Have you ever wondered how soap is made?
The traditional method of making soap (cold process) dates all the way back to the ancient Egyptians! According to legend, the word soap comes from mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. The fats from these animals mixed with wood ashes, then rain would push this mixture down the mountain and into the river where women would wash their clothes. It’s said that this mixture of fat and ash, combined with the water, made it much easier to clean the clothes! Sadly, this is probably a made up story, as no such mountain or river exists. But the basic recipe for the first soap did indeed contain animal fats and wood ash, combined with water. There was even a soap factory, complete with finished bars of soap, found in the ruins of Pompeii.
Today of course many soap makers lean towards plant oils, making soap that can be used by everyone. There are many different oils we can use, with each one having its own values and benefits to the skin. The addition of essential oils, salts and other additives means we can really tailor it to any skin type.
So how do we turn liquid oils into a solid soap? The process is called saponification. Using lye, or caustic soda, the oils are combined, blended and mixed until they thicken up, and then the mixture is poured into a mould, and left to ‘cure’ for 4-6 weeks. Once cured, no trace of caustic soda remains, so the soap is perfectly safe to use on your skin!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief insight into making soap, next time I will talk about some of the oils I choose to use in my soaps.
Hayley x
Hayley
