THREE WISHES NATURAL SKINCARE: THE PERFECT BAR OF SOAP

MOST SOAP WILL EITHER LAST AGES BUT DRY OUT YOUR SKIN, OR IT WILL END UP AS MUSH IN YOUR SOAP DISH... SO WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE THE PERFECT BAR OF SOAP?

Soap. It's probably not something most people give much thought to, but after the pandemic I expect we all have a bit more to say on the subject. Washing our hands multiple times a day while singing 'Happy Birthday' in our heads (or, if I'm honest, out loud most of the time) made hand washing a bigger part of our lives than ever before. I'm sure the majority of you began to notice that after a while your skin started to complain: dryness, redness, sensitivity, or even contact dermatitis with soreness and splitting skin. It wasn't much fun. I noticed that I was getting through SO much hand cream, applying it after every time I washed my hands to stop them from drying out. I began to wonder... what if I could create a soap that is so hydrating that there'd no longer be a need for moisturiser. I'd already had a couple of my beauty clients asking me if I stock soap before the pandemic began, so I decided to get down to it.

“I began to wonder... what if I could create a soap that is so hydrating that there'd no longer be a need for moisturiser.”

Soapmaking goes back hundreds of years. At the beginning, it was made by mixing ash from the fire with animal fat. Ash is very alkaline and when mixed with fat it saponifies, creating soap. There's something about the process of making soap that is deeply satisfying, as I blend the soap batter with an electric mixer it gets me thinking about how our ancestors would have laboriously mixed theirs by hand, so much love and attention goes into each and every batch.

SOAP INGREDIENTS

To this day, many people use animal fat to produce handmade soap, I've even heard of people using bear fat. The oils and fats used make a difference to the quality and texture of the soap. I use 100% natural vegetable based oils and botanical butters to create my soaps; coconut oil for its cleansing properties, olive oil to hydrate, and castor oil to produce a foamy lather. I also use cocoa butter and a high content of shea to give my soap its deeply moisturising quality.

Botanicals and essential oils are added to the soap mixture to add therapeutic value and make it smell delicious. My Pink Clay & Calendula soap contains calendula infused olive oil which has skin nourishing properties, making these soaps excellent for sensitive skin types.

THE PERFECT BALANCE

Everyone has their own idea of the 'perfect' bar of soap, for me it's a bar that is hydrating but won't turn to a soggy pile of mush in the soap dish. It needs to leave hands feeling really clean, but not 'squeaky clean'. When our hands feel squeaky clean, it's because all the oils have been stripped from the surface of the skin. This is not what we want, because the oils on the surface of our skin act as a protective barrier to lock in moisture and stop germs getting in. We want a soap that will wash away the germs and reinforce the skins protective barrier, and this is exactly what my soap does.

“When hands feel squeaky clean, it's because the oils have been stripped from the surface of the skin.”

The bars of soap that we get the squeaky clean feeling from are very hard and will last for ages, this is because they have a high content of oils that have cleansing properties, and less of the oils that have hydrating properties. This is great if you want a bar of soap that will last for months and months, but not so great if you want hydrated skin. I made it my mission to create a soap that is the perfect balance between cleansing and hydrating.

The balance of cleansing and hydrating properties makes the perfect bar of soap. I've used a higher content of oils in my soap than are needed to saponify, this is what is called 'superfatting', it gives my soap its silky feel and moisturising ability. As far as making it last a long time, my advice is to wet your hands and then handle the soap rather than running the soap under the tap, and also keeping it dry between uses.

I've created felted soap to add an exfoliating quality and to help make each bar last longer.

#TWskincare #Soapmaking #Soap