Information:
Why use handmade soap…the answer is an easy one, it’s far better for your skin. You know the short list of ingredients, can pronounce them, and in the case of Raven’s Rest soaps, all ingredients are food grade. What you buy in the store, supermarket, big-box store, is not a natural, good-for-you soap, it is a detergent. Most of these detergent soaps have had the naturally occurring glycerin removed from them during the manufacturing process and sold as a by product. Raven’s Rest soap has the natural glycerin still within the soap, what’s the purpose for that? It adds to the soap’s ability to hold moisture in the layers next to your skin, keeping it moisturized.
Soap is made during a process of saponification, where an oil is added with a salt, and through that process, with a few more detailed steps, a solid is created, that solid is soap. You can change the properties of soap by changing the ingredients, there are many things to add that are good for your skin, super-fatting, adding additional butters and oils, clays, additives, scents. I try to keep my as basic as possible, allowing the soap to be as simple as possible. No additives to be allergic to, no additives to irritate your skin…just good…clean…pure…soap.
When you use a handmade soap, please place it in a soap dish, out of standing water. This will allow your soap to last a whole lot longer. It will get soft and you will be tempted to throw out this “good for you” product, and probably be less likely in the future to purchase. Simply keep it out of standing water when it’s not in use and it will last much longer.