Soap ingredients
The 5 ingredients used are (1) Oil, (2) water or milk, (3) lye, (4) essential oil, (5) natural colorant. On the label of each soap, the ingredients are listed according to the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) guidelines. Below the considerations for each ingredient are explained.
Olive oil
Many different oils can be used in soapmaking, each having their own benefits and drawbacks. In most cold processed soaps, a mixture of 3 to 5 oils is used to create a cost-effective but cleansing bar of soap with a good lather. After extensively testing all kinds of recipes and mixtures, I circled back to the very first recipe which gave a better result than all others that came after. This recipe was based on the ‘queen of oils’, Olive oil. In the ingredients list you’ll find the latin name for the olive: Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil.
Water or milk
The second ingredient is a liquid that is required to dissolve the lye in. Usually, water is used for this role, but using milk is another option that has its benefits and drawbacks. Soaps based on milk tend to give a richer foam and a ‘silky’ feel after use. However, milk-based soaps aren’t vegan and the production is a bit more tricky. Milk-based soaps tend to have a more yellowish color, influencing the colour of soaps based on natural colorants. The INCI for water and milk is rather straight-forward.
Lye
Sodium hydroxide (or lye) is the ingredient that reacts with the oil to create soap. As a byproduct, glycerol is created, which is a natural humectant for the skin. On its own, lye can be corrosive, but during the production process it reacts away. In our soap, no harmful lye is present anymore (we even test this as part of our quality control). The INCI for lye is its chemical name, sodium hydroxide.
Essential oils
De betoverende geuren in onze zepen komen van pure essentiële oliën, afkomstig van één enkele plant! Essentiële oliën worden geperst of geëxtraheerd uit kruiden, specerijen of vruchten, en ze staan bekend om hun ongelooflijke eigenschappen, zoals antioxidanten en antibacteriële voordelen! In plaats van synthetische afgeleiden (die een stuk goedkoper zijn), kiezen wij voor 100% natuurlijke oliën, omdat wij geloven in een puur en eerlijk product. De INCI van essentiële oliën is de Latijnse naam van de bron, en om het extra makkelijk te maken, hebben we de algemeen bekende naam erbij gezet (want wie studeert er tegenwoordig nog Latijn?). Bijvoorbeeld: Cymbopogon Flexuosus (Citroengras) Oil.
Natural colorant
Color is a beautiful thing and we tried to match the fragrance of the essential oil with a fitting color. Two types of colorants are used in our soaps: Natural clays (like Illite and Kaolin) and all-natural colors. Just like with other ingredients, both have their benefits and downsides. Clays, for example, have an ever-lasting, soft color that matches beautifully with soap. Additionally, clays can have an exfoliating effect on the skin, enhancing the soap even further. However, clays are mined from specific locations, making it arguable whether it’s the perfect sustainable colorant. Natural colorants (like turmeric or indigo) give more vibrant colors, but tend to fade away faster under the influence of (sun)light. The INCI for clays is quite straight forward, but the INCI for natural colorants is the latin name of the source plant (common name added for clarity).
What we don’t use
In other (cold processed) soaps, you may find ingredients that we don’t use. Although everyone’s free to add what they like to their products, we’d like to share our reasons to avoid them.
Most importantly, we try to avoid fragrance oils. These are (usually synthetic) perfumes that are used instead of essential oils. The main reason to use them is their lower cost-price. The reasons for us not to use them is the limited transparency in ingredients (it just says ‘perfume’) and the synthetic origin of the material. Fragrance oils can be recognized in ingredients list by their INCI name ‘perfume’, sometimes some of the synthetic ingredients are specified (e.g. Limonene, Geraniol, Citronellol).
One other category we avoid is synthetic colorants, this is for the same two reasons as why we avoid fragrance oils. Synthetic colorants are either coated mica’s (INCI is ‘Mica’) or a synthetic colorant (INCI is a color index number, e.g. CI 42045 is Patent Blue V). Mica’s are a nice example of a non-transparent ingredient; Pure mica is never used, it’s always coated with a metal oxide (e.g. iron oxide or titanium dioxide) to give the color effect. You’ll never know what they used exactly.