Why Cold Process Soap

For my whole life I used the same bar of pure olive oil soap.  I have incredibly severe chemical sensitivities and couldn’t use anything else on my skin.  A few years ago, my go to safe to use soap suddenly started causing dry itchy patches.  I found out the recipe had changed slightly, but not enough so that they were required to adjust the labeling.

I spent a significant time not using soap, I used the no-poo method of baking soda and apple cider vinegar and made my own dry shampoos.  For my body I just used water, with a little no-poo.

Suddenly a friend asked me if I wanted to make soap.  She thought it looked like fun.  I was actually a little nervous at first, but learned that my aunt had made soap back in the 1970s.

Than I began to research make your own soap variations. There are a bunch of ways to make soaps, melt and pour, glycerin, liquid soap, purchasing a soap base, hot process or cold process.  A little bit of research and I quickly eliminated buying a base, melt and pour and glycerin.  All of these variations are highly processed and made with chemicals that I cannot tolerate.

The decision between hot process and cold process was easy for me, because in my reading I learned so much about the benefits of cold process soap for the skin. The main difference between hot and cold process is as simple as the names; hot process is made with added heat while cold process generates its’ own heat, no outside heat is added.  I really felt I could make a higher quality bar of cold process soap and years later I have not regretted my choice.

Cold process soap has no added detergents, which strip the skin of its natural oils.  Cold process soap is made through a chemical reaction between lye – sodium hydroxide and oils.  Additional ingredients may be added to increase the skin loving benefits.

Cold process soaps are better for the environment, healthier for the skin and can be made incredibly moisturizing.

Have you ever read the ingredients on a bar of soap?  Sometimes some of the ingredients look familiar and we are used to seeing them on a regular basis, but do we really know where they come from?  Many ingredients in a regular bar of soap are fillers made from highly processed chemicals.  Many natural ingredients listed, were in fact truly from nature but they have been extensively processed by a lab or factory so they no longer resemble their natural origin.  When you use a bar of soap with these chemical fillers, they are absorb into your skin and washed down the drain into the world!  Always remember your skin is porous, it is not a real barrier and it will absorb what you put on it.   I can’t eat citric acid, so any product containing it is automatically out.  My motto is that if I wouldn’t eat something, I wouldn’t put it on my body!

“Commercial soap manufacturers make it a practice to remove the glycerine that is produced during the saponification (soap-making) process. The glycerine is a highly profitable substance, often sold to other companies who use it to make lotions and moisturizers, which your skin, now dried out from the harsh detergent ‘soap,’ desperately needs.”*

Saponification in progress already!

Cold process soaps will clean and moisturize without added filler chemicals.  They are made with simple ingredients.  Lye sounds scary since it is a caustic ingredient that is used in some cleaning products.  Lye is a simple chemical compound Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH).  When lye is combined with oils or fats, it goes through a process called saponification.  This is a completely natural process and when it is complete there is no longer lye or oil, just real cold process soap!

I personally recommend only using real cold process soaps made with truly natural organic oils, essential oils and real ingredients.  If you don’t know what it is, don’t put it on your skin!

Visit PureNaKedSoap to purchase some cold process soap made with organic oils and real ingredients!

*From http://www.naturalnews.com/026110_soap_natural_clay.html

**Please note cold process soap works well for my specific set of allergies & sensitivities, please discuss any choices you make with your own medical professionals.  This information is not intended to substitute for medical advice.