Hand Made Natural Soap: The SoapSmith™

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The Making of Hand Made Natural Soap

Natural Soap - Overview:

Our hand made all vegetable oil soaps are carefully planned to maximize skin care benefits. We use the old fashioned cold-process method which retains all of the natural glycerin created in the soap making process. We never use ‘store bought’ melt and pour kits.

Hand Made Natural Soap - Ingredients:

We begin with wholesome vegetable oils – olive, coconut, palm, avocado, jojoba, almond, wheat germ and castor oils as well as shea and cocoa butters. We never use any animal fats! The only animal products we use, in some of our bars, are buttermilk, honey, beeswax

All Natural Handmade Lavender Vanilla Bar Soap Mixing

and lanolin. Since true hand made natural soap can only be made using sodium hydroxide (lye), we do use it as the alkali to react with the oils (which act as the base).

Rest assured there is no lye remaining in our soap bars. We calculate all of our recipes to be sure that all of the lye is used up in the soap making process - with extra oils left to spare. This makes our soaps super moisturizing since the extra oils are free to provide additional skin care benefits.

For scrubbing and coloring our bars we use natural exfoliants and colorants in our natural soap. Ground oatmeal, cornmeal, coffee and almonds provide gentle exfoliation in our scrub bars. Ground paprika, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and turmeric add visual spice and scent to our various hand-made natural soaps. Natural colorants, such as cocoa, annatto seed extract, clays, natural pigments, and others allow us to create soaps that are as beautiful to look at as they are to smell.

At The SoapSmith™, we also use pure essential and fragrance oils to create lovely scents that relax and soothe. Essential oils are the natural oils of plants that are highly concentrated, and contain medicinal properties. The fragrance oils offer a wide range of fragrances that are unavailable or unattainable otherwise. By using both we feel we obtain the best of both worlds!


Jennifer Tinting Lye	Rose Milk Bath Before Trace	Soap Slab Ready for Cutting	Soap Loaves Ready to Cut

The Process:

The cold-process for hand made natural soap combines the chosen oils with the lye solution when they are both at the same temperature. The oils and lye are then vigorously stirred to assist the chemical reaction which creates soap. Once the mixture has reached "trace", a thin pudding consistency, the essential oils, extra nutrients, exfoliants, and colorants are added and thoroughly incorporated. The mixture is then poured into molds where it is insulated for at least 24 hours. The resulting natural soap is uncovered and allowed to air dry, then cut into bars and cured for 3 weeks. Once the bars are aged, they are labeled by hand, and ready to use.

Natural Handmade Soap Bars Curing

To learn more about hand made natural soap, click here.