Are you drawn to commercial soap thinking that the claims they make for healthy looking natural skin will benefit you, then you find that the soap is just as drying as the others? Don’t feel alone in your struggles, most people feel this way about soap and the fact that it strips your skin of its natural oils and leaves it feeling dry.
Many people have turned to natural soap after reporting these effects on their skin. More and more people are making their own too. Soap Making allows you to avoid those synthetic chemicals that are found in most commercial brands.
Though most natural handmade soap does not contain the same chemicals that commercial ones do, there are still some soap makers that add chemicals to their soap. Some of the worst chemicals that are found in soap making are included in the fragrance oils that are added. There can be up to 600 different chemicals in one fragrance oil. It is unfortunate that some soap makers take a beautiful natural soap and then add the fragrance oil to make it smell like “fresh rain”or a summer fruit.
There is only one way to scent your soap and keep it truly natural. That is to use essential oils for scenting, rather than fragrance oil. Essential oil is from plant sources, so they come straight from nature and are a concentration of the plants essence.
Unfortunately there are only about 8% of soap makers who use only essential oils to scent their soap. This is too bad since soap making puts you in complete control of what you add to your soap.
Here are a few things to consider when you are buying handmade soap:
1. Look for soap products made from a blend of vegetable oils like coconut, vegetable, peanut, sunflower, and corn oil. These are but a few of the popular vegetable oils used in the industry today. You can avoid animal fats and animal products in handmade soap, it is difficult to find a commercial soap without animal fat.
2. Avoid soaps that have added fragrance oil, since this does not add any value to the soap and may cause a skin reaction depending on the chemicals that were used to make the fragrance oil. Instead either go with an unscented soap or one that has essential oils only.
3. Check for additional natural ingredients such as cocoa butter, shea butter, vitamin E, and Aloe Vera along with other organic herbs and spices. If you want a handmade soap with exfoliating abilities, select those that include oatmeal, ground almond, cinnamon, and corn meal.
The easiest way to be sure you are getting all the benefits from your soap, is to make your own. It’s simple and fun. With a little professional guidance, you can be a soap making success.
Come visit Soap Making School and learn more. You will learn to make cold process soap in your very first class. All classes are $7/week. These are detailed online video classes where you can learn soap making, liquid soap making, lotion and conditioners, shampoos and natural cleaning products. Learn how to make your own Glycerin soap instead of buying melt and pour.
