We use beauty and hygiene products daily. Our skin is the first to make contact with these products which often contain a long list of ingredients. Sometimes it’s hard to read the fine print and know all the names of the components. Many commercial soaps contain pesky elements that can ruin your skin or damage the planet.
Handmade soaps are a combination of fats or oils from plants or animals mixed with lye or sodium hydroxide. To create soap, you need to combine these items and heat them to get the chemical reaction called saponification.
These soaps can also contain colorants for unique looks and pure essential oils for exquisite smells. With a UK natural soap, you always know what ingredients to expect. So, what are the benefits of handmade natural soap? Let’s find out.
Natural Scented Soaps
Usually, handmade soaps are produced by local or small businesses that put all their attention on each bar. They create natural soaps that contain pure essential oils for a complete aromatherapy smell. Commercial soaps get made with fragrance oils that are artificially created and offer no therapeutic advantages.
Essential oils cannot be reproduced in laboratories. Unlike synthetic oils, they retain their properties from the main plant. As an example, tea tree oils have antibacterial properties. Fragrance oils can duplicate the smell, but they don’t have the medicinal properties of essential oils.
No Chemicals or Synthetics
The majority of commercial soaps contain chemicals or synthetics which are similar to detergents. They usually contain parabens, petrochemicals, and phosphorus which can irritate or dry your skin. Unlike natural soaps, commercial ones use synthetic ingredients because they are cheaper. These ingredients can be harmful to our skin and even our respiratory systems.
ARTISANCO, a UK natural soap company, makes handmade soaps that are cruelty-free, vegan, and eco-friendly. Natural soaps usually have a short ingredients list, which are all-natural, allowing you to know what exactly it’s in your soap. They contain plant oils, butter, organic herbs, seeds, and others.
Better Moisturiser
Most commercial soaps have active ingredients like detergents, which work well for dishes or laundry but less for your skin. They destroy your natural skin oils, which leads to dry skin. Constant dry skin leads to further skin problems like eczema. That’s why it’s best to know what’s in your soap.
Handmade soaps go through the super fattening process. That means extra fats, like oils or butter, are added in the making. This way, lye can’t react with all of them. This process ensures that the finishing product contains natural oils like glycerine, which makes them better moisturisers. Glycerine is created during the making process.
Companies remove glycerine from commercial soaps to increase their shelf life. They take it from soaps and add it to higher-priced products like body lotions. Overall, some businesses sacrifice quality over quantity, and the end product causes dryness and itchiness.
Skin care is important, and with a bit of research, you can choose from harmful products to those that actually take care of your skin. Handmade soaps don’t contain chemicals, don’t harm your skin, and properly moisturise it.
I was not aware how many good ingredients were usually taken out of soap. However, I do not see myself making my own soap. I shall look at the Artisanco website.