Here at Soap It Up all our soaps are made using what is known as the 'Cold Process' method.

The phrase “Cold Process” is slightly misleading in that the process is not actually cold, although following the initial melting of any solid oils such as coconut and palm oils, no further external heat is used.

Soap is made by chemical reaction. Many people have the picture in their mind that soap is made by endlessly stirring a bubbling mixture in a large pan over heat and although there is a 'hot process' method which might have similarities to this, most books and instructions on natural soap-making only cover the 'cold process' method which is by far the easiest and simplest method.

Without going into the precise chemistry of soap-making, basically, soap is made from combining an acid (oil/s) and an alkali (sodium hydroxide) in precise proportions. It is easy to see what oils and fats different soaps are made from. For instance, if you make soap from coconut oil the name for the soap which will appear on the ingredients list will be 'sodium cocoate', palm oil is 'sodium palmate' and so-on. If you look at the ingredients listings of soaps you can fairly easily see what oils they were made from.

We choose only to use extra virgin olive oil in our soaps, although animal fats can be used. Our "Thistle Soaps" do not contain any animal fats, so any vegetarians amongst you will be able to use any of our "Thistle Soap" bars.

Some first-time soap makers are wary of the fact that sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) is used in soap making. Please be assured that once chemically reacted with the oil/s in correct proportions, absolutely no caustic properties remain in the soaps. All soaps start out this way, hence the scientific words for the different soaps all beginning with 'Sodium', i.e. sodium palmate (soap made with palm oil).

If you've ever wanted to try soap-making for yourself, you'll find everything you need at the Soap Kitchen.  You may even want to attend one of our regular soap-making workshops. For details, go to their 'Workshops' page where you can send them a request for information.

Certain information on this page is from "The Soap Kitchen" website.