Soap Talk - Why Handmade Soap

I love handmade soap, and want you to love it too. In this post I will share more about the process I use to make soap, and why I love it. Using handmade soap is a small and inexpensive way to pamper yourself, and by golly, you deserve a little pampering.  Using natural skin-loving oils and butters, and knowing what you are putting on your skin is important.

Why Handmade Soap?

Prior to using handmade soap, I used drugstore body wash and a loofah.  After switching to handmade soap I would never go back.  After having kids it became important to me, knowing what we were eating and putting on our bodies.  Once upon a time, I was obsessed with changing everything, in our lives, to all-natural and organic.  This became overwhelming and I failed (not really, I just never got to 100%).  I still fight the fight!!  The key is to make small changes along the way, trying not to focus on too many changes at one time.  One of the small changes our family made was switching to handmade soap, which we now make.  Now I am happily making it for you too, you can buy it in our online shop!

The Process

I make soap using the cold process (CP) method.   The CP method is a science.  Each oil and butter has a different calculation of how much lye it will take to turn that oil or butter into soap.  I use a handy lye calculator to calculate how much lye is needed for each recipe.  The chemical process of the oils and butters reacting with the lye and turning into soap is called saponification. After I have mixed carefully chosen ingredients and get the soap mixture into the mold, I let it sit insulated for 24-48 hours in the mold to complete the saponification process.  After 24-48  hours in the mold, it/s time to unmold and cut the soap into bars. After they are cut they are left alone to cure for 4-5 weeks.  The end result is a gentle, nourishing, skin-loving handcrafted bar of soap.

A Few More Things About Making Soap

The other thing I want to talk about is superfatting soap.  For each recipe, I am able to calculate a percentage over of oil and butters I'm are using in that recipe I want to remain oil and butter, and not turn into soap.  Having superfat in soap makes it extra nourishing.  Since switching to handmade soap the need to moisturize has pretty much gone away.

There are so many choices of oils, fats, and butters, you can customize a soap for your skin type.  There are endless amounts of fragrance and essential oils you can use.   You can use different liquids to mix with your lye to offer nourishing goodness for your skin.  And finally, there are many natural and organic colorants and additives you can use to customize and tailor to your needsand liking. In future posts I will talk more about the ingredients we choose and why we choose them.