What's the difference between Handmade Soap VS Commercial Soap?

Did you realise there is a major difference between commercial soaps and handmade soaps? Well, we will explain it now!

What is the difference between Handmade Soap and Commercial Soap?

With brand-name soap companies spending millions each year on misleading advertising, it’s understandable why a consumer may question. Typical store bought or “commercial” soaps that may be labelled as “natural” are actually detergents that include chemical hardeners, foaming agents and artificial fragrances.

Unlike the word “organic” regulated by the USDA, the word “natural” does not come with a set of quality standards or restrictive elements to it. As consumers, we are responsible for understanding what we put in and on our bodies and the best way to do this is by reading the labels and asking questions.

And it’s not only big-brand store-bought soaps that can be misleading. Artificial fragrances are being put in a large amount of handmade soaps as well so make no mistake, and the only great way is by asking questions. To getting the real deal is to ask what method the soap maker uses to make their soap, what ingredients they use and what they use to scent their soaps.
Being items labelled “organic” and trusting that because the USDA regulates and sets quality standards for the word, we are safe to purchase. But large-scale companies know this and play to the impulsiveness of shoppers by labelling things “natural” that are not.

Reason #1: Handmade Soap Contains Glycerin.
Glycerin is a natural skin emollient (skin softener) that attracts water from the surrounding air. Because of this, glycerin is highly prized in soaps, lotions and creams for maintaining moisture in the skin throughout the day. Animal fats and vegetable oils contain between 7-13% of glycerin as a part of their natural chemical makeup.

The fats/oils and lye blend together to form soap while the natural glycerin maintains its integrity as glycerin and basically settles in between the soap molecules during the soap making process. Too much glycerin and the soap will become mushy and disintegrate quickly whereas too little glycerin the soap becomes very harsh and drying to the skin.

Typical store-bought soaps have had all of the glycerin removed and placed into additional products such as lotions and creams. The reason is instead of buying one product that will clean and moisturize, (such as handmade soap) a consumer now has to buy two products to serve the same purpose, thus, an increase in profit for the company.

When profit is placed as a higher priority than quality of life, the consumer is the one who suffers. By removing the glycerin, store-bought soap takes on a skin-moisture-stripping quality that will dry the skin and leave it vulnerable to cracking and flaking. But that’s not all....

Reason #2: True Handmade Soap does not use “Fragrance”
The FDA does not require the ingredients used to develop a company’s trademark “fragrance” to be disclosed on the label. This means that scented soap could contain hundreds of harmful chemicals without your knowledge. Some of these chemical concoctions have been found to be skin irritants and known carcinogens.

Traditionally made handmade soaps are scented with pure essential oils, never fragrance oils as that wold immediately defeat the purpose of being completely natural. When you use soaps scented with only essential oils, you not only benefit from the lack of harmful chemicals, but you actually benefit from the therapeutic properties each essential oil offers. Despite the smell is amazing!

This can also be an exciting feature for the consumer as you get to decide what you want your soap to do for you. Example: lavender soap provides its relaxation and skin repair qualities, and citrus soap provides it’s invigorating and antimicrobial qualities.

Reason #3: Soap made the Old-Fashioned Way
Our ancestors knew what they were doing, and did it for thousands of years – WHY CHANGE IT! Traditional handmade soaps are made one of two ways: hot process and cold process. Cold Process soap is made by mixing sodium hydroxide (lye) with water, then blending it with oils, then adding essential oils and natural colorants, and finally, pouring it into moulds to make it nice and pretty (of course the very simplified tutorial). The soaps then sit inside the mould for 24 hours to saponify (become soap), are removed from the mould to dry for 24 hours, then cut into bars of soap and must then air dry or “cure” for 4-6 weeks. Yes, that’s the process. Hot process is essentially the same, but instead of placing the soap in a mould to cure, the liquid is placed in a heat source (oven or crockpot) and heated until cured.

The method is simply personal preference, though some say that cold process is the true original form of soap making.
These methods of hand-making soap are of course, the opposite of commercial soap which is made on a large scale in factories. Store bought soap is made using a continuous flow method with hundreds of hand on the process...or probably now a day, a hundred robot arms. The soap base is continually being made in the same “batch” of soap, never to rest or relax. It is then blended with filler ingredients and chemicals such as Sodium Isethionate (a foam enhancer) and Dipropylene Glycol (a chemical solvent...why it’s needed...who knows) and then formed into moulds.

Soap making is just like cooking, caring for a child or tending to the elderly - it all needs love, attention and time. We believe the hand on approach of handmade soap provides the love and attention, believe you can feel that energy once you use it.
Reason #4: Handmade Soap is Simply Amazing for Skin!

Handmade soap preserves the integrity of the oils/fats/butter. Coconut oil goes in, saponified (made into soap) coconut oil comes out. Shea butter goes in, shea butter comes out. Because of this, the oils/fats/butter maintain their vitamins, minerals and skin-loving qualities in the final soap product.

A skilled soap maker can modify their recipe to produce characteristics in the soap naturally instead of adding chemicals to achieve the same goal. To make a harder bar of soap, add more tallow or olive oil. To make a thick lathering soap, add some honey. As discussed above, It is simply not needed for commercial soap likely to have the addition of synthetic chemicals to produce similar results.

But why take our word for it? The best way to find out is to put it to the test! Purchase a bar of handmade soap from a local soap maker and give it a try. I can assure you, the experience will be well worth it.

Visit us at https://www.naturesense.co/blog for more details !