FACT FILES ON HANDMADE, PURE ORGANIC SOAP

It’s an incredibly eye-opening experience to start reading ingredient labels on personal care products. A few years ago, I assembled details of the ingredients in several commercially available soaps- for my interest and that of our customers.

Now I’m back hearing Shakespeare’s Macbeth again:
“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,…”

It’s not surprising that those words should spring to mind when examining the ingredients of a popular “Beauty Cream Bar” with its 26 ingredients- repeat, 26! Its marketing dares to claim: “Soap is Harsh…Dove is Different”. I dare say it is different…at least to our organic soaps.

Let’s take a closer look at Dove's ingredients list, and see what all those 26 goodies are:
- Sodium Lauroyl Isenthionate- synthetic foaming agent, emulsifier & surfactant- skin irritant
- Stearic Acid- fatty acid from animal fats in this instance- common allergen
- Sodium Palmitate- saponified palm oil
- Aqua- water
- Lauric Acid- fatty acid in coconut oil
- Sodium Isethionate- synthetic amphoteric detergent
- Sodium Stearate- synthetic surfactant
- Cocamidopropyl Betaine- synthetic surfactant, allergen
- Sodium Palm Kernelate- saponified palm kernel oil
- Parfum- fragrance, endocrine disruptors
- Glycerin- synthetic glycerin from petrochemicals
- Sodium Chloride- salt
- Zinc Oxide- synthetic binder- insoluble in water, soluble only in acids- skin irritant
- Citric Acid- organic acid & preservative- skin irritant
- Tetrasodium EDTA- synthetic chelating agent- skin irritant, allergen & suspected carcinogen
- Tetrasodium Eldronate- water softener & chelating agent- aggravates eczema/skin problems
- Alumina- aluminium- amphoteric oxide & abrasive
- Alpha-isomethyl Ionone- binder- a restricted irritant & allergen- banned from use in perfume industry
- Benzyl Alcohol- organic peroxide compound
- Butylphenyl Methylpropional- sensitizing fragrance- restricted use in perfume industry
- Citronellol- acyalic monoterpenoid- sensitizing organic fragrance & allergen
- Coumarin- sensitizing chemical fragrance
- Hexyl Cinnamal- synthetic fragrance- Class B allergen
- Limonene- cyclicterpene synthetic fragrance
- Linalool- terpene alcohol synthetic fragrance
- CI 77891- titanium dioxide- white pigment

By law, ingredients must be listed in descending order of content. After looking at that list, I’m now wondering where the “1/4 moisturising cream” supposedly contained in each bar is. The only ingredients that could contribute to being moisturising are the Stearic (from animal fat waste = tallow, in this instance) and Lauric acids (from palm oil), and petroleum-based glycerin. All three are cheap and harsh ingredients…hidden from obvious disclosure of their source. If you were aware that you were buying a soap made from largely animal fat waste, and palm oil, would you consciously buy it on principle? Unilever- who manufacture Dove- buys 3% of the world’s palm oil…alarmingly contributing to the destruction of our environment. Are you feeling a little bit different about that “Beauty Cream Bar” yet…made from waste products and petrochemical derived synthetic detergents?

In comparison, our organic soaps generally contain four natural ingredients…we’ll never manage to compare to that grand list above, thankfully.

Our soaps are made with quality organic plant oils. They are expensive- without question. Our ‘vari’ soap- which also forms the base of our ‘cofi’, ‘hemi’, ‘nimi’ and ‘salti’ soaps- contains organic extra virgin coconut and olive oils, and organic castor oil. It therefore contains the following beneficial and moisturising fatty acids from those oils: Lauric, Linoleic, Myristic, Oleic, Palmitic, Ricinoleic and Stearic Acids.

‘vari’ also contains around 12% natural glycerine produced from those organic plant oils, as a by-product of the cold-process method of soap-making that we use. We also ‘superfat’ our soaps- meaning that our recipes are calculated to retain a proportion of the oils in free suspension within the soap to further increase the moisturising qualities.

Hmm…what was that marketing line again- “Soap is Harsh…Dove is Different”? Nothing more than a bit of deceptive, creative copywriting- the ingredients tell the true story.

Continuing Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
“…For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
Who knew all those years ago, that one day Shakespeare would finally find relevance in my life!

FACT FILES ON HANDMADE PURE, ORGANIC SOAP

How is soap made? Often when I’m stirring a batch of soap, I hear the words silently running through my head…”Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.” (from Macbeth, William Shakespeare)…some words stick with you for life!

So how do you turn an oil into a solid to create soap? There’s a bit of simple chemistry that applies to the process. Basically, a fatty acid/oil is combined with an alkali/caustic soda (NaOH) to form a solid/fatty acid salt…soap. The reaction that occurs: fat/oil + 3NaOH/sodium hydroxide = glycerine +3soap.

A fatty acid has a unique combination of triglycerides…compounds made of 3 fatty acids attached to a single molecule of glycerol. Glycerol is the basis of all fats, made up of a three carbon chain…connecting the fatty acids together. When mixed with the alkali solution with 1 hydroxide ion (the sodium ion does not take part in the reaction at all), the triglycerides within the fatty acid/oil release the single glycerol molecule…which turns into glycerine. The fatty acids combine with the hydroxide ions to form a solid soap salt.

This process is called ‘saponification’- the oil used as an ingredient becomes termed a ‘saponified oil’ for identification, or is identified as a salt- like sodium cocoate (saponified coconut oil). There is no other way to turn an oil into a solid salt. The caustic soda solution- sometimes termed ‘lye’- is part of the chemical process but, through the molecular reconfigurations in the equation, becomes inert and transforms the glycerol into the beneficial element of glycerine.

Glycerine is therefore created as a by-product of the soap-making process…making the use of caustic soda in the process a bit of a no-brainer for any concern, as it does not exist in the resultant soap. Glycerine is an incredibly moisturising substance- attracting moisture from its surroundings…a 'humectant'. It’s the most valued ingredient used in the skin care industry, and it is usually filtered off in commercial soap manufacturing to be used in moisturisers.

At ilo ORGANICS, we hand-make our soaps using the cold process method of soap manufacture. This method yields a high percentage of natural glycerine, and the glycerine quality in our soaps cannot be surpassed, as it is derived from processing pure organic plant oils. All handmade, cold process soaps can in fact be termed ‘glycerine soaps’ because of the high glycerine content produced as a by-product. 

After the mixture has thickened through careful blending, it is poured into moulds and left for a day to continue the saponification process and firm up. The formed soaps are then left to ‘cure’- evaporate the water content from the lye used, and further harden- for a period of weeks. This period is determined by the soap cake size and the oils used- varying from 4-8 weeks in our soap types produced.

At ilo ORGANICS, we ‘superfat’ our soaps. This means that in our soap recipe calculations, we make an allowance so that not all of the oils are converted in the processing. This leaves a percentage of the oils in their natural form to further moisturise the skin. These suspended oils can sometimes rise to the surface- causing small pockets of darker discolouration. The clear sticky coating that also rises to the surface of the soap is the glycerine content.

So if you were thinking that soap was the harsh product that commercial manufacturers now marketing body-washes in their economic drive would have you believe, think again. Handmade, cold process soaps are true soaps made with time-honoured traditions and natural ingredients- unsurpassed for the gentle, moisturising cleansing care that they offer the skin.

At ilo ORGANICS, our soaps also offer the added benefit of being made with pure organic plant oils, and are completely chemical, colouring and fragrance free. Indulge your body and nurture your skin naturally…you’ll wonder how you ever lived without our soaps- moisturising skin care in one simple step! Back to the stirring...