FAQ

How do you make your soap?

We make soap from three basic ingredients: oils (fats), sodium hydroxide (lye) and liquid (usually distilled water, but sometimes coconut milk or other fluid). Using precise measurements and combining these together in specific ways causes something called “saponification”. This chemical process turns oils, lye and liquid into soap.

Fun fact, this is exactly how soap has been made for hundreds of years!

Do you use Melt-and-Pour to make soap?

No, we don’t use Melt-and-Pour premade soap. We want complete control over the ingredients used in our soap, so we start from scratch. This allows us to choose specific oils, coloring substances (clays and spices) and essential oils (scents) that are completely natural – never synthetic – and that work well together.

Our soap comes from nature.

What kind of coloring and fragrances do you use?

We’re committed to using only natural coloring substances and scents. Our colors come from Kaolin and French clays, both found in the earth. Sometimes we use ground spices — annatto seed, for example, and cinnamon — to create specific colors. While these aren’t as bright as synthetic color products, we feel the health benefits are much more important.

Our fragrances come from essential oils, derived from plants.

Are Basic Suds soaps suitable for sensitive skin?

Absolutely! Our gentle formulas are designed to nourish and cleanse even the most sensitive skin types. We stick with simple ingredients found in nature — no parabens, synthetics or phthalates. Even the scents we use are essential oils, distilled straight from plants.

We hear it all the time from customers with sensitive skin — our simple recipes just seem to agree with them.

Isn’t lye dangerous?

By itself, yes, sodium hydroxide – lye – can be dangerous. However the chemical process of combining lye with oils and liquid causes “saponification” (you might call this “soap-i-fi-ca-tion!) Some people may remember experimenting with saponification back in high school science class. What happens is that lye molecules react with the liquid and oils to become a completely different substance – soap.

We let each soap “cure” for 30 days or more, just to make sure each bar completes the transformation process.

Why do you cut your soap bars with crinkle edges?

There are a few reasons for this — the first is that the rippled sides make the bar easier to hold on to. The wavy edges also allow a nice combination of oxygen to mix with water so the bar lathers quickly.

And the best part, I think, is that the crinkled sides just look cool!

I’ve seen other soaps, and they have such vivid colors. Why don’t your soaps have this?

I’ve seen these kind of soaps, too, and they are beautiful!

These vivid colors are usually provided via micas and oxides, and even crayons! Micas and oxides often contain lab-created dyes and pigments (and who knows what today’s crayons are made of?!?) While some of them are FD & C approved, it can be difficult to figure out their regularity grade and stability in high-pH environments, as in cold process soapmaking.

We’ve made a strong commitment in our soaps to use only ingredients found naturally, never synthetic or lab-created. For color, instead, we use Kaolin clays, French clays, and even seeds and vegetables (carrots or beets, for example).

So yes, we sacrifice the vivid colors in our bars. But on the other hand, doesn’t it give you peace of mind to know that everything you’re putting on your skin came from the earth?

Do ?

No, we don’t use Melt-and-Pour premade soap. We want complete control over the ingredients used in our soap, so we start from scratch. This allows us to choose specific oils, coloring substances (clays and spices) and essential oils (scents) that are completely natural, and that work well together.

Our soap comes from nature.

Isn’t ?

By itself, yes, sodium hydroxide – lye – can be dangerous. However the chemical process of combining lye with oils and liquid causes “saponification” (you might call this “soap-i-fi-ca-tion!) Some people may remember experimenting with saponification back in high school science class. Lye molecules react with the liquid and oils to become a completely different substance – soap.

We let each soap “cure” for 30 days or more, just to make sure the soap to completes the transformation process.

What ?

We’re committed to using only natural coloring substances and scents. Our colors come from Kaolin and French clays, both found in the earth. Sometimes we use ground spices — annatto seed, for example, and cinnamon — to create specific colors. While these are not as bright as synthetic color products, we feel the health benefits are much more important.

Our fragrances come from essential oils, derived from plants.