2020 has been a long and difficult year for everyone. The Coronavirus changed everyone’s daily life, seemingly overnight. One big part of that change was being more aware of washing hands.
By March of 2020 there were signs being plastered in every public restroom in the US teaching us all how to wash our hands again. Between this and public service announcements filling every free second of radio and television airtime – every corner of the United States was on high alert for keeping our hands clean. And this made a lot of people start thinking about how clean their hands were really getting and what soap is best to use.
I’m happy to say in November 2020 we have amassed – and answered – the top ten most frequently asked questions, to this site, about handmade soap and soap in general. Before we delve in however, let me set the stage by reiterating these are the most common questions that visitors to this website asked. These are nit typical questions asked by budding soap-making professionals. And that’s a GOOD thing!
If you are a soap maker trying to make a go of it in real world, these are the questions your potential customers are asking. If you are a casual visitor wondering about soap, the most popular questions and answers are laid out for you right here.
Without further ado, here they are in order of most asked to least…
Is homemade soap better than store bought?
This is largely a matter of opinion. I think it is based on my own experience, but it really depends on who you ask.
For me, the soap I make is better than what I can buy at the store because it contains only all-natural ingredients. I can make it 100% organic if I like as well. I got into soap making out of necessity because of two family members who had skin irritation form using our old store-bought brand. The detergents were too harsh for their skin. This is when I learned that the top brand I had been buying in supermarkets is not really “soap” as defined by the FDA. It is technically a “cleansing bar” whose primary cleaning agent is an artificial detergent.
It’s no wonder their skin was irritated. They were literally bathing in a chemical cocktail!
How does soap get skin clean?
All-natural soap, without chemical detergents, gets us clean by attracting dirt particles and dead skin cells from the body and separating them from the skin. The water that rinses away the lather also takes away the dirt.
If you have ever seen a ring around a bathtub it demonstrates the idea best. The ring is dirt and debris that clings to the sidewalls of the tub after the lather and foam that clung to the walls disappears.
Is all soap antibacterial?
No. Most soaps are not antibacterial. There are many cleansing bars with antibacterial agents added, as well as plenty of handmade soap recipes that contain natural antibacterial as well as artificial additives that target bacteria.
Just do a little research before you jump onto the antibacterial bandwagon. You might find it’s not all its cracked up to be. Speaking of which…
Is antibacterial soap better for you?
I am not a medical professional so I cannot legally say whether or not antibacterial soap is good for you or does more harm than good. I can however tell you that those antibacterial “hand washes” and “bath and beauty bars” are often not real soap. Many use artificial lab-born chemicals detergents with antibacterial chemical cocktails that wipe out 99.9% of all bad and GOOD bacteria on your body, indiscriminately.
Let’s let the United Sates government weigh in on this one. If it gives you any indication on how the US Food and Drug Administration feel on the subject, check out this aptly title article on the FDA website: Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water.
“According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there isn’t enough science to show that over-the-counter (OTC) antibacterial soaps are better at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water. To date, the benefits of using antibacterial hand soap haven’t been proven. In addition, the wide use of these products over a long time has raised the question of potential negative effects on your health.”
Source: FDA.gov
How much does it cost to make soap?
This really depends on the type of soap you make, and the ingredients used. Here are my own personal stats from homemade soap batches.
Making one 10 bar loaf batch of soap (4 ounces per bar after curing) costs almost exactly eight dollars including local sales tax. I use all-natural ingredients and food-grade lye. This works out to $0.80 per 4 oz bar. When I use all organic ingredients, it costs $9.78 per 10 bar loaf.
By comparison, I see the same soap in Wholefoods handmade soap section selling for $1.25 per ounce. My 4 oz bar would cost me $6 to buy from another soap maker. I can make it myself for $0.98 per bar and have the added benefit of my own quality control.
Even the artificial detergent-filled so-called “soap” from the grocery store is usually about $2.50 per bar when purchased in a pack of three.
Are bigger lather bubbles better?
Bigger bubbles are not better. Generations of marketing have sold us on the idea of “scrubbing bubbles” doing all of the work to get our sinks clean and big luxurious bubbles making bubble-baths so wonderful. But the truth is, big bubbles simply trap more air than smaller bubbles.
Lather is just a lot of tiny bubbles working together to pull the dirt away from the surface it is cleaning. But big bubbles do look nice and make a bubble-bath feel more like a treat.
What is soap made from?
It only takes three components to make soap:
- Lye
- Water
- Animal fats or Vegetable oils
Specially you combine any number of fats or oils that contain the properties you want in your soap. This might be lard as a no-nonsense thousand-year-old solution or organic coconut oil for luxurious lather. With hundreds of fats, oils, and butters to choose from, there really is no limit to what you can achieve.
Once all your fats and oils are melted together, you add a lye solution. The lye solution is a combination of an exact measure of caustic soda (lye) and a liquid such as water. The ratios need to be exact for the saponification process to convert the lye and fats into soap.
You can combine any number of fats and oils to get the exact soap you want. You can also use liquids such as beer, wine, or even fruit juice in your lye solution. The main takeaway is that it only takes three ingredients to make soap – and just about anyone can do it.
Is there such thing as lye free soap?
Yes and no. All soap is made using lye. However, the lye gets used up in the soap making process known as saponification. This means that while it took lye to make the soap, it got used up in the soap making process.
Here is an overview of saponification…
Saponification is a natural reaction that occurs when a lye solution (lye plus liquid) is added to fats and oils under a set of specific parameters. In short, saponification is how the lye, liquid, and oils interact to become the final soap product.
More technically speaking, saponification can best be described as converting fats into soap and/or alcohols. It’s achieved via a bio-chemical reaction that occurs when heat is in proximity to an alkali (in this case, lye). The output is known scientifically as the “alkali salts of fatty acids” and a trihydric alcohol called glycerin. But most of us just call it soap.
Does handmade soap expire?
Fully saponified soap itself does not expire, but any additives in the bar might. This is especially true if any milks, butters, or extra oils were used to “superfat” the bar. The same applies to scents that might have been added or botanicals.
Butters and oils can go rancid and develop undesired blemishes and odors in the bar. Again, if all the oils have been used in the saponification process, it will not go rancid. However, most soap makers choose to superfat their soaps by at least 3% to 5% of added fats and oils. This is done to both ensure all the lye gets used and that the soap is mild.
Any extra oil that turns rancid can result in something called dreaded orange spot, or DOS. These are orange spots that appear on the surface of the bar where the oil turned. The soap is usually still safe to use. It just looks a bit off and might have an odd odor.
Even if the soap does not technically expire, it is best to consider handmade soap to have a suggested shelf life. For my soaps that is generally one to two years.
How long should a bar of soap last?
A typical bar of soap will last an adult user for about three to four weeks of daily use in the shower. This depends greatly on the habits of the user. A typical bar of soap can last twice as long by taking simple measures such as applying the soap to a washcloth and then to yourself and by using a soap-saver type soap dish to help keep the bar dry when not in use.
We recently wrote a featured post on this subject called “How Long Does Handmade Soap Last?” Give it a quick read if you would like to double the life of your bar soap – and save some cash.
In Closing
These are our top ten questions and answers about soap as requested form site visitors over the course of 2020. Stay safe and happy soaping!