I wanted to post a little entry to my loyal customers and potential customers looking specifically at our soaps. If you enjoy handmade soap or are looking into buying some for the benefits you recieve from it, be cautious when soap hunting that you actually know what it is you are potentially buying.

What has inspired me to write this particular entry is my own run in with another soap maker. Just like with manufacturers of modern day "soap" there are a few out there that make "homemade" soap that claim theirs to be the best and the finest and their stories are truly convincing, however, what is really in their "soap". Notice I qoute soap...is their soap true soap? What is the definition of soap? Soap is the product created from the sopanification of oils or fats with lye (sodium hydroxide) and water. Oils and fats are a salt and Sodium hydroxide and water is an alkali. When combining the two it creates a chemical reaction that creates soap. After the oils are completely sopanified there is no lye remaining in the soap, leaving a natural soap made from natural oils with no preservatives or chemicals, foaming agents etc. There are two forms of making natural soap. One is our method of cold process which takes longer but leaves the benefits of the oils intact, and the hot process method, which is a quicker process accomplished through heat. The down side of hot process soap is the heat destroys the natural benefits of the oils, and so extra additives such as glycerine, vitamins, preservatives etc. are needed. Cold processed soap retains all of the natural glycerine created and no additives or preservatives are needed to make a rich lathering nurishing bar of true soap.

I was doing some looking around for pine tar soap. It seems to be a tightly gaurded trade secret these days and not alot of people are interested in making it. I have found, because it traces so quickly and you have to work fast. I found a couple of places I was considering buying some from to try. Believe it or not, altho I make my own wonderful soaps, I also use soaps made by others. Everyone has their own unique recipe and formulas and all soaps are slightly differant. I frequently buy from my friend Carla, because she has a couple of bars that I simply adore. But, considering me and my family have extremely sensitive skin I want to know what is going into the soaps I buy if it's not my own. According to the FDA when you sell soap you must have the following on your packaging: Name of the business, the word soap visiable, the business' address and phone number AND the full list of ingredients for the exception of the type of Frangrance you use, because fragrance is considered a trade secret.

So you will note on the back of our cigar bands it clearly states "Contains sopanified: Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Vitamin E, Cocoa Butter, Essential Oils".... etc., etc., etc.!

Anyhoo, I contacted two soap makers about their pine tar soap. I real soap maker is proud of their soap and will willing share their ingredients, because we are all after the same thing to insure people ours is natural, real, and won't irritate their skin like manufactured "soap". Someone who has something to hide won't. So when you look for handmade soaps, bath bombs etc, notice if they list their ingredients openly... and I mean ALL of them.
Well one soap maker caught my eye. His discription claimed it to be natural soap with no lye! Well, as I have mentioned before, no lye, no soap! "Soaps" made without lye..... is not actually true soap, it is a detergent and where as it will clean you up, will also leave you dry and itchy because of the use of surfactants aka foaming agents and boosters. I contacted this soap maker and asked how it is he makes "soap" without the use of Sodium Hydroxide because it is a key element in making soap.

This is the reply I recieved: "Thanks for your interest. If you add the Sodium Hydroxide to pine tar it changes the pine tar to soap along with all the other oils. this would reduce the effectiveness of the pine tar. We use a natural version of SLS made from palm oil which is our sudsing agent therefor the pine tar is not turned into soap and makes our product much more effective"

Now, let me break this down real quick and point a few misleadings, that someone who is shopping and doesn't understand the process of soap or the differance would fall into believing here. Yes, Adding sodium hydroxide to pine tar or any other oil or fat changes it to soap, it does not however reduce the effectivness of the pine tar, because that is determined by how much pine tar is used in the recipe. Now if you buy a bar of pine tar soap that has only say 5% pine tar it will be less effective for what you want it to do than if you buy a bar that contains the maximum amount of 20-25%. Also, when soap is made most soap makes use a lye discount. Discounting lye by a certian percentage means there is less lye used in the mixture than needed, causing ALL of t he lye to be used leaving none behind for a milder, safer soap, therefore not sopanifying ALL of the oils and leaving the benefits fully intact. Trust me, I've done my home work and made soap , tried soap and compared soap for years.... this guy is full of crap!

Also, notice how he says he uses a natural SLS alternative from palm oil which is his sudsing agent. OK! WOAH! SLS!? NATURAL SLS ALTERNATIVE!?? Ok first off, if they don't spell it out for you , they don't want you to know what it stands for. SLS is the abbreviation for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. The abbreviated symbol for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is used around the world in clinical studies as a skin irritant!! Yes, I see he said he uses an Natural SLS from palm oil..... SLS is derived from coconuts and is used as a surfactant... aka a foaming agent, and is used in the following products , engine degreaser, car detergents, dish detergents, tooth paste, dog shampoo and yes, even bar soap!!! Now you could claim that SLS is NATURAL because it is derived from coconuts OR..... not. Again, this is guy is full of crap and is using my so called ignorance to his advantage to sell me his soap. This ticked me off!

My soap has a natural surfactant, it's called COCONUT OIL. When you use coconut oil or coconut milk in cold processed soap it helps create a fluffy lathering bath. That is the only reason I use coconut oil in my soaps, so it lathers up wonderfully without the need of adding a foam booster. No SLS what so ever.

Now, I emailed this person back and wanted to know exactly what it was he was using as an "alternative to SLS from palm oil" because I wanted to research it for myself to see if it would give me a rash. He refused to tell me. UGH! Anyone ligetamately selling REAL TRUE SOAP is proud of their work and what the use and want to meet FDA standards and will be open with the ingredients AND is suppost to for the exception of fragrance and perfuming, this is what he said:

"I am sorry but there are some questions that have to do with making our soap that we do not discuss and therefor can only tell you that if you try the soap and are not satisfied we will refund your money."

Who on earth wants to chance buying a soap that has SLS or it's skin irritating cousins in it without knowing what it is and risk a rash or worsening their considition so they can turn around and get their 5.00 back? Sorry, the refund isn't worth the rash.

So, in closing, when you hunt for True handmade soap, look for ingredients , honesty and openess from the maker and make sure they are not trying to fool you into thinking their product is handmade soap, when all it is, is a homemade version of manufactured "soap" detergents.

Rachel