"The Science Behind Soap: Exploring the Composition and Benefits of this Everyday Essential"

Your current soap. Do you ever look at it and ask what exactly is this stuff? Well, if you're like most people, probably not. It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't know much about the soap they use on their skin daily. As usual, the point of this article to inform you about soap to help you make better decisions about which product is best for you. This also helps me because I prefer an informed customer to help me help them find the product that's right for them instead of just selling you whatever like most brands tend to do. So without further ado...

What exactly is soap?

The FDA website (click link for source) says the term soap applies when the bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the product's detergent properties are due to the alkali-fatty acid compounds. This may sound like a bunch of scientific jargon however this is very important. By this definition alone, most people have never really experienced using an actual soap. An actual soap can only be made with lye (strong alkali) and fats to keep it very basic. With this knowledge, take a second and look at the ingredients on the soap you are currently using. If it has anything more complicated sounding than Sodium Hydroxide then more than likely you are using a bar of detergent also called a syndet bar. Syndet being short for synthetic detergent. To make matters worse, the FDA also says that If a product is intended solely for cleansing the human body, has the characteristics consumers generally associate with soap, and does not consist primarily of alkali salts of fatty acids, it may be identified in labeling as soap. So basically a syndet can still be labeled as a soap even though it technically isn't soap. Why is this even important? For article clarity and understanding. When I refer to soap in this (and any) article I mean a sodium salt of fatty acids (Myristic, Lauric, Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic, Linolenic and Ricinoleic fatty acids) exactly like the ones you find here. That is not to say that one is better than the other one but rather for understanding that most soaps are not natural and are not actually soap by definition.

Soap Composition

Now that we have set the stage for what soap is lets talk about what's in it. Every soap that is produced via saponification will be 20 to 25 percent glycerin naturally. You may have heard of it as an additive to pricy skincare products, but here it is naturally occurring in soap. Glycerin is great for skin because it is a humectant and allows the skin to retain more hydration (water). Glycerin is also an emollient that will soften skin. The remainder is a combination of Sodium Salts of the 8 fatty acids above. So essentially, what I craft for my customers is not one unique soap but rather a unique combination of 8 different glycerin rich soaps in one. Without getting too deep into the science of it all, let's just say that all 8 types combine in weird and unique ways to deliver a desired unique result. The result can be anything from a coconut oil or babassu oil soap that has explosive cleaning power (wear gloves lol) all the way to a very gentle cleansing and conditioning beef tallow soap suitable for use on a baby and anything in between. Natural soaps also contain a whole host of naturally occurring vitamins and nutrients including Vitamins A, C, D, E and K as well as unique mixtures of unsaponified fatty acids that nourish the skin. Using lye to craft soap is a concern for many uninformed consumers and rightfully so as it is a naturally occurring strong alkali (it will chemically burn you). For soap Lye is added to water to dissociate Sodium Hydroxide NaOH into Sodium (Salt) and a Hydroxyl (-OH). This basically creates a soup of salt suspended in a very hot very strong alkali. The -OH (dangerous portion) is used to separate molecules of fat (like olive oil) into fatty acids and glycerol and is combined with the newly formed glycerol to form glycerin. The fatty acids combine with sodium to make soap. Soaps crafted with lye are not dangerous unless the recipe is formulated by someone that has no idea what they are doing. Super fatting soap is the process I use to ensure lye is no longer present. I reduce the calculated amount of lye (or increase fats) used by at least 5% (usually in the range 6 to 20 percent and sometimes higher depending on formulation) to ensure there is too much fat and not enough lye. This leaves some (or alot lol) of the oils used in the recipe untouched by lye to further soften and nourish your skin.

How Does Soap Work?

This part is similar for soap and syndet bars alike the whole point of soap and syndets are to clean the skin. It does this because of its neat chemical makeup. Cleaning products work because it has both a hydrophobic (oil loving) fatty acid head and a hydrophilic (water loving) tail. As you wet the soap, the hydrophilic tail will attach to the water (like a rope) and the physical action of rubbing the soap separates soap molecules from the bar and begin to lather. This a good time to point out that the aforementioned 8 different soaps all have different lather, cleansing, conditioning and other soap properties depending on what type of fatty acid is on the hydrophobic head. As you apply the soap to skin the hydrophobic end attaches itself to fatty compounds that are on the skin (Like the fatty cell membranes of bacteria, viruses and dirt captured in the skins sebum we will refer to this combination as dirty stuff from here on out) and begins to lift them off the skin and even break them apart if it is a stronger cleaner. The dirty stuff is then surrounded and trapped by clusters of soap molecules called micelles. These micelles keep the dirty stuff from reattaching to anything else (like your skin). This is the short amount of time where any moisturizing, vitamins and other benefits like anti-aging properties of the soap being used is in full effect on your skin. Do not however, let soap sit on your skin for longer than a few minutes because the point is to remove dirty stuff the rest is simply an added benefit and not the star of the show. The level of micellar action is generally easily identified by how bubbly the lather is. Micellar water, which is very popular for gentle cleansing of sensitive skin, is nothing more than a weakened cleaning solution diluted with water and has no lather (basically a very weak soap solution). Now that the skin is nice and lathered you simply rinse off the micelles and the dirty stuff contained in them. This happens because as water contacts the clusters of soap molecules it attaches to the hydrophilic salt tail and pulls the hydrophobic end with all the dirty stuff in tow down the drain.

This is a very, very, very simplified version of the process. I encourage you to, if you're interested to know more, do more research. You can also feel free to leave a comment on this blog or hop over to the forum and start a thread by asking about it. Be sure to use the information delivered here the same as always-to select products that are right for your skin. Until next time feel free to check out the rest of the articles and the selection of all natural skin care products available on this site. If you like it then please love your skin and purchase it.