I Cannot Tell a Lye..The Story of Soap

Cold process soap making begins with a well thought out and researched recipe. Each recipe must have the correct measure of lye for the amount of fats being used to make a safe and quality soap.

The lye is carefully measured and dissolved in distilled water. Then oils are then weighed, measured and heated or melted if they are solid at room temperature. Once both substances have cooled to approximately 100-120°F (37-43°C), and are no more than 10°F (~5.5°C) apart, they may be combined. This lye-fat mixture is blended until what is called trace. There are varying levels of trace, but most would describe it as thin pudding or gravy. At this time, essential or fragrance oils, botanicals, herbs, or other additives are added.

The batch is then poured into molds, and then put to bed (kept warm with towels or blankets), and left to continue saponification for 18 hours.  During this time, it is normal for the soap to go through a "gel phase" where the opaque soap will turn somewhat transparent for several hours, before once again turning opaque. The soap will continue to give off heat for many hours after trace.

After the insulation period the soap is firm enough to be removed from the mold and cut into bars. The bars are then placed on drying racks and set up to cure for 4 weeks. Once cured, the bars are moved to labeled trays and placed in the inventory closet. Soaps are left unpackaged until purchase so that they are able to breathe and continue to harden. The harder the soap, the longer it lasts!

Some of the quality ingredients you'll find in our soap are plant based oils and butters, ground herbs and botanicals, natural clays, essential or fragrance oils, honey, milk, and much more!