Most people have never used Handmade soap before. In fact, most people have never used soap at all!  What do you mean?

​

The word "Soap" is a legal definition provided by the FDA. Most commercial brands are not soaps because by law they cannot be, they are DETERGENTS and do not meet the legal definition of Soap.

Have you ever looked a bar of the so called "Soap" . Nowadays, these commercial products are being marketed as "cleansing bars" , "beauty bars" or "moisturizing bar" Others are sold in liquid form as shower gel or body wash.

Both soaps and detergents are surfactants (a blended word that comes from "surface active agents"). A surfactant decreases the surface tension of water which allows grease and water to mix.

Detergents are good for one thing--removing oils. Detergents may be good for cleaning laundry or dishes, but not for cleaning your skin!

Detergent bars remove the natural moisturizing oils from your skin. So after you take a bath or shower with commercial soap you reach for that bottle of expensive lotion, to put back the moisture that was taken away by the commercial soap.

The label of ingredients on a bar of commercial soap has a long list of chemicals. Whether or not these synthetic chemical additives are bad for you and the environment may be up for debate, but chances are you are better off without them.

Let's compare a bar of Silkey Soaps with Dove. 

Silkey Soaps:      

Saponified Oils of Coconut, Olive, Sunflower ,Palm and Castor. Distilled water, Lavender Essential OIl and Cosmetic grade Mica Powder.                                      

 Dove

1. sodium lauroyl isethionate (synthetic detergent)

2. stearic acid (hardener)

3. sodium tallowate (sodium salt of cow fat)

4. sodium isethionate (detergent/emulsifying agent)

5. lauric acid (the sodium salt of coconut oil)

6. sodium stearate (emulsifier, also used as a cheap stabilizer in plastics)

7. sodium dodecylbenzonesulfonate (synthetic detergent, skin irritant)

8. sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernalate (sodium salts of coconut or palm kernel oils)

9. fragrance (synthetic scent, potential allergen, common skin irritant)

10. sodium chloride (table salt used as a thickener)

11. titanium dioxide (whitener, also used in house paint)

12. trisodium EDTA (stabilizer, used in industrial cleaning products to decrease hard water, skin irritant)

13. trisodium etidronate (preservative, a chemical that is used in soaps to prevent soap scum)

14. BHT (preservative, common skin irritation                                What do you want to put on your skin?