Benefits of All Natural Handmade Soap vs Commercial Soap

All natural handmade soaps are far better for our skin than the commercial soaps that are offered to us at our local stores. Mother nature has provided us with the natural ingredients that have benefits that are not only good for us, they are just as good for our environment.

Commercial soaps contain many ingredients that are detrimental to our skin. Many of those are animal fats, low grade oils, wax, and alcohols that cause us to have dry, itchy, irritated skin. The medicated commercial soaps have been known to include toxic chemicals such as triclosan that has shown to cause cancer.

Soap is manufactured through the process known as saponification. That is where the similarities between natural and commercial soaps stop. Commercial soap manufacturers remove the ingredient glycerin during this process. They in turn take that glycerin and use it in other products so they can make more money. Natural handmade soaps are made to keep the glycerin thus making the soap more soothing and softer to use on our skin. The commercial soaps contain many chemicals that not only effect our skin, but the soap scum created by using the soaps travel through our drainage systems and find their way into our environment.

Three soap making processes to look for are hot process, cold process, and melt and pour.

The most beneficial of these processes is the cold process made soap. Cold process is the combining of your oil mixture with your lye. This is when the saponification occurs and the caustic properties of the lye are neutralized creating glycerin. Glycerin is one of the most beneficial ingredients in natural soaps.

Hot process soaps are made using the same process as cold process soaps with heat added to the soap after saponification has occurred. This added heat does remove some of the benefits of the soap.

Melt and pour soaps are typically clear glycerin melted into forms. These soaps can’t be called natural soaps but they are better than commercial soaps.

The benefits of natural, handmade soaps are by far better for us and our environment.