Cleaning soap was the very first thing I realized to make on the earth of pure magnificence, and my pores and skin has develop into so accustomed to the advantages of pure bar cleaning soap that every part else makes me itch. In case you’re already a pure bar cleaning soap believer and simply wish to purchase some beautiful cleaning soap, go try our physique bars, STAT. However when you’ve by no means tried Osmia cleaning soap, otherwise you’re nonetheless a physique wash believer, maybe it’ll assist to know why pure bar cleaning soap is completely different and a lot better to your pores and skin and for the planet.

HOW IS BAR SOAP MADE?

The primary time I made cleaning soap, I understood instantly that the method of making handmade cleaning soap is one the place science and artwork come collectively. After many hours within the chemistry lab throughout my premed and medical faculty years, I knew that the chemistry of cleaning soap making could be uncompromising: you goof the recipe, you find yourself with #notsoap. However when you’ve nailed the science half, the choices for creativity with colours, textures, and scent are infinite—and endlessly enjoyable.

Bar cleaning soap is made by combining oils or strong fat (in our case, plant fat) with lye (sodium hydroxide, or NaOH). The oils are heated, permitting any strong oils like shea butter or coconut oil to soften. In the meantime, the lye will get added to water to make an answer. When each the oils and the lye are on the proper temperature (90-110 levels Fahrenheit), they’re blended collectively the place they start to bond collectively within the course of known as saponification.

Folks usually ask if we use lye in our cleaning soap as a result of many have the impression that lye is a poisonous chemical. Actually, lye is utilized in all cleaning soap making—if it’s not made with lye, it’s not technically cleaning soap. Whereas lye is manufactured in a laboratory, it’s actually only a salt fabricated from sodium, hydrogen, and oxygen, and is “poisonous” solely due to its excessive pH. The pH of lye is 14, impartial pH (the place our our bodies principally perform) is 7, and the pH of hydrochloric acid is zero. If pure lye touches your pores and skin, it’s going to burn the identical manner pure acid will. That is additionally the explanation your Grandma Louise’s “lye cleaning soap” didn’t really feel good—she in all probability made lye-heavy cleaning soap, the place the ratio of fat to lye was incorrect, leaving leftover lye within the completed bar. Consequently, the bar would have had a really excessive pH, which may irritate the pores and skin.

The excellent news is that we now have our cleaning soap science found out, and though lye goes into the cleaning soap, it’s not current within the remaining bar as a result of we add a bit of additional oil to ensure all of the lye will get utterly used up within the course of. This occurs when the lye—a sodium molecule, a hydrogen molecule, and an oxygen molecule—will get disassembled and rearranged in cold-process cleaning soap, and results in cleaning soap molecules and glycerin. The cleaning soap molecules work by sticking their little tails into grease and grime, after which letting themselves get rinsed down the drain with the water. The glycerin molecules maintain your pores and skin tremendous delicate and hydrated. 

WHY IS NATURAL BAR SOAP BETTER THAN CONVENTIONAL BAR SOAP?

Handmade cleaning soap requires a curing time of a few month to permit water to evaporate from the bar so it hardens appropriately. Massive corporations don’t have time to attend for his or her cleaning soap to treatment, so that they take away the skin-softening glycerin and introduce harsh chemical components to harden their bars. That’s why the overall class known as “cleaning soap” received a foul repute for being drying. Cleaning soap made by the cold-process methodology does precisely the alternative to your pores and skin—it pulls moisture to your pores and skin all day lengthy.

As a enjoyable little experiment, simply google the elements for any commercially-produced bar of cleaning soap that claims it is for delicate pores and skin. 

Now evaluate that to the elements for Osmia’s Oh So Cleaning soap:

Saponified natural oils/butters of olive, mango, and castor bean; lifeless sea salt; natural buttermilk powder, natural rosemary antioxidant, non-GMO blended tocopherols 

As you possibly can see, we take a less-is-more method in the case of delicate pores and skin. And fewer is all the time extra for individuals with delicate pores and skin.

IS BAR SOAP BETTER THAN BODY WASH?

Now attempt the identical experiment by googling a commercially-produced physique wash marketed to customers with delicate pores and skin. We would guess our backside greenback that you just discovered tright here have been far more elements within the physique wash than our Oh So Cleaning soap, and it is possible that a few of these physique wash elements have some well being considerations related to them, equivalent to artificial perfume, DMDM hydantoin, and methylisothiazolinone. Plus, physique wash is available in a cumbersome plastic bottle, whereas our bar cleaning soap normally comes recyclable paper packaging. 

DOES BAR SOAP SPREAD GERMS?

Some persons are involved about bar cleaning soap being unhygienic, however fortunately it’s been studied. Once you use bar cleaning soap correctly, utilizing very heat water and a 30-second scrub, you rinse away the highest layer as you lather, and the grime and germs go down the drain. We advocate storing your bar cleaning soap on a clear, aerated floor (like our reusable soap-saver) to maintain it out of a puddle of cleaning soap soup—germs WILL proliferate in standing water. Professional-tip: maintaining the cleaning soap dry between makes use of will even assist it final for ages.

IS BAR SOAP BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT?

Bar cleaning soap, particularly if it’s packaged by an organization like Osmia, is extraordinarily low-impact on the environmental scale compared with liquid cleansers. Liquid cleaning soap normally is available in a plastic bottle, whereas our bar soaps are available in recyclable, FSC-certified paper packaging. Liquid cleansers have way more elements than bar cleaning soap, and require preservatives and artificial scent to cowl the chemical smells, which suggests extra elements are swept into the water remedy system or your septic subject.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BAR SOAP?

You employ cleaning soap on daily basis, on your self and probably your loved ones. You employ it from head to toe, on virtually each inch of your pores and skin. Then it washes down your drain, the place it in the end impacts issues like fish and birds and worms and flowers. There was a time when selecting pure bar cleaning soap meant LESS luxurious and extra earthy-crunchy-patchouli vibes. However that isn’t true anymore. (Have you ever appeared on the cleaning soap web page on our web site?) So right here it’s, of us—a small change you can also make that won’t solely assist the planet, however will go away your pores and skin superbly conditioned, and make you’re feeling like you might be treating your self to a tiny luxurious each time you choose up a bar. Plus, our bars final endlessly, so your cash goes a great distance.

Save your pores and skin AND save the planet? It’s a no brainer.  

With love and plenty of soapy suds from us to you,