Ida's Soap Box

Essential oils are temperamental to work under any circumstance. While a natural essential oil scent blend may change a bit when combined with virgin oils in a cream, these blends are especially unpredictable when making cold processed natural soap. Why doesn't my new soap bar smell the same as the last one? After all my years of soapmaking in never ceases to amaze me just how much the actual soapmaking process changes the scent of an essential oil blend.

Somehow natural bar soap has come under fire as being a source of bacteria. Although sharing a bar of soap with your family may seem to be less hygienic than liquid soap, is that really true? As you place your soap bar under the faucet to create lather, you are actually cleaning the surface of the soap. How often do you clean the top of your liquid soap dispenser?

Handmade natural soaps usually get better with age, but we recommend using our unscented soaps within 12 months of purchase, and our scented soaps within 6-10 months for best results. Although a natural soap will not be "spoiled" after that time, you may notice that some natural colors and the scents from pure natural essential oils will fade over time. Here we discuss some factors that are responsible for the changes in soap that may affect the shelf-life over time.

While the process for making a shampoo bar is the same as making soap and the ingredients are similar, a well-formulated shampoo bar is not your typical soap bar. Shampoo bar "recipes" are tweaked to use different proportions of oils and butters and to include botanicals, like nettles right, herb infused oils and essential oils that are known to help nourish the hair and scalp.