Dianne's Blog

Is all handmade soap created equal?
October 23, 2024

Is all handmade soap created equal?

Is all handmade soap created equal?

Have you ever bought a bar of handmade soap from a brand thinking it will be just as good or the same as a bar from another brand? Have you ever used a new bar that had the SAME ingredients as your favorite bar and wondered why they don’t feel or lather the same? There is a reason!

As a refresher, soap is created by the chemical reaction of the combination of oils, butters & fats with an alkali (in most cases, sodium hydroxide, aka lye). While it’s possible for a soap maker to use literally thousands of combinations of oils, the far majority of soaps contain some combination of coconut, olive, sunflower, tallow, palm & castor oils simply because they are readily available and cost-effective. They also have fatty acid profiles that contribute to a quality bar of soap. More on this in a future blog post.

For purposes of this discussion, let’s focus on a soap that contains a few of these ingredients. Several very popular brands use the following combination of oils/butters:

  1. Olive Oil
  2. Coconut Oil
  3. Shea Butter
  4. Palm Oil
  5. Castor Oil

Note: Per labeling requirements in the US, ingredients (if listed) should be listed in relative order with the ingredients in decreasing order. In my example above, olive oil would be present in the soap in the highest percentage. 

But, a soap maker can create a soap using these exact ingredients but using them in different percentages. For example, two brands may use “recipes” like these:

 

Brand A

Brand B

Olive Oil

30%

20%

Coconut Oil

30%

50%

Shea Butter

20%

10%

Palm Oil

15%

10%

Castor Oil

5%

10%

Each contains the same oils, just in difference ratios. Is the soap the same? Absolutely not.

Before I talk about the chemistry of why they are different, let’s use an easy to understand analogy. Imagine you are making spaghetti sauce.  The ingredients in the sauce recipe are: tomatoes, garlic, onions, olive oil & basil. 

Let’s compare your great-grandma’s recipe, which is the best you’ve ever tasted and a grocery store jar with the same ingredients. You heat it up the grocery store jar and discover it is NOTHING like grandma’s sauce. It reeks of garlic and onions and makes you gag.

 

Grandma

Grocery Store

Tomatoes

70%

50%

Garlic

10%

20%

Onion

10%

15%

Olive Oil

5%

10%

Basil

5%

5%

It’s the same concept as above in the soap example. Same ingredients, different ratios. It’s a little more complicated with soap, but that’s the basic concept. 

Every oil used in soap making has a unique fatty acid profile which is basically a set of characteristics that contribute to the overall quality of the soap. Some oils contribute to a harder bar, some oils contribute to a more creamy bar, some to cleansing properties. 

When crafting a recipe, most knowledgable soap makers use a soap “calculator”. The calculator analyzes the specific fatty acid profile of each oil in the recipe and calculates a “score” in several quality categories such as Hardness, Cleansing, Conditioning, Bubbly & Creamy. Using the percentages above, here are the scores in each category:

 

Brand A

Brand B

Hardness

45

52

Cleansing

20

34

Conditioning

51

42

Bubbly 

25

43

Creamy

30

28

You can see how the difference in oil ratios changes the qualities of the soap and why even bars with the same basic ingredients can be very different. Is one bar better than the other? Perhaps. Most soap calculators have a suggested “range” for each value. Without going into details, the cleansing value for the Brand B soap is very high and outside the recommended range. Will the soap hurt you? No, but you may find it drying to your skin. 

As I mentioned, there are literally thousands of oil combinations a soap maker can choose to use. I hope this sheds some light on how those choices impact the quality of the bar.

As always, I hope I’ve provided some insight & education!

Dianne

 

 

Read more

Shampoo Bars Vs Soap - Do you know the difference?
April 08, 2024

Shampoo Bars Vs Soap - Do you know the difference?

Welcome to my blog! I've been meaning to start one for a long time and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. I had intended to make my first blog post about soap ingredients, but nearly every day I see more companies touting their "shampoo" bars that really aren't and it annoys me. So, what better topic to start! 

First, the words soap and shampoo CANNOT be used interchangeably. They are two completely different compounds. It would be kind of like using the words water and vodka to mean the same clear liquid. 

Note: If you want to skip the chemistry and learn how a consumer can easily tell the difference, scroll to the end. 

Why would companies/makers market soap as shampoo? In my opinion, it comes down to two or three plausible explanations. First, the company is ignorant of the chemistry of soapmaking. Second, the company is preying on the ignorance of the consumer to sell product. Three, well maybe there are only two. 

Soap by definition is the compound that is created by the combination of fats & oils, with an alkali (most commonly sodium hydroxide aka lye). Soap has a pH between 9-10, which means it is alkaline. You CANNOT change the pH of soap by adding different oils, luxury butters or "conditioning" additives.

Shampoo by definition is a compound created by the combination of surfactants & co-surfactants with a salt. Most shampoos have a pH between 5.5 - 6.5, which means it is acidic. 

Why does this matter? It matters because human hair is sensitive to pH changes and is naturally on the acidic side with a pH near 5.5. It is able to maintain it's  integrity when exposed to compounds in or around that range. Water is generally neutral (pH = 7), which means what you apply to your hair should be close to your hair's pH of 5.5 or even slightly more acidic (less than 5.5) in order to maintain the healthy structure of the hair and microbiome of your scalp. 

What happens when you use soap on your hair? Using an alkaline substance (soap) on your hair disrupts the pH balance causing irreversible damage to the structure of your hair over time and scalp irritation. You may notice your hair is unable to retain moisture because the cuticles along the hair shaft have been raised. Your hair may frizz as the core of the strand seeks moisture from the atmosphere. Hair will feel like straw due to increased friction between strands due to the raised cuticles.

Despite the negative consequences of using soap on your hair, many people still do it. I know I'm generalizing here, but men seem to be able to "get away" with using soap more easily. Their hair is generally shorter and cut more often so damaged hair is removed much more frequently. 

And, it's convenient to use an "all-in-one" bar for those trying to replace more harmful products from their skin and hair care routines. But, you wouldn't expect to use soap as deodorant, so it's wise to recognize your bodies different chemical needs. 

So what about companies who do understand the chemistry and still sell soap as shampoo? I've read many, many forums and comments by other soapmakers who give reasons such as "soap ingredients are less scary and seem natural", and "soap is WAY cheaper to produce". In my opinion, that is completely dishonest and deliberately mis-leading to consumers. Soap is not shampoo. Shampoo is not soap. It's just factually wrong.

How to tell the difference? 

  1. Price: Soap is much cheaper & easier to produce. The ingredients to make real shampoo are WAY more expensive than any oils/lye used to make soap. If you are looking at a 3.5 - 5.0 oz bar that is under $10, it is SOAP.
  2. Ingredients: If the list contains the words "saponified oils", "lye" or "sodium hydroxide", it is SOAP.  There are no exceptions to this rule.
  3. The mention of pH on the packaging: The words "pH balanced" or "soap-free" are good indications that it is in fact SHAMPOO.

If you want to make the switch to solid shampoo, I would encourage you to check out our shampoo and conditioner bars. I can promise you that they are in fact shampoo, that they are pH balanced for hair, and also include many other hair loving ingredients such as nettle leaf, marshmallow root, and panthenol (pro-vitamin B5). 

As always, I hope I've provided some insight and education. 

Dianne

 

 

Read more