What is soap anyway? : in lay terms it is the product of an oil reacted with lye or potassium/sodium hydroxide. You take almost any oil - olive, coconut, and almond oils are very
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Is your soap natural?: If soap is produced in the above manner, it is considered natural. However, most 'soap' these days is hardly natural, and sometimes isn't even soap. Detergents, which contain no actual soap are often formed into bars with added moisturisers. Dishwashing liquid is also usually just a detergent with synthetic fragrances added. Most detergents contain harsh surfactants like SLS, SLES or Coco Betaine etc. Rocky Mountain Soap's products are all 100% natural. If you are unsure, read the ingredient list, if there is one. It should say something like saponified oils of coconut (insert oil of choice here) - but if it says something like "derived from" coconut (etc) oil, then you might want to question how it was derived...
Do you have glycerin soap?: All real soap has glycerin. The oil molecules that real soap is made from contain a component called glycerol on one end. In the saponification reaction, this is converted to glycerin. In commercial soap production, the glycerin is often skimmed off, and sold for industrial purposes, as it is quite valuable. Natural soap makers usually leave all the glycerin in their soap because it has natural cleaning and moisturising abilities. This is what helps give the soap its silky and slippery feel. It is also a natural humectant, that is, it attracts moisture - another reason that you will also find it in natural moisturisers. However, many people think of those clear, almost see through soaps when they think of glycerin soap. This is simply because alcohol has been added during the soap making process. Aesthetically, this might be more pleasing to some, but alcohol is drying and helps defeat the purpose of glycerin being left in the soap in the first place.
Soap is a pretty simple product - yet there are a variety of issues surrounding it. Read ingredient labels and when in doubt, ask your soap retailer for clarification so that you get what you really think you are buying. Natural matters!
4 comments:
Thanks for the breakdown of what soap actually is. All I knew about soap before this was from the movie Fight Club, and they were making it from liposuction fat and lye. It is good to know this is not always the case.
I have been using Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap for years now, and from his label(http://tinyurl.com/ycu6lz)I know how serious some people take soap making.
I can't wait to try some of your soap,
J.
Thanks for your comments Jordan. Drop by the store at Mayfair anytime. We get so many questions about soap that we realised that there might be some confusion out there so attempted to clear a bit of it up. I wonder if we should do a "Fight Club" soap? Ok, bad idea...but seriously the oil used is important to people, especially those that choose to avoid animal products.
Yeah, thanks for the details of what soap is, and I second the using of Dr Bronners. I love their stuff. I actually used to use the peppermint kind for toothpaste, but switched over to a natural peppermint bar soap instead ....you heard me right. I use it to brush my teeth. I am SOOO not into the sugary sweet toothpastes anymore, and NATURAL soaps (with no chemicals) are super great for your gums and teeth.
Thanks for the article. I am OBSESSED By good quality soap products...sick and tired of all the poisons in most things these days.
:) Scott
Thank you for explaining all of that I found it very helpful. I love all types of natural soap, especially a make called Abahna, there stuff is juts so nice and I cant get enough of it!
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