We are a Western Australian company who have been making cold pressed soaps and beauty products for fourteen years. We pride ourselves on making natural products that don’t contain chemical ingredients. We always use Australian ingredients where possible and have sourced three fantastic bentonite clays which are used in many of our products. These clays are high in minerals and act as a gentle exfoliant on skin.
Our soaps contain coconut, palm and olive oils, water, herbs, sandalwood powder, French and Australian clays, spices, essential oils, sodium hydroxide and a small range of our soaps include fragrant oils and fd&c colours (food and cosmetic grade).
Palm oil is used to make the soap hard and to last longer. This is sourced from sustainable growers who have converted rubber tree plantations from two decades ago to palm plantations. Our palm oil is not coming from rainforest cleared plantations.
Coconut oil is used for its superior lather and olive oil for its moisturising properties. We include a generous amount of essential oils in our soaps for their fragrance and therapeutic benefits. Our soaps are renowned for their strong smell which lasts right down to the last slither.
None of our products contain any animal fats, sodium lauryl sulfate or di-propolyene glycol. These are harmful chemicals which are used in many cleansing products because they are cheaper than natural ingredients.
Happy lathering!
Corrynne and Elise
Our soaps are made by the cold process method using coconut, palm and olive oils , rainwater , sodium hydroxide, Australian and French clays, herbs spices sandalwood powders and essential oils . Each soap has a complete ingredients list and this range is our best sellers selected over 14 years of hand making them.
THE HISTORY OF SOAP
This of coarse is my interpretation from the many books I have read regarding soap over the years.
Soap was first discovered in the ashes of a fireplace. Fat from a cooking animal had mixed with the hot ashes(potash) and formed soap. Soap rose to fame in England and Europe where disease was killing thousands of people, namely the Black Plaque. Once people realized that soap was killing the bacteria and stopping them from dying soap was in hot demand. At one time the English government was taxing the soap makers and locking their vats everynight to stop illegal soap making that they couldn’t tax.
HOW DOES SOAP WORK
Soap can be made from a mixture of fat(animal or vegetable), sodium hydroxide (caustic)or potassium hydroxide and water. Fats are slightly acidic in nature and caustic is alkaline . When caustic is mixed with water it is called lye. Warm fats and or oils are mixed with the lye and a reaction slowly takes place called saponification.This is were the word soap came from. Of coarse there are many different recipes with different quantities from all over the world.
Soap works in two ways , firstly it lathers and dissolves grease from the skin , the grease or oils and dirt are washed away in the water along with germs that are everywhere. Secondly the soap is alkaline unlike skin which is slightly acidic. Soap kills bacteria and germs because it is alkaline . The skin returns to its natural ph in about 15 minutes.
BAD PRESS ON SOAP
Soap has received some bad press since the days of its fame and glory. Many beauticians and dermatologists discourage using soap because it is alkaline .Soap kills bacteria that cause acne and other fungal diseases of the skin. Look at communities that don’t wash, you will soon see how valuable soap is.There are many so called neutral ph washing soaps on the market. They are all by-products of the petroleum industry and most contain chemicals that are highly absorded by the skin. They interfere with your hormones and quickly build up in your body, some are carcinogenic and are extremely harmful to the environment. For manufacturers these by-products are cheap and easy to use which is why it is in everything. Some of the worse offenders are sodium laurel sulphate and dy-propolene glycol.
Natural soap contains sodium hydroxide(caustic) This is a natural chemical that is found in the ocean and inland lakes It does not build up in your body which is why it is used in the food industry. Of coarse in its concentrated form it is extremely alkaline In good quality cold processed soap there should be no caustic left as it has been turned into a new product soap.
HOW DOES COMMERCIAL SOAP DIFFER FROM HANDMADE SOAP
Commercially ,very cheap oils are used in soap making like cotton, animal and soya, anything with no value for human consumption. Big companies make most of the soap on the market which they sell as powders to other companies.More caustic is used in their manufacturing and the mix is heated to very high temperatures. Salt is usually added in the process. This separates the fats/oils into fatty acids and glycerine. The glycerine is syphoned off as it is quite a valuable product that receives a higher price than soap. The resulting soap is thus very hard and dry, ground to a powder then remixed with other ingredients like foaming and whitening agents, formaldehyde etc to improve the feel, smell and look of the soap.
Handmade soap uses oils like coconut and olive for their moisturising and lathering qualities. Once the oils are melted no other heat is used .The essential oils retain their properties and smells and the resulting soap is gentle on the skin due to the high glycerine content. Cold process soap is far less likely to cause skin conditions like commercial soap because it dosent strip the skin from all its oils, being high in oil itself and lower in Sodium Hydoxide. No nasties are needed to be added because it is formulated perfectly with natural ingredients.
