We use them everyday, but we rarely stop and look at what they are made of. Yes, soaps are an essential element to our daily lives yet are a mystery as to how they are produced.
Turns out, it really is not that difficult to make a handcrafted soap. Just turn the back of the custom soap packaging in your house and you will recognize most of the ingredients in there. And the ones that you do not recognize, we will go over those too.
Water, oil, and lye are the essential constituents of homemade soaps that are produced from scratch. The chemical interaction between these three results in soap. Other substances such as fragrance are added to obtain the desired colour and other qualities.
Base oils
Base oils can be vegetable or animal fats broken down into oils. Traditional soaps in the old times were frequently made using animal fats, with tallow and lard producing the finest results. Lard has mostly been replaced with vegetable oils as they are widely available to source.
Since oils undergo varying chemical reactions, the ultimate soap product differs in various ways. Soap producers can make exceptional bars of soap by combining different oils creating lush colors with fragrances that you will find matched on bath bomb boxes wholesale.
Lye
Soaps have lye as a key component. Soaps are created by a chemical process between oils and lye known as saponification. All of the lye present is converted into soap. For the production of soap, two forms of lye are used: sodium hydroxide for solid soaps and potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps.
Water
Water is ofcourse, an essential ingredient in the process. The amount of varying water is what determines the hardness or softness of the end product. We have soaps that are hard brick like because the water has mostly evaporated from the soap. It should just be enough for the soap and lye to be mixed properly.
Fragrance
This is not a necessary step in the process of making soap but it is a great addition in customer attraction.
Essential or fragrance oils derived from plants are used by soap producers. Essential oils are natural plant extracts, but they may be costly.
Fragrance oils, on the other hand, are created by the synthesis of chemical molecules. They may be used with essential oils to create a unique combination. Fruity fragrances and food-like odours are two examples that are sort of a mixture between the two that save a little money and add a more earthy vibe to the end product.
Genuine Handcrafted soaps
Actual, unadulterated handmade soaps are now becoming difficult to source. As a lot of companies sell synthetic garbage in the name of genuine soaps.
A few ways you can spot the real deal is through the ingredients and texture. Handmade soaps are simple, no magic formula stuff. They will not resolve any serious ailments or cure some skin disease. They should also contain very few or less preservatives, that is if they are made from scratch.
A crumbly or easily soft texture is usually not a good sign, so watch out for that too.
A soap is something you use on the daily, so it is essential that you get the best bang for your buck while being assured that it is actually doing what it is supposed to do without harming your skin or undermining it in some way. Keeping our skin healthy and hydrated is the primary reason the world is switching to organic and natural soaps.