This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 5:20 am and is filed under Beauty, Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Commercial soaps are nothing compared to their homemade counterparts: commercial soaps dry out your skin and often leave a disgusting film behind. Homemade soap, on the other hand, is good for your skin and uses fewer chemicals. Although it might sound intimidating, homemade soap is very easy to make, and you’ll find that homemade soaps also have none of the problems associated with commercial soaps.
One problem with most store bought soaps is that they are not actually soaps at all, but are detergents, meaning they are petroleum based products. This means they tend to dry out the skin over time, leaving it dry and itchy. Homemade soaps can be made using skin friendly natural oils such as coconut, olive, and palm oils, which will effectively clean your skin, while moisturizing it at the same time.
There are major concerns over the testing of commercial soaps and whether the animals on which the soaps are being testing are being treated ethically. If you make homemade soap, you circumvent this testing process, and you can feel good about doing your part in making the world a better place. All the ingredients in homemade soaps, if chosen properly, are very environmentally friendly.
One of the most fun parts about making your own soap is that you can choose exactly what to put in it. You can put in any fragrance (after all, making vanilla- or cinnamon-scented soap is easy, but what’s the last time you saw a soap like that in the market?), and you can choose to specifically exclude materials that you find harsh on your skin.
Making soap is also a great creative project, one that lets you use your imagination as you combine ingredients, fragrances, and colors. Homemade, handmade soaps also make great gifts, and it gives you a chance to learn how to make something which is essential to our lives, but which many people take for granted.
One easy soap making recipe uses only lye, purified water, olive oil, coconut oil, and grape seed oil. The basic procedure is to make a mixture of lye and water, and a separate mixture of all the oils. The two mixtures are then combined when they are at the same temperature – about 110F. The lye-water mixture will require some cooling, while the oils will require some heating. Then the combined mixture is mixed with a blender until it is the right consistency and finally poured into molds.
As you can see from the above soap making recipe, soap is generally easy to make, although there are some risks involved, but these can be easily mitigated with some research and general care and common sense. The riskiest part of making soap is properly handling the lye. This is a very caustic substance and the skin and eyes should be protected while working with it.
Not only is making soap easy and fun, it’s a creative project that helps you keep alive a dying art, and helps you be healthier and more environmentally friendly. Give it a go: soap-making is a great project to try out!
Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about make your own soap, and making organic soap. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.
- Jen Hopkins
