Soap is made from a chemical reaction between water, lye (also known as sodium hydroxide), and fats and oils. These fats and oils are turned into soap and glycerine by a chemical process called Saponification. This process, of lye and oil molecules combining and chemically changing into soap, takes up to 6 weeks to complete and there is no lye present in the finished product. What you are left with after the curing time is pure natural soap, lots of glycerine, and some residue from the natural ingredients in the individual recipe. Handmade soap is almost always made in small batches. You won’t find huge “handmade soap” factories out there. If a product is not made from oil and lye it is not, by definition, soap. This is called cold processed soap. It is completely SULPHATE free!
The truth is that unlike these cold processed more "natural type" soaps, some commercial soaps aren’t actually soaps at all. They’re synthetic detergents, created using a lengthy chemical process. These Detergents (commercial “soap” bought in the supermarket) are manufactured by combining chemicals (including petroleum and parabens) in a slurry mixture. The mixture heats up on its own as a result of two chemical reactions. Once the mixture heats to a certain temperature it is dried using a vacuum chamber and an atomiser. The resulting powder is then mixed with various other ingredients to form the final product.
Essential oils, natural butters like shea, cocoa, avocado and mango, and other natural oils like coconut, olive, palm, castor, rice bran, canola, rose hip, sunflower, sweet almond, grapeseed oil can be added in to change the benefits of the soap as well as the natural scent. There is nothing else in there. No preservatives, no dangerous chemical compounds, nothing! Just pure, natural ingredients from Mother Earth. We don’t use any animal fats in our soap, they are purely vegetable oils and butters. And are perfect for Vegans. Natural soaps are biodegradable, environmentally friendly and do not originate from petroleum which does great harm to the environment! You can rest easy knowing that what goes down the drain won’t pollute the ocean with chemicals.
Completely paraben free and sulphate free. No petrochemicals
Some of our products contain Fragrance oils, which aren’t "natural" like essential oils, but we do have a few that are pthalate free, please check our fragrance descriptions for more information or contact us for advice.
The other type of soap we use is Glycerine soap which is not as natural as it DOES contain Sulphates, but it’s still better for your skin than "store bought" soaps as it has Glycerine added to it to make it gentle and moisturizing. All our Glycerine Soaps are marked as such. If it doesn't say Glycerine Soap then it’s the cold process one without any sulphates.
Just remember that our Natural soaps take up to 6 weeks to cure, so please order well ahead of time for themed baby showers and weddings.
We also offer products made out of lovely Glycerin soap either transparent or in any colour of fragrance. Our French macarons are a hit!
We have a showroom in Kenridge, Cape Town. Please contact us  to make an appointment to come and view our products.
1 comment
Hi. I would like to know if you guys sell organic soap base. And if so, how much does that cost?