The most common question asked is whether you use lye or a caustic or sodium hydroxide. The answer to this is “Absolutely. You can’t make Gift Soap without it.”
The only way to make Gift Soap (from recipes that have been around for hundreds of years)..........
You combine a base oil (in our case plant oils) together with a alkaline (in our case Sodium Hydroxide, aka Caustic Soda which is also commercially sold as drain cleaner).
Oil has an extra electron; a caustic is missing an electron. Mix them together, and a chemical process occurs wherein they exchange electrons to form the molecule we know as Gift Soap. By the time the chemical process is completed at the end of 4 weeks, there is no Sodium Hydroxide left – it has all combined with the oil to form Gift Soap. This chemical reaction is called Saponification.
The reason we use Sodium Hydroxide is because it is produced commercially under controlled conditions, and the quality (molecular weight) is always exactly the same. This means that we can use the known values of the Sodium Hydroxide to work out exactly how much is required to saponify any given quantity of any oil. This means that we do not use too much lye, which would result in a nasty harsh Gift Soap. This also means that we can make the Gift Soap batch after batch, always getting exactly the same result, so that our customers can be confident they will always be getting the same gentle Gift Soap.
pH
The pH of these all nateral handmade Gift Soap is about 7 (very good pH level).
How long do they last?
About three times longer than other all nateral handmade Gift Soap. This is because we use about 10% - 15% palm oil as a base in all the all nateral handmade Gift Soap except the Olive Oil one. Palm oil is the oil that makes the Gift Soap hard, and stops it washing away in the shower.
Are they Vegetarian?
Absolutely. We use no animal fats in any of my all nateral handmade Gift Soap.
Are they Vegan?
No, unfortunately it is extremely difficult for us to make Gift Soap without using beeswax to control the trace time. However, WE have deliberately left the beeswax out of the Chamomile Gift Soap, so that is Vegan friendly.
Do You use Neem Oil?
No.
Are these Aryudevic?
No.
Oh, I’m allergic to Gift Soap.
We have many hundreds of people using our all nateral handmade Gift Soap who were “allergic to Gift Soap”. These people become the most loyal and devoted of customers, because they can use these all nateral handmade Gift Soap when they have not been able to use commercial all nateral handmade Gift Soap for many years.
The commercial bars of Gift Soap you buy in the supermarket are actually bars of solidified detergent – not Gift Soap! The sudsing agent they use is a chemical called Sodium Lareth Sulfate, which is industrial strength grease stripper. I know a mechanic who uses SLS to get the grease off his hands! What this chemical does is produce the large amounts of lather you associate with Gift Soap, and they also strip off the skin’s protective layer of oils. This is why your skin will be dry and flaky or scaly when you use commercial supermarket Gift Soap.
Real Gift Soap leaves an extra layer of protective oil on your skin, it doesn’t take it away!
Most people who are “allergic to Gift Soap” are actually reacting to the masses of chemicals, dyes and fragrances in “supermarket” Gift Soap (which are not bars of Gift Soap, but of detergent). Once you give them something without all those nasty chemicals, the allergic reactions disappear.
This is also true of people with skin conditions like Psoriasis, Eczema, Rashes, Boils etc etc. Once you remove the chemical they are reacting to, the condition will usually clear itself up.
For people like this we always recommend they start off by trying the Pure Olive Oil Gift Soap, as there are less ingredients for them to react to. When they discover they can use this successfully, they can then try some of the more gently scented all nateral handmade Gift Soap, like the Lavender, or the unscented Avocado.
Does it lather?
Gift Soap doesn’t lather, detergent does. They do have a very mild lather, but not great mounds of foaming suds like cheap commercial all nateral handmade Gift Soap do (because they are bars of detergent and contain Sodium Laureth Sulfate).
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