SOAP
Ingredients in Splish Splash Soap: distilled water, a blend of olive oil & canola oil, coconut oil, beeswax, palm kernel oil, shea butter, sodium hydroxide (also known as lye), castor oil & cocoa butter.
I love everything about making soap. I've been on this soap making journey for several years now and I have made countless batches of soap all working towards the perfect bar. My objective in creating my signature recipe was to have a hard bar of soap with good lather and most importantly moisture. The recipe I use is one that I have created and tweeked for years & I'm so excited to share it with you!
For all you soap nerds that need to know how its made, I use the hot process method of soap making. This enables me to have some oils turned to soap but to keep other oils & butters in there pure moistuizing form. This also prevents overheating of the essential oils as they are added to a cooled soap batter just before the soap is molded.
SPONIFIED INGREDIENTS- olive oil, canola oil, palm kernel oil, beeswax.
UNSPONIFIED INGREDIENTS- shea butter, cocoa butter, castor oil, any essential oils and natural additives.
What is Sodium Hydroxide and why is it in soap?
Simply answered, sodium hydroxide is a chemical compound that when combined with oil has a chemical reaction known as sponification (the formation of soap).
Without sodium hydroxide there would be no soap.
During sponification, sodium hydroxide and oil molecules have combined and changed into soap & gylcerin.
Why is handmade soap typically softer than commercial soaps?
Handmade soap contains natural occurring glycerin. It is this great moisturizing boost that typically tends to softend our soap bars.
Most often in commercial soap the gylcerin is extracted during the soap making process. You can buy soap & glycerin at your local market sold as seperate products.
To preserve your soap, always allow your bar of soap to dry between use & check out some of the Soap Savers we have available. They are definitely worth the small investment to get the most out of your bar soap.
DEODORANT
There is no doubt in my mind that this deodorant is amazing, it easy to use and works great & I love that it is 100% natural.
I have heard and read that when switching form commercial deodorants that contain aluminum to all natural deodorants, some people go through a "pit detox" witch can cause some irritation in the under arm area. There may be some truth behind this and there is much information online to research should that topic interest you.
One thing I noticed when doing some research on this topic was the correlation between natural deodorants, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) & skin ph imbalances. Many natural deodorants contain baking soda, ours included. Baking soda is an alkaline compound and our skin tends to prefer slightly acidic environment. Application of baking soda to the skin may cause some irritations such as itchiness & darkening of the skin. One thing that I have found will reverse this effect is a dilution of apple cider vinegar & water.
I myself find after prolonged use of baking soda deodorants that I will start to develop some irritation in my armpit. I dab this water & apple cider mixture on my armpit with a cotton pad and it provides instant relief of the irritation. I know many other that have had great success with this easy natural trick. If this does not help your irritation, discontinue use of the product you are using.
Apple cider vinegar is an amazing natural product. There are several interesting books available packed with information of it's various benefits and some of them being that it will help restore the body's natural ph & it helps to fight body odor.
Here is my delution recipe should wish to try it:
1cup water- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar.
