What is glycerin and why is it important?

Glycerin is a natural skin humectant, which means that it attracts and retains moisture on your skin; it is like a natural skin lotion in the soap.  Glycerin is retained in handcrafted soap, opposed to commercial soap, in which the glycerin is extracted and sold to industries where it is used in pharmaceuticals, foods, cosmetics, and other products.  By retaining the glycerin in handcrafted soap the consumer gets a mild, pure soap that gently cleanses the skin without irritating or drying.

What is the Saponification Process?

The Saponification process happens with a specific amount of oils and butters are mixed properly with sodium hydroxide (lye). Once this process happens, the lye is neutralized and glycerin is created.  There is no harm from the lye once it has been through the saponification process.

Jennifer Soap

 

Importance of Butters and Oils

Oils & Butters make moisturizing soap

Shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil are the main butters and oils we use in our soaps.  They are great for moisturizing the skin and retaining moisture within the skin.  Another important part of using butters and oils in soap making is to complete the saponification process.

Soaps without Lye and why they are bad for you

The only way you can get a soap like product without using lye is to add a surfactant like sodium lauryl sulfate to water. Surfactants create lather, so you’re basically just getting lathery water that will act as an industrial strength detergent. As mentioned, a lot of surfactants can be irritating and so strong that they are very drying to the hair and skin. This is the super cheap way big companies go about creating shampoo, dish soap, and other liquid soap-type things in our lives. These concoctions are not true soap, but since they’re mostly water, chemicals, and petroleum byproducts, they sure are cheap.

Melt and Pour Soaps, are they lye free?

Melt & Pour clear soap (store bought NOT handcrafted)

Some people think that using a melt & pour soap base is a good way to get around using lye. While this may be true, first off the melt & pour soap was made with lye by somebody else, so it was still involved in the process, and secondly, the melt & pour bases often have questionable ingredients in them, like sodium lauryl sulfate (known to be irritating), so if you’re worried about irritation, handcrafted soaps from scratch are your best option.

Why do you need Lye in soap?

Soap is an alkali (like sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) combined with fats. So, by the very definition of “soap”, you cannot have soap without lye. That is like trying to make a baking soda and vinegar volcano without the vinegar. No vinegar and you’ve just got a pile of baking soda. No lye, and you’ve just got a bucket of fat.

It is important to use very precise amounts of lye, butters and oils in order to completely neutralize the lye and create a luxurious lathering soap that will moisturize the skin.  We pride ourselves in having this calculation mastered and have never had any issues with the lye still being active in the soap.