Handmade Cold Process Soap 

The main benefit to handmade cold process soap is the control you have over the ingredients that go into your bars of soap. This quality control ensures that disagreeable ingredients associated with many mass produced store bought soap such as harsh detergents, preservatives and other chemicals (ingredients that strip away natural oils from your skin and are also not good for the environment) are not added to your soap. 

Another benefit you gain through homemade cold process soap is glycerin, which is very good for your skin (it helps lock in moisture).  Most soap companies remove glycerin from their soap during production, in order to sell it to cosmetic companies for additional profit, but homemade soap keeps it in. 

Most soap makers use high quality ingredients, proven/well-established recipes and soap formula calculators to ensure exact recipe measurements/soap results. They continually work to refine their individual soap process in order to create the highest quality soap they can create.

Sol Soap purchases soap ingredients from companies who specialize in soap-making oils and ingredients that are FDA approved and select quality ingredients over price.

Depending on the ingredients you use, cold process soap-making typically yields a long-lasting bar of soap that not only cleanses without stripping off the natural oils but also leaves behind some healthy oils for your skin. 

How is Cold Process Soap Made?

Cold Process Soap is made by mixing lye/sodium hydroxide (a base) and oils (acids) such as olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, rice bran oil, etc. Triglycerides in the oils react with the sodium hydroxide to produce a glycerol and fatty acid salt which is soap! This process is called saponification. This part of the process takes 24-48 hours. Afterwards, the soap batch/bars enter a curing phase, which typically requires between 4-6 weeks to cure (dry and harden).

Some people believe that products containing lye are dangerous to use, however all true soap is made using lye/sodium hydroxide (even the bars you buy at your favorite department store). Most soap makers only use food grade lye in our soaps to ensure its purity. When soap is prepared properly, no lye remains in the bar of soap after saponification has occurred (the first 24/48 hours), the lye and oils have chemically changed to make soap. 

Soap Weight & Pricing

Our soap is priced by weight and by design. Typically bath bars are 4 to 5 ounces.   Specialty bars that require more time to produce due to design intricacy or those that require more special ingredients are the exception and may cost a little more. This site uses Paypal, Square and Stripe as a payment forum but you may use most types of common credit cards through these payment options, you do not need a Paypal account.      

How to Extend the Life of Your Soap

To obtain the optimal life of a soap bar, you must prevent them from sitting in standing water. Many soap dishes do not allow proper water drainage, so this can cause them to break down and dissolve very fast. To prevent this, use a well draining and well ventilated soap dish, such as a slat styled dish or Boardwalk style dish, or any other that allows air to completely circulate around the bar allowing it to dry between uses.