About the Soap
This is not “melt-and-pour” soap from a kit. This is cold-process lye soap. It is pretty close to the way soap was made a couple of centuries ago.
Don't worry aboaut the lye...these soaps have all cured properly before being sold. They are actually better for your skin than most commercially made bar-soaps because they do not contain detergents. Detergents strip natural oils away from your skin leaving it dryer and more subject to harm by the elements. Look at your store-bought soap ingredients...then go read your dish detergent or laundry detergent ingredients. Scary, isn't it?
The soaps are made from water, olive oil, soy oil, coconut oil, castor oil, lye, and essential and or fragrance oils. No preservatives, no other additives, no artificial colors (any colors present are a result of the chemical soap-making reaction with the essential and fragrance oils).
Each small batch is made in my shop by combining the ingredients, stirring until the saponification process begins, and pouring it into a wooden, hand made mold and left to set for three days. Then, the raw soap is removed from the mold, cut into bars, and allowed to cure for at least four weeks before it is ready to be used.
The result is a hard bar of sudsy soap that smells great... without unnatural ingredients and preservatives. I strive to use scents that are best described as “earthy”, “woodsy”, or “natural”.
Don't worry aboaut the lye...these soaps have all cured properly before being sold. They are actually better for your skin than most commercially made bar-soaps because they do not contain detergents. Detergents strip natural oils away from your skin leaving it dryer and more subject to harm by the elements. Look at your store-bought soap ingredients...then go read your dish detergent or laundry detergent ingredients. Scary, isn't it?
The soaps are made from water, olive oil, soy oil, coconut oil, castor oil, lye, and essential and or fragrance oils. No preservatives, no other additives, no artificial colors (any colors present are a result of the chemical soap-making reaction with the essential and fragrance oils).
Each small batch is made in my shop by combining the ingredients, stirring until the saponification process begins, and pouring it into a wooden, hand made mold and left to set for three days. Then, the raw soap is removed from the mold, cut into bars, and allowed to cure for at least four weeks before it is ready to be used.
The result is a hard bar of sudsy soap that smells great... without unnatural ingredients and preservatives. I strive to use scents that are best described as “earthy”, “woodsy”, or “natural”.
Why buy handmade soap?
Why pay $5.00 per bar when you can get ten bars for that at the store?
- No detergents – detergents strip your skin of its natural oils leaving it dry and scaly feeling. The striped skin is not more exposed to the elements and further damage.
- Less need for lotions – why strip your skin only to replace what was lost with more chemicals (see 1 above) and end up spending more after all?
- No animal products – great news for all the tree huggers out there!
- No Preservatives, no dyes, no colorants – less chemicals means less chances to develop hypersensitivities or allergies
- It’s usually a greener product. Minimal chemicals used means minimal contamination of the environment.
- It is usually made locally; further decreasing its impact on the environment. You also are supporting local entrepreneurs (like me!).
- The fragrance is often distinct and unique. Find one that fits you.
- They make great gifts! Handmade products in general say you cared enough to go searching for the right item for person.
- My soaps are tested on humans, NOT animals!
More than you ever wanted to know about soap:Early history: The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in Ancient Babylon. In the reign of Nabonidus (556-539 BCE) a recipe for soap consisted of uḥulu [ashes], cypress [oil] and sesame [seed oil] "for washing the stones for the servant girls". A formula for soap consisting of water, alkali, and cassia oil was written on a Babylonian clay tablet around 2200 BC.
The Ebers papyrus (Egypt, 1550 BC) indicates that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly and combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap-like substance. Egyptian documents mention that a soap-like substance was used in the preparation of wool for weaving. |
 |
Roman history: The word sapo, Latin for soap, first appears in Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis, which discusses the manufacture of soap from tallow and ashes, but the only use he mentions for it is as a pomade for hair; he mentions rather disapprovingly that among the Gauls and Germans men are likelier to use it than women. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, writing in the first century AD, observes among "Celts, which are men called Gauls, those alkaline substances that are made into balls, called soap"
A popular belief encountered in some places claims that soap takes its name from a supposed "Mount Sapo" (q.v.), where animal sacrifices were supposed to take place - tallow from these sacrifices would then have mixed with ashes from fires associated with these sacrifices, and water and convert to soap; but there is no such place as a Mount Sapo, and no evidence for the apocryphal story. In fact, the Latin word sapo simply means "soap"; it was likely borrowed from an early Germanic language, and is cognate with Latin sebum, "tallow", which appears in Pliny the Elder's account. Roman animal sacrifices usually burned only the bones and inedible entrails of the sacrificed animals; edible meat and fat from the sacrifices were taken by the humans rather than the gods. Animal sacrifices in the ancient world would not have included enough fat to make much soap.
Zosimos of Panopolis ca. 300 AD describes soap and soapmaking. Galen describes soap-making using lye and prescribes washing to carry away impurities from the body and clothes. According to Galen, the best were German and ones from Gaul were second best. This is a reference to true soap in antiquity.
A popular belief encountered in some places claims that soap takes its name from a supposed "Mount Sapo" (q.v.), where animal sacrifices were supposed to take place - tallow from these sacrifices would then have mixed with ashes from fires associated with these sacrifices, and water and convert to soap; but there is no such place as a Mount Sapo, and no evidence for the apocryphal story. In fact, the Latin word sapo simply means "soap"; it was likely borrowed from an early Germanic language, and is cognate with Latin sebum, "tallow", which appears in Pliny the Elder's account. Roman animal sacrifices usually burned only the bones and inedible entrails of the sacrificed animals; edible meat and fat from the sacrifices were taken by the humans rather than the gods. Animal sacrifices in the ancient world would not have included enough fat to make much soap.
Zosimos of Panopolis ca. 300 AD describes soap and soapmaking. Galen describes soap-making using lye and prescribes washing to carry away impurities from the body and clothes. According to Galen, the best were German and ones from Gaul were second best. This is a reference to true soap in antiquity.
Medieval history: Soap-makers in Naples were members of a guild in the late sixth century, and in the 8th century, soap-making was well-known in Italy and Spain.
The Carolingian capitulary De Villis, dating to around 800, representing the royal will of Charlemagne, mentions soap as being one of the products the stewards of royal estates are to tally.
Soap-making is mentioned both as "women's work" and the produce of "good workmen" alongside other necessities such as the produce of carpenters, blacksmiths, and bakers.
The Carolingian capitulary De Villis, dating to around 800, representing the royal will of Charlemagne, mentions soap as being one of the products the stewards of royal estates are to tally.
Soap-making is mentioned both as "women's work" and the produce of "good workmen" alongside other necessities such as the produce of carpenters, blacksmiths, and bakers.
|
15th-20th centuries: Manufacturing process of soaps/detergents
In France, by the second half of the 15th century the semi-industrialized professional manufacture of soap was concentrated in a few centers of Provence— Toulon, Hyères and Marseille — which supplied the rest of France. In Marseilles, by 1525, production was concentrated in at least two factories, and soap production at Marseille tended to eclipse the other Provençal centers. English manufacture tended to concentrate in London. Finer soaps were later produced in Europe from the 16th century, using vegetable oils (such as olive oil) as opposed to animal fats. Many of these soaps are still produced, both industrially and by small scale artisans. Castile soap is a popular example of the vegetable-only soaps derived by the oldest "white soap" of Italy. |
 |
In modern times, the use of soap has become universal in industrialized nations due to a better understanding of the role of hygiene in reducing the population size of pathogenic microorganisms. Industrially manufactured bar soaps first became available in the late eighteenth century, as advertising campaigns in Europe and the United States promoted popular awareness of the relationship between cleanliness and health.
Until the Industrial Revolution, soapmaking was conducted on a small scale and the product was rough. Andrew Pears started making a high-quality, transparent soap in 1789 in London. His son-in-law, Thomas J. Barratt, opened a factory in Isleworth in 1862. William Gossage produced low-price good-quality soap from the 1850s. Robert Spear Hudson began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by grinding the soap with a mortar and pestle. American manufacturer Benjamin T. Babbitt introduced marketing innovations that included sale of bar soap and distribution of product samples. William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James, bought a small soap works in Warrington in 1886 and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses, formerly called Lever Brothers and now called Unilever. These soap businesses were among the first to employ large scale advertising campaigns.
* Source: Wikipedia
Until the Industrial Revolution, soapmaking was conducted on a small scale and the product was rough. Andrew Pears started making a high-quality, transparent soap in 1789 in London. His son-in-law, Thomas J. Barratt, opened a factory in Isleworth in 1862. William Gossage produced low-price good-quality soap from the 1850s. Robert Spear Hudson began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by grinding the soap with a mortar and pestle. American manufacturer Benjamin T. Babbitt introduced marketing innovations that included sale of bar soap and distribution of product samples. William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James, bought a small soap works in Warrington in 1886 and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses, formerly called Lever Brothers and now called Unilever. These soap businesses were among the first to employ large scale advertising campaigns.
* Source: Wikipedia
This entire site and its contents copyright 2020, BASIC Soap & Candles, LLC, Decatur, Georgia. All rights reserved.
Phone: 678.782.2482 Fax: 404.574.2177
Phone: 678.782.2482 Fax: 404.574.2177