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How Soap Is Made
Synthetic Soap vs. Natural Soap

 

 

How Soap Is Made
Every bar of soap in the world is made with an acid (fat) and an alkali (lye). The fat can be animal fat or plant based such as olive oil. The alkali most commonly used is sodium hydroxide (lye).
oil  + lye = soap + glycerin

When you mix oil with lye this will create a process called saponification. It takes 24-48 hours for the saponification process to be finished. It will take cold processed natural soap about 4 weeks for the soap to be hard enough to use. When  properly made there will be no remaining lye in the finished product.  Each bar will produce and retain approximately 10% natural glycerin.

Did you know most commercial soap is not soap at all, Dove is a detergent not a soap.
1) Dove is made with hormone injected animal fats and lye.
2) The glycerin is then removed and sold to cosmetics industries.
3) Synthetic chemicals are then added  such as synthetic  sudsing  and sequesturing agents, fragrance,  and dyes.  Next the detergent will be go through a vacuumed drying process then milled in stages with added synthetic lubricants and then pressed into its final shape.

Retained glycerin is one of the main reasons natural cold processed soap is so kind to your skin. Moon River soap is  extra skin loving and ph balanced because we also ”superfat”  every bar with additional botanicals oils such as olive and Shea butter. 

Synthetic fragrance is most often the #1 dermal irritant in detergent bars.  Even unscented bars often contain  a masking fragrance. It is better to buy a bar that states ”fragrance free” if you are irritated by fragrance.

Moon River only uses 100% pure certified essential oils.

  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) does not address "Natural" marketing claims specifically. Some so called natural products contain synthetic  fragrance , FD&C color, etc. Here at Moon River Soap Company we define natural as being made from nature. We use all natural, organic or edible food grade vegetable oils, nurturing botanicals, and  therapeutic essential oils. We do not use use synthetic fragrance,  color, or preservatives. 
      What is the difference between synthetic store bought soap and natural cold processed soap? In general terms you can liken it to the difference between nylon and cotton. Cotton grows natural, nylon is made from chemicals in a factory.  Synthetic detergent soap (commercial store soap)  is made from Petro chemicals. Natural soap is biodegradable. Natural Soap is safe for our earth and does not pollute rivers.  Most detergent soap is made from animal fat (tallow ) along with petroleum based chemicals that are not biodegradable and do pollute our water. We are now finding that the synthetic chemicals can build up in our bodies . Minimizing  detergent use reduces the chemical load on you and the environment. Does it seem like a good idea to bath in a product that actually pollutes our water ?
   Both detergent soap and natural soap is made with lye. In natural soap the fats are hydrolyzed by the lye yielding natural soap and glycerin. Detergent soap retains no glycerin and is extracted because it would make the soap too soft so you are left with only the detergent.  
    Moon River Soap is pure, natural, safe for our kids, safe for the earth.


Note: Synthetic fragrance in products such as soap, candles, perfume, etc. have been known to trigger head aches. So the next time you get a head ache, pay attention to the synthetic fragrance you may have been exposed to. Our therapeutic essential oils used in Moon River Soap  have the opposite effect and can actually help clear your head ache.