I love making soap! I love trying new recipes, and then using the new soap bar in the bath to see how it lathers and feels on my skin. Then I “tweak” the recipe to see if I can make the recipe even more moisturizing or fragrant or firm in my hand.
I’ve been making natural handmade soaps for more than 15 years now. It started partly because I was curious about how soap was made, and partly because my mom died of cancer and I wanted to eliminate as many environmental toxins as I could. Here’s some of what I’ve learned.
Soap is made from oils (fats) and water and lye (the chemical name is sodium hydroxide). When these three combine, there is a chemical reaction that occurs called “saponification”. This means that these three ingredients change and become soap. It’s kind of like making wine. You start with grapes and add a yeast. The yeast eats the sugar in the grapes, creating wine. This is also a chemical reaction. Natural handmade soaps are made in the same way.
One advantage to handmade natural soaps is that usually you can meet the creator. You can learn which oils he or she used, and why. Sometimes you’ll see a little bit of white “powder” in the top of the soap. This is called “soda ash”. It’s sodium carbonate, it’s harmless, and it’s an indication that this soap was, indeed, handmade.