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Carrie's Creations Inc. Handmade Soaps

Soapmaking Ingredients

 

 

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)

  • 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


Carrie's Creations Inc. ~ 10280 Brutus Rd. Suite 1A ~ Brutus, MI 49716
Phone 231.529.2205 or Toll Free 888.527.4775 (Order Line only)

 

 

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