10 reasons to love handmade soap

There is a lot to love about natural handmade soaps—eco-friendly, economical, wonderful for your skin, unprocessed, free from harmful additives, and crafted with care.  

Alas, the options presented to consumers tends to steer the focus away from the luscious, amazing and carefully crafted properties of soaps that are made by hand. It started in the ‘80s. Liquid soaps and body washes swamped supermarket shelves, catching consumer attention with their attractive plastic packaging and novelty. 

Bar soaps were pushed aside as consumers were told that liquid soaps in clean, sleek packaging looked nicer in their bathrooms and kitchens, and were superior to their solid counterparts. The only bar soaps visible on the shelves were mass-produced items with scant consideration for quality of ingredients or skin care. 

But thankfully, people do care about their skin and the environment! Over the last few years handmade soap bars have been making a comeback.  

 Here are ten great reasons to embrace the benefits of handmade soap

1. More eco-friendly

There are many reasons to be concerned about life on our planet, and plastic is right up there. It’s a HUGE issue. Today’s consumers are becoming more aware of the amount of plastic that they bring into their homes. Liquid soaps and shampoos are packaged in plastic containers that are creating unnecessary waste.

2. They won't strip natural oils

Research has shown that frequent and correct hand-washing is the most efficient way to reduce the spread of germs and illness. Using a natural handmade soap bar will be gentle on your skin and won’t strip your skin of natural oils.

3. Ideal for skin microbiome

As the liquid soap companies were influencing consumers to change the way they purchased soaps, they promoted their soaps and body washes as more hygienic, suggesting that germs can be left behind on the soap bars. It is true that there may be germs on the outside of the soap bar, but they wash away under the water. In addition, most of these bacteria are not inherently dangerous, rather they assist us to maintain a healthy response to the many germs and bacteria in our environment. Most of the dirt and germs on your skin is trapped by the skin’s oils. Water is not efficient at washing the dirt from your skin on it’s own, it needs a substance like soap to break the surface tension of the water, bind with the dirt and allow the water to wash it clean.

4. 'Cold processed' with the oils your skin needs

Handmade soap is produced in small batches using the traditional cold process method. This method uses little equipment, allowing the soap maker to choose the best oils and other ingredients.  The Soap Bar uses a blend of skin-loving oils in careful ratios to produce a gentle and cleansing bar. The cold process method allows the soap to retain the natural glycerin which provides natural emollience for your skin.

5. Cost-effective

Handmade soap is economical: when you keep your handmade soap on a well drained soap dish it will dry out completely between uses and will last a long time. Handmade soap bars are solid bars—liquid soaps and body washes are primarily water. Why pay extra for watered down soap?

6. They feel amazing

Soaps made by hand have a luxuriously creamy and fragrant lather. The Soap Bar adds clays and botanicals to the soaps that help to increase the creaminess and silky feel of the lather. Our handmade soaps are fragranced with bespoke blends of essential oils that impart a soft and gentle fragrance to your skin.

7. Kind to your skin

Handmade soap bars contain an ingredient that helps to retain moisture in the skin: glycerine. Commercial soaps leave many people’s skin dry and itchy—this is due not only to what is in the soap, but also what isn’t in it. Commercial soaps have the glycerin removed; glycerine is a valuable ingredient in the pharmaceutical industry. Commercial soaps have a lot of unnecessary additives that are added as fillers to replicate the lather that good soap provides naturally.  Many commercial soap bars have added detergent ingredients to increase their lather.

8. Free from palm oil

Our handmade soaps do not use palm oil. The rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia are being decimated by the farming of palm oil, thus endangering the natural habitats of orang-utans. It is not necessary to use palm oil, however it is one of the cheapest oils to use for soap. (Palmolive soap was traditionally made with primarily palm oil and olive oil extract, hence the name.)

9. Unprocessed

As mentioned, handmade soaps are made using the cold process method. Commercial soaps undergo a lot of processing. Once the soap is formed and the glycerin is removed, the soap undergoes a variety of processes to dry, grate and then press the bars together.

10. 'Think globally, act locally'

Small business is the backbone of our economy.  When you buy the Soap Bar handmade soap you are supporting a local business, keeping your money in the local economy and keeping people in employment.