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So...what kind of soap *IS* this?
The short answer: Cold Process and/or Hot Process
Possible Ingredients:
Castor Oil
Coconut Oil
Palm Oil
Olive Oil
Sunflower Oil
Shea Butter
Cocoa Butter
Rice Bran
Beeswax
Sodium Lactate (vegetable derived humectant)
Occasionally:
Sweet Almond Oil
Apricot Kernel Oil
Soy Oil
Exfoliants:
Oatmeal
Vanilla Beans
Loofah
Pumice
Ground Apricot
Ground Coffee Beans
Never:
Lard or Animal fat. That's just gross.
Let me be clear before we begin: I'm of the opinion that a good
handmade soap beats the pants off store-bought soap ANY day. Soap is a
very broad term that, on the most basic level, indicates an item that cleans.
And really? As a soapmaker (me, or anyone else for that matter) that's
pretty much all we can tell you our product does...it CLEANS. So when
shopping for soap think in terms of how much it cleans, as it relates
to what type of cleansing you're looking for. Something listed as a
garage bar (or garden bar) may have more cleansing ability than say, a
baby wash bar. Generally, the more a bar "bubbles" the more cleansing
ability it has. More cleansing means that it takes away more dirt and
oils away from the skin, including natural oils that your body
produces. In that line of thinking, you wouldn't use a garage bar on
your baby, right? And a baby bar may not take the grease off your
hands if you've been working under the hood of your car. So, pay
attention to what the bar's intended use is. That way, everyone's
happy. :D
Another point to mention is scent. Generally, I use fragrance oils in
many bars because I like their scent, and the Fragrance Elves do a
*way* better job than I ever could of creating the warm scent of
Basmati Rice or Cherry Blossom...so I let them do their work and pass
along the wonderful creations to you! Sometimes I use essential oils
for the exact same reason: I love the scent! Essential oils come from
a plant, and not from the Fragrance Elf Lab. So, if you see something
with Lemongrass Essential Oil, that means it is the oil that comes from
the Lemongrass plant, or Peppermint comes from that plant, etc. etc. I
have read that many essential oils have therapudic qualities to them,
but coming back to the subject of soap...I can only tell you that soap
CLEANS. If you want to find out more about essential oils, I would
suggest doing some digging on the WWW and see what you come up with.
Please note that any fragrances I use are skin-safe.
So, what type of soap will you find at Vinca Leaf? Two types: Cold
Process and Hot Process. What's the difference? Well, I'll try to be
brief...
Soap is made by a process called saponification. ALL soap, not just
mine! It is made by combining sodium hydroxide (lye) and fats or oils,
which creates a chemical reaction and the precipitate is SOAP! If you
ever run across a "soapmaker" that says their soap is NOT made with
sodium hydroxide (lye)....RUN THE OTHER WAY! They definately do not
know enough about their product to be selling it. Technically, what
they may mean is that *they* did not put lye in their soap, and they
are using a Melt and Pour soap base. So, someone did use lye, but it
just wasn't them. :D
Melt and Pour is made commercially and sold in giant blocks, to be
melted down and the consumer can add their own colorant and fragrance
to it. It's fairly economical, since the corporation mixes it in giant
vats and passes the savings on to the consumer. Here's an example of how Melt and Pour works.
Again,
just my opinion: there are many Melt and Pour bases out there
that will beat the pants off of store-bought soap any day. Some Melt
and Pour bases are not much better than store bought though because
they have a lot of unnecessary chemicals added to them in order to make
them fluid again, to pour into molds. At the end of the day, wherever
you choose to buy soap...look for AN INGREDIENT LIST! By law,
soapmakers
are not required to provide an ingredient list, in an effort to protect
their secret recipes I guess! So no...they're not doing anything
"wrong" per se by not providing one, but I believe providing customers
with information to make a sound decision. If you're considering
purchasing Melt and Pour soap, the shorter the laundry list of
ingredients, the better.
Put simply, Melt and Pour *IS* like Cold
Process and Hot Process, just with extra chemicals added to make it
more fluid and useable for the artist. Some of the most beautiful,
swirly, colorful and creative soaps are made with Melt and Pour, and
the expense that goes along with them is from the many hours the artist
spends on each little gem.
So, then...what is Cold Process? Cold Process is the blending of
sodium hydroxide and oils to create an emulsification. An exothermic
chemical reaction occurs at room temperature, meaning the reaction gives
off heat while the change occurs. Then, you have soap! Hot process is
very similar to Cold Process, except there is an external heat source
used and the soap is "cooked" and then put into molds. I generally
don't do this process very often, but sometimes a certain recipe just
works better this way. In the end, both methods produce a great soap.
All of this is kind of oversimplified, because there's a lot of trial
and error involved while you're searching for the perfect recipes, and
curing time, and a whole host of other things, but if you have burning questions, shoot me an email! I'll be happy to chit-chat!
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