Natural Soap vs Handmade Soap |
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What exactly does Natural Soap mean? There are actually a few natural herbs which have a sort of a soap action, but when we talk about natural soap today it seems to be a term that is used by people making normal soap products using old manufacturing techniques. They put a great deal of effort into duplicating the old way of making soap, which consists basically of dissolving fat with lye. While this has been the standard practice for producing crude soap for many centuries, it is by no means "natural" . The fats used are typically animal fats, because they are least expensive, being basically a waste product from the slaughter and processing of animals. The other component, lye, is as most people know a dangerous alkaline substance which is used to dissolve organic matter. In fact, lye can be used to dissolve an entire human body. When the fats and lye are combined, they tend to neutralize each other to some degree, depending on whether the materials have been mixed in the proper proportions, how long they were heated, how thoroughly they were mixed, and how long they sat at what temperature during the curing process. Most modern manufacturers of "natural soap" have much better control over these variables than the old manufacturing techniques, because at least the lye they use is of a known molarity, and in fact they produce a milder more repeatable soap than was used for centuries all around the world. It is however still not a "natural soap" by any stretch of the imagination. Some of the problems with "natural soap" are the same as were seen in the crude home made soap of yesteryear. If it is not properly cured, of if mistakes are made in measuring proportions, it can have a very strong alkaline constituent which has very harsh effects on the skin, actually destroying healthy skin tissue to one degree or another. The makers of "natural soap" typically include a variety of herbal or food products to make their soap more attractive, or at least to make it unique among the hoards of natural soap makers competing for a small market. Some of the food products they may include are oats, various milk products, some types of cooking herbs etc. While we applaud their ingenuity, we find the product wanting on several issues. The first is the lack of adequate control in the manufacturing of the product. Crude means such as "tracing" are an ill defined way of measuring at what point the cooking should stop, and in order to provide good product control much more accurate measurement of component materials than are ordinarily used are necessary. Some products contain food elements which do spoil and can produce less than pleasant ordors. Also, "natural soap" is, just as it's slightly more crude predecessors, hostile to the environment because it is NOT biodegradable, and the alkalyne component is dangerous to fish and groundwater quality. So, while it has been tempting in the past to resort to the cheap methods of manufacturing "natural soap", we have rejected the money saving aspects in favour of a higher quality product which is more environmentally friendly and safer for the skin. We prefer to use high quality laboratory controlled manufacturing soap base. Is it un-natural? No, it contains basically the same elements as natural soap, except for some major considerations. First, all of the fatty acids necessary for producing a soap substance in the case of our base come COMPLETELY from plant products, no ifs ands or buts about it. We do not have ANY product which uses ANY part of animals. Secondly, the manufacture of our base is under strict controls so we never have to worry about a few bars being too alkaline and causing skin damage. In laboratory tests, it has been determined that our type of base does not interfere with the normal skin PH as much as natural soap does. That includes the soaps which you buy from the supermarket as well. Our base is, simply put, more friendly to your skin and isn't that what it's all about? Up to this point, our soap is as natural as the most basic home made soap. This is where we depart from mother nature, but only for the good of nature. Our soap contains a small portion of what is called syndets, short for synthetic detergents. Why you may ask would people who insist on staying close to nature do this? Simple.. these syndets protect the natural state of skin, and also they protect nature itself because they assist in biodegradability, assuring that our product will not have the type of adverse effect on water that the natural soap in it's primitive form has. These improved process controls and a small amount of additives result in a product that is friendly to the skin and mother nature, rinses better, does not produce "soap scum" like natural soaps do, and we can take pride in the fact that we are bathing with gorgeous plant and herbal extracts which did not involve the use of nasty animal fats. It also provides us with a base which does not have the inherent bad smell which natural soap has, so when we add a lovely aromatic oil or aromatherapy essential oil, you smell what you want to smell, instead of the nice smell on top of a bucket of lard smell you get with natural soaps. To us, it is truly all about feeling good, feeling good about what we are recommending for skin use, and feeling good about the effects our products do NOT have on the environment. We are proud of the quality of our product. While we would not call it a natural soap, we also do not believe that those who refer to their products as "natural soaps" are being honest and forthcoming.
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