Handmade Soaps
For centuries, people have been making their own soaps. With just a little chemistry know how, you can make a quality soap tailored to your specific tastes. The process does involve the use of the caustic alkaline substance ‘lye’ and so shouldn’t be done without first learning the proper procedures. If the wrong proportions are used, there can be an excess of the alkali in the resulting soap, and it can be irritating or even damaging to your skin.
For years, the chemical process of soap making was poorly understood, and handmade soaps were often out of proportion in this way. Handmade soaps have therefore gotten a bad reputation for being especially harsh, or high in lye. Sometimes soaps made in this way are referred to as ‘lye soaps’. However, if the soap making process is done correctly and carefully all of the lye used in the reaction will be converted to soap and glycerin. Since we now have a better understanding of what proportions to use, soaps high in lye are now rare.
Today, most handmade soaps are a pleasant alternative to the mass-produced soaps found in most stores. In fact, the tables have turned somewhat in that the mass-produced soap you buy in a store generally will have more lye in it than handmade soaps. Experienced handmade soap makers generally make extra effort to ensure that all of the caustic alkali they use is converted to the desired products, whereas the larger manufacturers are less careful.
Another added bonus to handmade soaps is that they normally contain all of the glycerin that was naturally produced during the soap making process. Most large-scale producers of soap separate the glycerin from their soap because it can clog their machinery. The glycerin they obtain is usually sold in other products for an increased profit. So while their soaps will certain get the job done in terms of getting you clean, they lack the naturally moisturizing quality of a higher glycerin content soap.
Handmade soap is becoming extremely popular, and there are a variety of such soaps available online today. If you are interested in buying a handmade soap it can be confusing to know how where to begin. Keep in mind that all soap is made with lye, and that the advertisement ‘this soap contains no lye’ is misleading because no soap, made correctly, should contain lye.
While quality handmade soaps are generally more expensive, they are in fact better for your skin than the kinds of soap commonly available in markets today. If you are like me and you have sensitive skin, you may want to consider trying a handmade soap as an alternative.
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