous system disorders, and allergies. Some are even listed on the EPA’s hazardous waste list. According the  American Academy of Dermatology, or AAD Association, “Fragrance allergy is the number one cause of cosmetic contact dermatitis in the U.S. Studies suggest that there is a trend of increasing sensitization to fragrances worldwide.” Some of our family suffers with headaches, coughing, and runny noses after encountering fragrances. We avoid them like the plague! It is interesting to note that we don’t have any trouble with pure essential oils.

Triclosan is found in antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers. It’s a pesticide with antibacterial properties. It is contributing to the growing increase in antibiotic resistance. It is also called an endocrine disruptor and has been proven to influence estrogen and increases the risk of breast cancer.

Dioxane is a carcinogenic chemical toxic to the brain liver and kidneys.

Used as a More Natural Option for Soap

Mica and Pumice contain free silica (in large amounts has led to respiratory disease).

Ochres: A mix of sand, clay and iron compounds are thought to be safe unless they are digested (My concern is that whatever I put on my skin is absorbed into my body)

Titanium Dioxide: Thought to be safe unless inhaled in massive amounts.

 

 

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