Written by: DeBee Trant

How Soap is Made

What can beat the fresh feeling of clean skin? Not much. So it’s no wonder that using soap and the process of soap making has existed for thousands of years. The process used to make soap in the past is similar to the natural method of soap making today. Historically, even in bible days, alkali used to make soap was obtained from burning vegetation or wood. The resulting ash/alkali was combined animal or vegetable oils to create a soap that removed dirt, bacteria, grit, and grime from the skin with the help of water.

Natural soap making process

Natural ingredients used in soap are all around us. Vegetable butters or oils, lye (sodium Hydroxide-alkali), natural coloring, and natural fragrances are often within our reach to produce soap that is safe, pure and gentle enough for daily use.  For many people who make natural soaps, inspiration comes from the world around them – the scent of a favorite flower, the color of the sea -almost anything sparks the creation of a soap that is unique and pure.

In modern times, alkali are obtained from relatively clean processes such as electrolysis, where naturally occurring salts such as NaCl (table salt) or KCl are mixed with water and then charged with electricity. This salt process  results in alkali NaOH or KOH.

Soap made with the use of this alkali are very gentle and often cause little or no irritation to the skin due to its pure ingredients. Synthetic soaps contain harsh dyes, synthetic fragrances, and other ingredients that can dry the skin leading to damaging effects to the largest organ of the body – the skin. Dry, cracked skin may allow bacteria to enter causing infection and disease. So it only makes sense that healthy skin means a healthy body.

Some people mistakenly think that the definition of lye soap is any soap that is caustic and harsh. They couldn’t be more wrong! Many people don’t understand how lye, which is  extremely harsh can be used to make soothing and mild natural soaps. After all, for non soap makers, lye is known most for its drain cleaning abilities!

So how exactly does it work? If you had high school chemistry, you may remember that when you mix a base with an acid, you form a neutral. This is exactly what happens in the soap making reaction. The base (lye) mixes with the acid (oil or fat) to form a neutral (the soap).

Reality, however, is quite the contrary… the main benefit of homemade lye soap, and the reason people love it so much, is actually because of its soothing properties, courtesy of the glycerin that forms during the oil and lye reaction.

Glycerin is (unfortunately) removed from most commercial soaps and sold as a byproduct.  Homemade soap makers keep the natural glycerin in the soap.

Methods of handmade, natural soap making

Non-industrial methods for making soap range from simple to somewhat more difficult – depending on the method used and the ingredients required.

The four methods available are:

• recycling – reusing (unused) ends of scrap soap by grinding them and remix them together
• melt and pour – less technical than the hot and cold processes, this method requires buying pre-made blocks of soap to which you add other ingredients (e.g. flowers, natural fragrances, natural colorings)
• cold process – from beginning to end, you are in control of the end product with this process. Although it requires some close attention because you’re working with lye, the soap produced can be very mild and gentle on the skin.
• hot process – this process is much like the cold process except that the mixture is heated.

Sweeter than Honey uses the Cold and Hot process to make their natural non- chemical soaps.  A couple of times a year they will also make French Milled soap which is the process of shredding previously made unsold bars re-melting them into another formula adding additional natural botanicals and essential oils.

Pitfalls of commercially produced soap

Although many of us use it all the time in the shower or while bathing, commercially produced soap is very different from naturally made soap. The ingredients used in commercially produced soap are different and are  harsh on skin, many times producing an allergic reaction.

When a manufacturer produces a large number of bars of soap, batch production is the process used. Detergents, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes and other chemicals produce the bars of soap from these large scale processes. Such ingredients may irritate the skin or cause allergic reactions. Washing skin with these types of soaps may steal natural oils from the surface of the skin causing damage to sensitive skin. This in turn may lead to chaffing, flaking, and scaling. They may also contribute to contact dermatitis or other allergic-type reactions.

Benefits of natural soap

Sweeter Than Honey, a small family company that produces high-quality, non-chemical soap! As a consumer, you have the ability to decrease the number of preservatives and chemical additives your skin comes into contact with and therefore, that may enter your body. To avoid using synthetically manufactured soap look for products containing natural ingredients derived from nature. Other ingredients that may provide gentle cleansing power in natural soaps include aloe and other plant extracts, vegetable butters, oatmeal, and herbs. The absence of synthetic dyes, synthetic fragrances and detergents make natural soaps a fantastic choice for people with sensitive skin and those with other conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and excessive dryness.

Hope this article helps you to make a more informed decision in your skin care purchases.

Looking Younger Naturally

DeBee Trant

Sweeter Than Honey, Owner and Formulary