Handmade
Soap Ingredients
Carrie's Creations Inc. uses a
variety of soapmaking ingredients, and the names and characteristics of
these are listed to let you know just what goes into your soap. (Not every
ingredient is in each bar of soap)
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Apricot kernel oil: a great
oil for sensitive skin. Contains
skin-softening properties, vitamins, and minerals.
-
Beeswax: used in
soaps (especially those that include honey) to make a harder bar.
Beeswax pellets are
used widely in cosmetics as an emulsifier. It can give soap a nice
honey-like smell.
-
Cocoa butter: a wonderfully
soothing solid oil that smells like white chocolate and results in a
hard bar of soap. Widely used as a base in cosmetics for its great
qualities.
-
Coconut oil: one of the main
soapmaking oils. This is solid at room temperature and is moisturizing,
but best used in conjunction with other oils. Makes a creamy lather,
and soap made from coconut oil will lather even in salt water.
-
Olive oil: probably the best
oil you can make soap with. This oil varies in color depending on the
olive crop and can be golden to dark green. Packed with
vitamins, minerals, and protein. The soaps made from olive oil have
small bubbles but are mild and creamy. Soaps made entirely from olive
oil are called Castile soaps.
-
Palm oil: a pale yellow
semi-solid oil that is a great base for soapmaking. Adds firmness to
soap and creates a bar that is creamy and produces small bubbles that
clean well.
-
Shortening/Vegetable
oil: favored by soapmakers who do not wish to use animal fats. Used in
conjunction with other oils because it can make a soft bar of soap.
-
Sweet almond oil: used in
some batches of soap. This oil makes a hard bar and is very
moisturizing. It is an unscented oil rich in vitamins, minerals, and
protein.
-
Glycerin: a clear, syrupy
liquid that occurs naturally in the soapmaking process. It can also be
added to a batch of soap to make the bars even more moisturizing.
-
Honey: real honey acts as an
emollient and moisturizes the skin. Because it can create a soft bar
of soap, it is usually used with beeswax.
-
Essential oils: scents that
are distilled directly from botanicals (flowers, leaves, petals,
berries, etc).
-
Fragrance oils: Man-made
fragrances that are used when the scent you are looking for is not
available in an essential oil. We only use fragrance oils that are
made for soapmaking.
-
Spices: cooking spices are
used to color soaps, such as paprika (peach), cinnamon (beige),
turmeric (yellow), and cocoa powder (brown).
-
Herbs: calendula flowers are
used to soften skin and are soothing to dry/sensitive skin.
Lavender buds and rose petals help soaps retain their scent.
-
Oatmeal,
bran, and wheat germ: used in some bars to gently exfoliate the skin.
-
Pigments: Red Oxide, Green
Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, and Ultramarine Pink are used as colorants in
some of our soaps. These are natural dyes that are made from ground rock and
are cosmetic-grade.
What's In Your
Soap?
According to the
dictionary, 'soap' is a cleansing agent made from an alkali acting on natural
oils and fats. A detergent, on the other hand, is a cleansing agent,
especially a synthetic one that is chemically different from soap. While
Carrie's Creations Inc. handmade soaps are true 'soap', the bars you buy
commercially are usually detergents. Do you even know what is in the
commercial bar you've been using? Probably petroleum products, alcohols,
preservatives, and a lot of things you cannot pronounce. Is the soap you use
even called soap, or is it a 'beauty bar', 'cleansing bar', or 'deodorizing
bar'? Many of these are not called soap because they legally cannot be - they
are detergents. Besides containing harsh ingredients, the naturally occurring
glycerin is usually stripped from the finished product and used to make
moisturizing lotions and other products. Have you ever noticed that the same
company that sells you the soap that dries out your skin is also selling you
lotion to moisturize your body after your shower? Our handmade soaps contain
all of the natural glycerin which results in a soap that is purely delightful
to bathe with. We also use natural ingredients that you would actually want
to use on your skin... ingredients that you can pronounce! We invite you to
look at the ingredients on your current bar of soap and compare them to those
that we make our handmade soaps with. Below are the ingredients for one of our
soaps, and the ingredients in a leading commercial bar, which is labeled as
hypo-allergenic, fragrance-free, and for sensitive skin. (Not the three
essential oils, or fragrances, listed in this fragrance-free soap!) Listed in parentheses
after each ingredient is the 'common name', if we could find out what the
ingredient was.
Carrie's Creations Inc. Chocolate Almond
Handmade Soap:
Saponified olive oil, coconut oil, palm
oil, and cocoa butter; almond fragrance oil, cocoa powder.
Leading Commercial Bar, made for
Sensitive Skin:
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (synthetic
detergent), Stearic Acid (fatty acid), Sodium Tallowate (rendered beef fat),
Water, Sodium Isethionate (synthetic detergent), Coconut Acid, Sodium Stearate
(detergent), Cocamidopropyl Betaine (synthetic detergent), Sodium Cocoate
(coconut oil) or Sodium Palm Kernelate (palm kernel oil), Sodium Chloride
(table salt), Titanium Dioxide (cosmetic whitener), Sweet Almond Oil, Rosewood
Oil (essential oil), Tetrasodium EDTA (salt; water softener), Trisodium
Etidronate (preservative), BHT (preservative), Cedarwood Oil (essential oil),
Rose Oil (essential oil). May also contain Disodium Cocamido Mea
Sulfosuccinate (synthetic detergent), Cetyl Alcohol, and Tocopheryl Acetate
(Vitamin E).
If you are curious which
commercial soap this is, just send us an email
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