Soap Making Ingredients – Keeping It Healthy

It is believed that soap probably had its origins in sap from different plants. These were referred to as soap plants and one could take the roots of the plant, crush them in water and the result would be a rich lather. These plants still exist today but are no longer used in their raw form.

Plants that fell into the category of soap plants were soap bark, soap wort and a plant that was called soap berry. All of these plants would produce a foam that could also be used as a lather. In ancient times these plants were also used to catch fish as the lather could immobilize them, thereby making them easier to catch.

Much later people found that certain fats could react when combined with the alkalies found in the ashes of burned wood. It would cause the fat to saponify different compounds such as sodium sterate as well as potassium sterate.

In todays world soap is now made from a combination of fats and oils that interact with lye. Oils such as coconut, palm, tallow or rendered beef and lard which is rendered fat from pork are commonly used in bar soap and are normally hard soaps that do not dissolve easily in water.

Castile soaps are mainly made using olive oil, normally the purest you can find, and yields a soap that is known for being very mild and soft on your skin. This is a favorite soap for many because of its healing properties for your skin.

There is also a process in soap making that is called super fatting. Once the interaction with lye is complete the soap tends to have some fat remaining. This soap is normally easier to cut and feels very smooth on your skin. The lye is completely burned off and none remains that could cause any kind of irritation to the skin of the user. This type of soap is also very low in alkaline.

Glycerin is also another popular ingredient in soap making and many will use it to make transparent soaps. Glycerin is also one of the main ingredients that you rarely find in commercial soaps as it is usually removed. This is one reason that commercially bought soaps are so hard on your skin and often contribute to skin dryness.

Soaps that are sold commercially usually contain ingredients such as sodium tallowate, sodium palmate and a number of other ingredients that are not naturally produced. This is one of the main reasons that people prefer to buy homemade soaps as they realize the health value of using these soaps as well as the value to their skin.

People also like to buy natural soaps as not only do they like to use them to bath with but in many cases the soaps are great as a shampoo. Naturally made soaps will not contain harmful ingredients and harsh chemicals.

One of the fun soap ingredients is using essential oils. People love to use them separately for a pure scent as well as combining them to make a combination of scents. Soap makers love to experiment with essentials oils and it helps to lend a certain amount of creativity to the soap making process.

Another soap making ingredient that people love to work with is different colors that are produced from many different sources. From Crayola crayons to pigments from different plants the choices are endless.

But in the end, the great thing about soap is that these use basic ingredients, naturally produced and much healthier for the person using them or purchasing them.

For more information on soap making ingredients visit our website Soap Making Made Easy and read about the many choices that are available to soap makers today.