Homemade Soap: For a Greener, Cleaner You.
By: Brittanie Pyper
Your ancestors would be ashamed knowing
you bought that soap from a grocery store shelf! What happened to the good old days when you had to
make everything from scratch including your soap? Times have certainly changed; we now live in a
world where we rely on technology and factories to provide us with our daily essentials. Soap for
example is processed and created in factories and then boxed, shipped, and delivered conveniently to
the grocery store right around the corner from our homes. It just patiently waits for the next time we
need a good scrub. But do you really know what you are paying for to rub onto your body? What you
don’t know could certainly, surprise you.
Isn’t it scary to think you don’t know what you are putting in or in this case on your body? Of
course we are all aware to some degree what those ingredients are since there are labels on everything
we purchase. But does anyone ever really know what Sodium Palm Kernelate is? Unless you are a soap
enthusiast I bet not, it seems like a foreign language if you ask me. The truth is, you can be allergic to
certain ingredients in soap and it can be the cause for that rash you have or extra dry skin you can’t get
seem to get rid of. It’s hard to pin point which ingredient is the culprit when you can’t understand what
they are to begin with. I have a quick solution: Use homemade soap.
Since I became a mom in 2010, I became paranoid and worried about the types of items I would
be using on my son and thus using on myself. I found myself reading labels, researching products on the
internet and rather being quite obsessed. I came across an interesting website that was promoting
homemade soap. I knew soap could be made at home but I had no idea it was really that much better
for you. It just so happened a few weeks after finding that site I won a contest and received some of this
wonderful soap. It arrived in a timely manner, came all neatly boxed with labels I could clearly read. To
my surprise the label on it listed only 4 ingredients: Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Water, Sodium
Hydroxide, and Essential Oil. Although, I was unaware of what some of these ingredients were I can tell
you, it was a lot less than the amount of ingredients in my store bought soap. Regardless of the
ingredients I was a little skeptic, as a frugal person the first thing that ran through my mind was “Don’t
get hooked on this stuff, you can’t use coupons to purchase it”. Coupons aside, I gave into my curiosity
and I am sure glad I did. For the first time in many years I feel like my skin can breathe. The peppermint
castile soap I tried made my skin feel rejuvenated and tingly. It left a fresh minty scent and made me feel
like I had bathed in a tub full of butter. That is far more than the itchy, flaky, and rough skin I am used to,
can ever offer.
After trying the soap and other products I had received, I decided to revisit the Baby Duck Soap
Co. website. I was curious as to why my skin felt better when using the homemade soap versus the store
bought soap. I was also curious as to what the cost difference was in case I chose to switch my soap
purchasing habits. Upon searching for this information, I found out the owner of Baby Duck Soap Co. is a
mother. She sought out to make soap as a way to be able to provide more frugal products for her family.
She became so good at making homemade products that she decided to turn it into a business to help
financially support her family. She now shares her artistic soap making skills with the world at a
reasonable price. The owner is a person I can relate to with being a mom and a frugal person. Those two
attributions caught my eye and kept me interested.
It’s safe to say that after reviewing the Baby Duck Soap Co. products I am quite impressed. I had
no idea the different colors, scents, shapes, and styles you could make with soap. It really brings a new
meaning to soap; it’s no longer just a boring rectangular bar that you clean yourself with day to day. You
can have a soap bar that looks and smells good enough to eat. But I still wanted to know more, why do
people make and sell their own soap? What benefits can homemade soap have to offer that store
bought soap cannot? I sent out on a Google quest to find out.
During my research, I found that there are several benefits from using homemade soap. Of
course, the number one reason is, you know what ingredients are being used. Store bought soaps
typically have synthetic ingredients and artificial dyes that can do more damage to your skin than good.
Most store bought soaps do not contain glycerin since it has a high re-sale value, companies will extract
it and sell it to other companies to make a quick buck. This is a cause to the scaly, flaky, dry skin so many
of us seem to have. Unlike store bought soap, homemade soap is
made from natural ingredients and ingredients typically come
right out of the artists cupboards. Homemade soap also retains
its natural glycerin which helps promote moisture retention. Even
the coloring of the soap is made from natural herbs, flower extracts, and essential oils. Of course the
basis of soap remains the same, to make soap you need lye. But even with using lye, the natural benefits
are even better for the environment. There are no harmful chemicals or preservatives that can be
damaging to plants and animals. Homemade soap is usually more cost effective. Making homemade
soap in the end can be cheaper because you are using products you would normally already use at
home. You can even save money by allowing your soap to dry in between uses; it will ensure your soap
will last twice as long as the traditional store bought soap.
So should you start making your own soap? Well not exactly. Making soap can be dangerous if
you don’t know what you are doing. The chemical Lye is quite corrosive and if not handled properly can
cause burns and ignite flames. Besides the chemical processes, a person making soap must have a knack
for patience and creativity. It takes experimenting with different ingredients, oils, and scents to create
soap worth bathing with. Independent soap makers take pride in their craft and do not rush through
their batch. The key is patience. On average it takes 4-6 weeks for soap to cure. That is, for soap to get
hard enough to be used. If that seems too long for you, then consider purchasing homemade soap from
independent artists. Either way, you know you will be purchasing a product that is friendly for your skin
and the environment.
Works Cited
The Baby Duck Soap Co. (company information and photo credit)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/babyducksoapco
The Many Benefits of Handmade Soap
http://www.dailyglow.com/the-many-benefits-of-handmade-soap.html
Why Handmade Soap?
http://www.rivertreesoaps.com/why.htm
Lye, from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lye