HERBAL HANDMADE SOAP, AUTHENTIC FARM TO FACE BOTANICAL SKIN CARE

How Creation Farm's all natural aromatherapy soaps differ from commercial soaps:

Our homemade soap is the practical result of a chemical reaction between the fatty acids in beneficial botanical oils and a caustic soda solution (lye or NaOH).

This remarkable process is called saponification. Mechanized production of commercial soap is usually from tallow and other fats plus a variety of synthetic compounds which are added to produce the desired lather, texture and hardness of the finished bar.

These additives often include additional detergents, dyes, synthetic fragrance compounds from petroleum distillates and other potential carcinogens. As long as it is only labeled as soap the manufacturer is not required to tell you what all they put in it. In the commercial process the caustic mixture is boiled at high temperatures and often under pressure until the process of saponification takes place; soap is the end product. The soap is then mechanically pulverized (milled) and sent through a machine which hydraulically compacts the soap shreds under tons of pressure very tightly to produce a hard, polished bar.

However, more potentially harmful to the skin additives are then needed to give the soap the required amount of plasticity and to prevent the soap from sticking to the rollers of the milling machine. When fats, oils and lye are mixed in proper ratio like our soap formulas, glycerin becomes a natural byproduct of the reaction that is captured within the soap in a ration of 5 molecules soap to 1 molecule of glycerin throughout the soap.

During the manufacture of commercial soaps, glycerin is produced and is either washed away with the other waste products, or it is separated out with salts and solvents and for sale to the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and explosives (think nitro-glycerin!) industries. This is a shameful loss - glycerin is a natural humectant and moisturizer for our delicate outer skin and the removal of glycerin during the commercial production of soap is one of the main reasons why commercial soaps can often be so drying to the skin. In our homemade cold-process soapmaking method the basic mixture consists of beneficial botanical oils and fats, sodium hydroxide (made by running electricity through salt water), water, natural nutrient extracts and essential oils. These ingredients are blended until saponification is complete. No additional heat is supplied apart from the gentle heat needed to melt the oils at the start of the process and the glycerin is retained in the soap as the saponification takes place.

This means that our homemade handmade aromatherapy soaps still contain all the glycerin, making superior and gentle bars of soap. We use simple minimally processed botanical ingredients in our soaps. Depending on the type of soap we want to make, our soaps will contain a mixture of ingredients drawn from the following list: purified water, olive, coconut, palm, and castor oils, nutrient oils such as wheat germ, jojoba, hemp or avocado, emollient substances such as shea butter, cocoa butter, essential oils for their potentially therapeutic actions and amazing aromas.

For special soaps we also add other botanical ingredients, such as herb flower petals, selected leaves, oatmeal, grits, phyto-nutrient concentrated extracts of herbs, cosmetic green and rhassoul clays. It is the combination of oils in our soaps that produces the rich and creamy luxurious lather.

When you're washing, turn the homemade soap bar a few times in your hands to release the lovely, soft, fluffy bubbles that are the hallmark of coconut and palm oil in soap, and the creamy rich smaller and medium bubbles are made by the olive, and castor. You'll find the results are softer and smoother than those of a typical mass-produced soap. We made the decision long ago to avoid using animal products and proteins in our soaps and the only colors are from the various botanicals, clays, oils and extracts. Our soaps and Herbal Skin Care products are all cruelty free and we use minimal packaging materials to seal in the aromatic wonders of the essential oils and phyto-nutrients within the soap.