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Cleaning soap was the very first thing I discovered to make on this planet of pure magnificence, and my pores and skin has grow to be so accustomed to its advantages that the rest makes me itch. In the event you’re already a bar cleaning soap believer and simply wish to purchase some beautiful cleaning soap, go take a look at our physique bars, STAT. However for those who’ve by no means tried our cleaning soap, otherwise you’re nonetheless a physique wash believer, maybe it’ll assist to know why bar cleaning soap is completely different and a lot better to your pores and skin and for the planet.
HOW IS BAR SOAP MADE?
The primary time I made cleaning soap, I understood instantly that the method of making handmade cleaning soap is one the place science and artwork come collectively. After numerous hours within the chemistry lab throughout my premed years, I knew that the chemistry of cleaning soap making could be uncompromising: you goof the recipe, you find yourself with #notsoap. However when you’ve nailed the method, the choices for creativity with colours, textures, and scent are infinite—and endlessly enjoyable.
Bar cleaning soap is made by combining oils or strong fat (in our case, plant fat) with lye (sodium hydroxide, or NaOH). The oils are heated, permitting any strong oils like shea butter or coconut oil to soften. In the meantime, the lye will get added to water to make an answer. When each the oils and the lye are on the proper temperature (90-110 levels Fahrenheit), they’re combined collectively till they begin to bond collectively within the course of known as saponification.
Folks usually ask if we use lye in our cleaning soap as a result of many have the impression that lye is a poisonous chemical. In truth, lye is utilized in all cleaning soap making—if it’s not made with lye, it’s not technically cleaning soap. Whereas lye is a chemical manufactured in a laboratory, it’s actually only a salt made from sodium, hydrogen, and oxygen, and is “poisonous” solely due to its excessive pH. The pH of lye is 14, impartial pH (the place our our bodies operate) is 7, and the pH of hydrochloric acid is zero. If pure lye touches your pores and skin, it’s going to burn the identical means pure acid will. That is additionally the rationale your Grandma Louise’s “lye cleaning soap” didn’t really feel good—she in all probability made lye-heavy cleaning soap, the place the ratio of fat to lye was incorrect, leaving leftover lye within the completed bar. Because of this, the bar would have had a excessive pH, which may irritate the pores and skin.
The excellent news is that we have now our cleaning soap science found out, and though lye goes into the cleaning soap, it’s not current within the closing bar. (Chemistry is definitely simply poorly marketed magic.) The lye, comprising a sodium molecule, a hydrogen molecule, and an oxygen molecule, will get disassembled and rearranged in cold-process cleaning soap making into cleaning soap molecules and glycerin. The cleaning soap molecules work by sticking their little tails into grease and filth, after which letting themselves get rinsed down the drain with the water. The glycerin molecules don’t rinse away as a lot, and work all through the day to draw water to your pores and skin.
WHY IS NATURAL BAR SOAP BETTER THAN CONVENTIONAL BAR SOAP?
Handmade cleaning soap requires a curing time of a couple of month to permit water to evaporate from the bar so it hardens appropriately. Massive corporations don’t have time to attend for his or her cleaning soap to remedy, so that they take away the skin-softening glycerin and introduce harsh chemical components to harden their bars. That’s why the final class known as “cleaning soap” acquired a foul status for being drying. Cleaning soap made by the cold-process methodology does precisely the other to your pores and skin—it pulls moisture to your pores and skin all day lengthy.
For the sake of comparability, listed here are the ingredient lists from a well-liked, unscented business cleaning soap marketed to these with delicate pores and skin:
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate Or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate Or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Edta, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Maltol, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891).
And listed here are the components for Osmia’s Oh So Cleaning soap:
Saponified natural oils/butters of olive, mango, and castor bean; lifeless sea salt; natural buttermilk powder, natural rosemary antioxidant, non-GMO combined tocopherols
As you possibly can see, we take a less-is-more strategy on the subject of delicate pores and skin.
IS BAR SOAP BETTER THAN BODY WASH?
Bear in mind the ingredient checklist from Oh So Cleaning soap above? Let’s examine that to a number one model of physique wash marketed to customers with delicate pores and skin:
Water (Aqua), Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Lauroyl Glycinate, Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil or Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, DMDM Hydantoin, Stearic Acid, Perfume (Parfum), Citric Acid, BHT, Tetrasodium EDTA, Methylisothiazolinone, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate.
There are much more components within the physique wash, and a few of them have some well being considerations related to them, equivalent to artificial perfume, DMDM hydantoin, and methylisothiazolinone. Plus, physique wash is available in a cumbersome plastic bottle, whereas bar cleaning soap normally is available in biodegradable, non-plastic packaging.
DOES BAR SOAP SPREAD GERMS?
Some persons are involved about bar cleaning soap being unhygienic, however fortunately it’s been studied. While you use bar cleaning soap correctly, utilizing very heat water and a 30-second scrub, you rinse away the highest layer as you lather, and the filth and germs go down the drain. We advocate storing your bar cleaning soap on a clear, aerated floor (like our reusable soap-saver) to maintain it out of a puddle of cleaning soap soup—germs WILL proliferate in standing water. Professional-tip: maintaining the cleaning soap dry between makes use of will assist it final for ages.
IS BAR SOAP BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT?
Bar cleaning soap, particularly if it’s packaged by an organization like ours, is extraordinarily low-impact on the environmental scale when put next with liquid cleansers. Liquid cleaning soap normally is available in a plastic bottle, whereas our bar soaps are available in recyclable, FSC-certified paper packaging. Liquid cleansers have much more components than bar cleaning soap, and require preservatives and artificial scent to cowl the chemical smells, which suggests extra components are swept into the water therapy system or your septic discipline.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BAR SOAP?
You employ cleaning soap each day, on your self and probably your loved ones. You employ it from head to toe, on virtually each inch of your pores and skin. Then it washes down your drain, the place it in the end impacts issues like fish and birds and worms and flowers. There was a time when selecting pure bar cleaning soap meant LESS luxurious and extra earthy-crunchy-patchouli. However that isn’t true anymore. (Have you ever appeared on the cleaning soap web page on our web site?) So right here it’s, of us—a small change you may make that won’t solely assist the planet, however will depart your pores and skin fantastically conditioned, and make you’re feeling like you might be treating your self to a tiny luxurious each time you decide up a bar. Plus, our bars final without end, so your cash goes a great distance.
Save your pores and skin, save the planet. It’s a no brainer.
With love and many soapy suds from us to you,
