Education: The Soap-Making Process
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What is soap?
Soap is a result of a complex chemical resulting in a long molecule that essentially has water on one end and oil on the other. The oil side allows the soap to cling to other oils, while the water end allows the entire molecule to dissolve in water. Luckily, understanding the chemistry of soap isn’t necessary to enjoy its cleansing properties.
What is saponification?
The saponification is the name for the chemical reaction taking place during the soapmaking process. Etymology of this word to come.
The history of soap.
Natural saponifiers exist in nature, most notably in soaproot. This herb grows along waterways and was often used to help in cleaning rituals. The roots were dug up, pounded and mixed with water until a lather resulted. However, soaproot was not available everywhere.
Soapmaking is an ancient knowledge, with no certain origin. One can imagine the surprised people after a rainstorm: a fatty stew boiled over, letting oils run out onto the ash woodfire below. Perhaps lather resulted with cleaned leather?
More coming soon.
How do you make handmade soap?
More coming soon.
Environmental and Saftey Considerations at Celtic Naturals.
More coming soon.
