My Soap is 100% handmade! Each bar requires three weeks of care to make and ensure quality. The basic process includes combining the oils and lye and curing for three weeks. After cured, the basic soap may be sold as is, or handmilled. To handmill, I must shredd the soap to melt it down, and then I can add fragrances and additives such as ground flower petals and herbs. The end result is a mild, moisturizing bar of soap, that smells great!

My basic soap ingredients:

Depending on the batch a particular bar was made from, the bars contain Olive oil, Palm kernal oil, Coconut oil, castor oil, cocoa butter, Crisco shortening, and Lye as main ingredients.

Palm oil, expressed from certain types of palm, used to be widely used as a cooking oil! Soaps made with Palm oil have rich, luxurious, long lasting bubbles. These soaps are extra mild and are great facial soaps.

Coconut oil, a white oil derived from the meat of a coconut, is widely used in soap and candles. Soaps made with Coconut oil tend to dry the skin, but it creates a hard bar, with lots of creamy lather.

Cocoa butter, is derived from the seeds of the cacao tree and is separated out during the process of making cocoa. Cocoa butter is hard rich oil that makes soap bars creamy and hard. The butter is an emollient, so it also softens the skin and makes it smooth.

Vegetable Shortening, is a great substitute for animal fats (Animal fats are most common in all soaps, but I've decide to go with an all natural/vegetable recipe). Soaps made with shortening are usually soft and low in bubbles.

Castor oil, is expressed from the seed of the castor bean plant. It adds richness and mildness to soaps.

Olive oil, makes a very hard and brittle soap, and lathers well. Olive oil soaps are mild, long lasting, and of high quality.

Lye, is a caustic alkaline substance that makes soap when combined with fats and oils! So there is also quite a bit of chemistry behind the process! If you don't have the

right ratios of lye to oil, you may not end up with soap at the end – (I of course had to learn this the hard way..but don’t worry, I've got it all figured out now!)

Reference: The Complete Soapmaker by Norma Coney. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York 1997