PhatGirl: Tao Mistress and Advisor to the Soapmaker on All Things Clean
"all dogs need dog soap"
Information from The Soapmaker
(in plain language)
We specialize in glycerine soap with goat's milk, which has a higher fat content than cow's milk. We also offer white & clear glycerine soap, and glycerine soap with honey. Glycerine is a natural by-product in soap. The glycerine soap bases we use are pure, biodegradable soap with extra glycerine added. While Gettingsburg Soapworks makes NO beauty or therapeutic claims about our soaps, many essential oils and botanic elements are reputed to maintain their beauty or therapeutic qualities in soap.
Pure Soap is so ubiquitous that it is exempt from the labeling regulations of cosmetics, medicinals, and food. According to government labeling requirements, Gettingsburg Soapworks base soaps contain only soap. Some of our soaps are made with organic oils and ingredients. However, since some of the raw ingredients used in our base soaps are not available in a Certified Organic form, we do not claim to make 100% organic soap. Our Soap Made With Organic Oils and our SLS Free Soap are available as special orders.
Soap is a chemical reaction (saponification) between a fat and/or oil, sodium hydroxide (lye), and water. When washing with soap, the soap breaks the surface tension of water droplets, causing the water to spread out and soak into the skin, rather than laying on the surface of the skin in tiny drops. The soap then attaches to dirt and grease on the skin. It suspends the dirt and grease within the lather until rinsed away.
Real, pure, unadulterated soap is an acquired taste these days. Most of the "soap" used today is actually detergent or cleanser. Since most people rarely use real soap anymore, they don't realize that well-made, fully cured soap has a crust. A cake of real soap needs to be broken in by using it. Pure Soap does not always rinse completely clean. It can leave traces behind, which over time, collect to become the dreaded "Soap Scum". When soap is used on hair (whether it's regular soap or our shampoo cakes), the hair may benefit from a final rinse with a very mild vinegar and water solution.
My grandmother made soap on the kitchen stove using saved tallow and lard from cooking.
Gettingsburg Soapworks and our suppliers use ONLY plant fats and oils in the production of soap. Some of those oils may be organic. The following oils may be used in any of our soaps: Avocado Oil, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Peanut oil, and/or Soybean Oil. Fats and oils used in soap are chemically changed during the saponification process, so they rarely pose an allergy problem in the final product.
Our base soaps may also contain Purified Water, Sodium Stearate, Sorbitol, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Stearic Acid, Lauric Acid, and Soduim Chloride in their manufacture.
Along with a variety of essential oils for scent, we may add other oils to our soaps, such as Vitamin E Oil, Olive Oil, Avocado Oil, or Shea Butter. Any of these sorts of additives will be clearly listed on our label, along with other botanical materials like leaves and seeds.
Essential oils are pure plant distillates. Essential oils added to soap after the saponification may retain some of their natural properties. Gettingsburg does NOT make any cosmetic or health claims about our soaps, except that they clean beautifully.
Our perfume oils (essential oils and other natural ingredients in a carrier oil) may have synthetic components in place of rare and/or very expensive natural ingredients.
The fragrances we use are largely synthetic scents in a carrier oil, though they may have natural elements as well.
We use a variety of colorants in our soaps. Unless a soap label states which botanic colorants were used (ground spice, herbs or herbal infusion), you may assume that we have used either a synthetic colorant or an inorganic colorant. The difference between botanic, synthetic, and inorganic (minerals) colorants is fairly obvious. Botanic colorants like herbs, spices, and other plant materials result in the gentle colors found in plants. Vivid colors usually come from synthetic dyes. We use approved food and cosmetic dyes in our soap. Inorganics are minerals like titanium dioxide, ultramarine, iron oxide, and ochre, which can produce either gentle tints or vivid colors depending on the amount used, but still are in the earth palette. Opaque glycerine soap is made white with titanium dioxide. We use only minerals approved for cosmetics.
Some essential oils and fragrances will tint soap, e.g. our most popular vanilla perfume oil tints soap to a light vanilla bean tan, and some vanilla scents will color soap to a deep brown. (We have color stable soap for the "White Vanilla Soap" that we use for our Bridal soap.)
Over time, all soap colors change. They may fade, deepen, or blend with other colors in the cake of soap, depending on the source of the color. For instance, over time, fresh lavender buds added to soap will tint soap green.
Soap is best used fresh. Some "organic" soaps will spoil after a time.
All of our products are Human tested, first by me, the soapmaker, and then by my family and friends. One of my cousins is allergic to almost everything. I pay close attention to her observations about the soaps. Our Dog and Human Shampoo Cakes are also Human tested.