What is it?
• Soap is a surfactant, a necessary function of cleaning. It traps dirt or anything other than water in a little ring called a ‘Micelle’ which is washed away with the rinse water
• For it to be a true soap, it must be made using plant or animal fats, water, and lye.
• Lye is essential in making soaps, anything that does not use lye is a detergent
• Lye is a very strong alkaline that will convert a fat into a soap through saponification. The same principal is why alkali ingredients clean, as they essentially turn grease into soap which dissolved when washed away
Liquid v Sold Soap
• Soap can be in solid bar form or in liquid form and this all depends on the type of lye used. Sodium hydroxide is used for hard soap while potassium hydroxide is used for liquid soaps
Methods for use
• Dilute in hot/boiling water for soaking
• Mix with other compatible ingredients to make powders and pastes