We had a question recently about our soap label listing lye in the ingredients. So, is there actual lye in our soap or any handmade cold process soap? The answer is NO! But we choose to list the ingredients that go into the soap making process. There are ways to list the materials without using the term "Sodium Hydroxide" but we feel that is a little misleading. Let me explain....
First, you can’t make cold process soap without it. There is no ifs-ands-or-buts about it, cold process soap requires lye to become…well, soap! When oils and lye water are emulsified, the saponification process begins. This means the sodium hydroxide lye solution starts turning the oil into soap.
It's very common for soapmakers to get asked about the use of lye in their cold process soaps. The fact is that lye is indeed used to make soap. While in many minds, “lye soap” brings up images of grandmas and washboards and red, red hands, anyone who has used handmade soap knows that it is quite mild and moisturizing. Sound like a contradiction? Well, the truth is that the lye was there, but now it’s gone. Is it magic? Sort of. It’s chemistry!
Why lye, anyway?
Soap, by definition, is the result of a chemical reaction between some kind of oil (like olive oil, coconut oil or cocoa butter) and lye. Lye is a solution made with either sodium hydroxide (to make bar soap) or potassium hydroxide (to make liquid soap). The reaction is called saponification. That’s it. Beautiful in its simplicity, no? The other stuff (colors, fragrance, flower petals) adds to the enjoyment of your shower or bath.
No lye? No soap. Period.
Where’s the lye?
“But hold on,” you might say, “the soap I buy at the store doesn’t have lye.” It may seem that way, depending on how the soap is labeled. Some ingredient labels list things like “sodium palmate”. This is the chemical name for the result of mixing palm oil and sodium hydroxide – oil and lye again! That bar of soap was made by blending in some already-made palm oil soap. The lye that went into making the sodium palmate was used up by the time it went into the soap, so it doesn’t have to be listed on the ingredient label. Or maybe the label lists “saponified olive oil”. Now that you know what saponification means, you can understand that saponified oils are oils that have been reacted with lye at some point, even if the label doesn’t actually say “sodium hydroxide”.
Another very common reason that a soap label may not list sodium hydroxide is that it’s not soap. Surprised? Many bars in the market today are really solid detergents. Read the labels carefully and you’ll see that they are called “body bars” or “beauty bars” since they can’t call themselves “soap” because they aren’t made with oils and lye.
How can lye soap feel so good on the skin?
If lye is used to make soap, why is handmade soap so gentle? The trick is that the lye gets used up during saponification. That’s right. The chemical reaction transforms the oil and lye into (Ta-da!) soap and glycerin. The soap cleans your skin (but not so much that all the oils are stripped off ) and the glycerin is a humectant. That means that it attracts moisture from the air and onto your skin, helping it stay moisturized and supple. And unlike Grandma, modern handmade soapmakers are able to formulate their soap using high-quality, beneficial oils and just enough lye to get a mild, conditioning bar that still gives a lovely lather.
So have no fear! Use our handmade soap and enjoy all the benefits that it brings. Because the magic of chemistry has turned those oils and lye into something completely different and lovely: some of the best soap you can use on your skin!
We hope this gives you a better understanding of how the "Cold Process" soap making works. This process is also why the cure time is 4-6 weeks for our beautiful soaps!
Tim and Sandra
Some of the information in this blog came from one of our suppliers, TheSoapQueen at Brambleberry.
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Sometimes we get funny looks with our Beer Soap. But the reason we make it is for the unique benefits for men and women! Our beer soap is more than good for moisturizing. The Hops, in beer is great for it's skin softening amino acids which is great for irritated skin and fights ache. The vitamin B in beer adds even more to moisturizing your skin. And for shaving, the lather and properties of our soap, gives a great, close shave.
We made a new batch yesterday and wanted to talk to you about the process to make this wonderful soap!
Our Beer Soap uses Coconut, Palm, and Olive oils as well as two unique fragrances we have chosen to create a great scent for this soap. We boil the beer for a bit to remove the alcohol in the beer.....sorry!
The oils are heated to an exact temperature and mixed with the Sodium Hydroxide which causes the mixture to begin the "Trace" process or hardening. We then add our fragrance and a lighter color to part of the mixture in our design phase of the process. The mixture is carefully poured into the mold with a divider to seperate the two colors we use in the design. The divider is pulled from the mold and we cover and insulate the block as it begins the curing process.
This is the time we watch carefully over the next few hours to be sure the soap isn't doing weird things it shouldn't be doing. After a few days (it's like watching an egg hatch....ugh!) we take the block from the mold and cut into bars and put in a controlled environment to let the bars finish curing on racks.
The process we use for most of our soaps is called a "Cold Process" and takes about 4-6 weeks for the soap to cure.
So beer is not just for drinking! Our customers that use this soap love the lather and the benefits using it. So be sure to give it a try.....we're sure you'll be back for more!
Tim
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Welcome to my very first blog. Before I begin making some comparisons on hand made soaps vs. commercially made soaps, I would first like to share with you how making my own soap became a passion.
While visiting a local Farmers Market a couple summers ago I came across a beautiful Artisan soap that really caught my eye. I really liked the idea of it being "all natural" since I myself have very sensitive and dry skin. At first I thought the soap was way too pretty to actually ever use however I did decide to open it up and give it a try. Little did I know after one use I would never go back to store bought body bars again. I instantly noticed the lovely fresh scent, and the luxurious lather, however, what actually sold me was the way my skin felt afterward. It didn't leave the filmy feeling I would get from a lot of body bars and my skin actually felt clean and moisturized, this led to the thought of why not make our own soap that we can both use and share with others. Tim and I were already in the process of setting up a business for the making and selling of candles, why not add body care products this to the line?
Now while making soap is very fun and rewarding there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. More on that later, first I want to share with you why all soaps are not created equal.
Before we started making our own soaps we did a lot of research, and the realization of what actually goes into commercial soaps surprised us. Next time you are out shopping, take a closer look, chances are you won't even find the word soap on the label of commercial made products. That is because all that makes a soap a soap is literally taken out, ( a combination of Lye and fatty acids) only to be replaced with harsh preservatives, synthetic fillers, petroleum by products and a list of other chemicals that can cause allergic reactions also it can a strip your skin of precious moisture and it's natural protective oils and leaves our skins PH levels off. A good handmade soap has a perfect balance of what your skins craves, and believe me, your skin will thank you. Most handmade soaps are scented with essential oils plus a combination of various natural oils like Coconut Oil, Vitamin E, Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Grape Seed Oil and Almond Oil are used. The ingredients also offer gentle exfoliating properties, natural antioxidants all while moisturizing for healthy glowing well balanced skin. Another nice thing is that no two soaps are made alike, you can customize the ingredients for all skin types by adding Honey, Oatmeal, Lavender, Clays, charcoal... the list really goes on. I am working on many more interesting blog posts.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hoped I was able to share a few things that you found helpful. Have a blessed, great day.
Sandra
]]>There are many choices of wax that are used in candles. Some of these waxes have better throw and some burn longer and cleaner.
I can't tell you how confusing it was when we first started looking at making candles. Paraffin was the mainstay, right?? Well we thought so and for many candle makers it still is.
Wax- is basically a fuel which requires a heat source which melts and vaporizes a small amount of the fuel (wax). Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen to ignite and keeps a flame. This flame has enough heat to keep the candle burning by melting the top of the wax drawing fuel upward through the wick and vaporizes to burn in the candles flame. There ya go!! :)
There are many types of "oils" that can be used to make candles as we found in our research.
Coconut, Palm, Bees, Paraffin, Soy.....so which to use...ugh! Our research began. We had used Yankee candles which use a refined Paraffin wax in most of their candles. We used Soy wax candles but never really liked the scent throw cold or hot. We started with a paraffin wax and tested several types over a 3 month period but we also wanted a cleaner burning candle. We spent some time with the Soy and still found it was more difficult to get a good scent throw. After talking with wax suppliers and doing some more researching about Soy we found out it is more difficult for the fragrance to bind with the melted Soy at the molecular level causing a more subtle scent when burning.
SOY WAX
Soy is used in a lot of candle making and people tend to think it is more environmentally friendly compared to traditional Paraffin wax, and, yes, it burns slower and cleaner. But, again has a more subtler scent throw as Soy doesn't hold as much fragrance. That being said, many people like the softer scent.
Soy candle haven't been around a long time and is a vegetable wax from soybean oil. While soy is a better choice environmentally speaking, it still has a few eco issues. Soybean oil is a byproduct of the soybean industry and there are concerns over the deforestation and the use of pesticides and fertilizers used to grow the bean.
Coconut Wax
While coconut wax is a great new wax in the industry and is very eco friendly but tends to be very expensive.
Beeswax
Beeswax is probably the oldest type of wax and is great for it's own natural honey aroma but doesn't really mix with other scents. Beeswax candles are considered the healthiest because they are smokeless and sootless.
Paraffin Wax
Before Soy and Coconut, there was Paraffin. Paraffin wax is still popular with many hign end candle makers because it holds color and scent very well, and is easily available. Green-minded people often label it as bad because it's made from leftovers of the crude oil. This doesn't automatically make it toxic, and the upside is that parts of the oil that would be discarded are getting used.
Soy-Blend wax
So, deep breath, after all of this research and what what we wanted to have in a great candle, we decided to use a blend of both Soy and Paraffin to make our candles. We use a blend of approximately 53% Soy and 47% Paraffin in our wax. This blend is cleaner than straight Paraffin because the Soy and has a great scent throw the Paraffin allows, and has a beautiful creamy texture.
We know there are a lot of candles to choose from and we truly believe we came up with the best solution for a great candle that is cleaner and still has a wonderful scent throw, cold and hot.
Tim
Our blog posts are meant to be informative about the things we have learned through our product testing and learning about aspects of what we make. We hope you enjoy the posts.
Sandra & Tim
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