Modern Natural Lye Soap Is Mild
Natural Soap Can Be Customized To Condition Your Skin
In the old days, you would hear about Grandma's harsh lye soap. Nowadays, homemade soap is mild and formulated on precise measurements for a luxuriant and mild cleanser.
Lye Mixed With Oil And Water Results In Natural Soap
When a soap maker blends lye, water and oil, a chemical change called saponification occurs to the mixture. The mixture changes or saponifies into soap, an oil and salt mixture. If too much oil or fat is added, the result will be a soft soap that leaves an oily residue. Too much lye and the soap can be the harsh and skin reddening variety. If exactly the right amount of lye is used, the result is a mild soap. The different oil, fat, oils, fats or combinations that are used to create a soap bar will affect the texture of the soap, resulting in a soft bar or a hard bar.
Natural Soap Is A Mild Surfactant
As a surfactant, natural soap will cleanse surfaces, human and household. Soap works with water to cleanse surfaces. Together, suds and soapy water break down and lift dirt, particles, oil and grime from the surface that is being cleaned.
Soap is useful for washing many household items that can be wet washed such as laundry, wooden surfaces, plastics and many painted surfaces. Natural soaps are versatile cleansers because a natural soap bar can be melted with water to make a liquid soap concentrate.
Soap Is A General Cleanser
The liquid soap concentrate can be put in a dispenser for hand washing, customized bubble baths or laundry or further diluted for general cleaning purposes. A couple drops added to a spray bottle of warm water and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda creates a simple general cleaning spray. Shake the mixture and use. (Intrigued? Read how to make liquid soap and make bubble bath.)
Natural soap retains glycerine, which is a natural byproduct of the soap making process. Glycerine softens the skin. Soap does not leave a residue on household surfaces unless it is used with hard water. If you use natural soap in a shower or bath with hard water, the residue will be left as a ring on the appliance. The use of a water softener will prevent the residue.
Mild soap, which is a natural cleanser bar, can be used on your skin. You can use this natural cleanser bar on your face, body and hands. As a mild surfactant, natural soap will remove the oil from the skin. A moisturizer will replenish the lost protection.
Super-Fatted Natural Soap
A trend in modern soap making is to leave extra oil in the soap cleanser so that the soap can condition the skin instead of completely stripping the skin of its natural oils. Soaps, with extra oils, are called super-fatted soaps. Extra oil may be added at the beginning of the batch or it may be added as a last step to a finished soap. .
Digital Scales and Accurate Measurements
The use of a reliable scale and an understanding of how to formulate a soap recipe based on an oil or fat’s saponification value would have given Grandma a reliable recipe for mild soap every time. Nowadays, handmade and natural mild soaps and cleansers are made with digital scales and accurate measuring equipment. Natural soaps are considered natural because the soap is not synthetic or processed. The oil used in soap making is a natural vegetable oil or animal fat.
You can find natural cleansing bars enhanced with natural ingredients such as herbs, extracts, essential oils, butters, exotic oils and many food grade items. Baking soda, pine resin and other harsh natural ingredients may be added to natural soap to create strong laundry soap. Further information is available about natural soap.
