our soap base ingredients
Your ultimate guide to our Ingredients
You skin deserves only the best. When you use products like soaps and cleansers, the ingredients in these products are absorbed into your skin – both the good and the bad. If you want to care for your skin to keep it healthy and protected, the best thing you can do is to learn about the most popular soap base ingredients and their role in skincare products.
Our ultimate guide to soap ingredients takes you through the different ingredients that we use for our soap bases. We have 14 ingredients in total and are transparent about the roles that they play in our soap products. This guide takes you through each ingredient individually, highlighting their purpose and benefits, so that you can confidently buy our Glycerin, Goat’s Milk and Shea Butter soap base.
When you’re using our ‘melt and pour soap base’, you want to account for what each of these ingredients has to offer. Making handmade soap bars is a chance for you to take control of your skincare and give your skin the nourishment it needs.
Read on to find out more about each of our 14 soap ingredients to discover the role that they can play in your homemade soap bars.
coconut oil
What is coconut oil?
Coconut oil is a hydrating ingredient that is rich in lipids, which moisture and replenish your skin. It contains a blend of highly concentrated lauric acid, which protects, hydrates, and nourishes. Coconut oil is rich in fatty acids and acts similarly to mineral oil but is a non-fragrant plant kernel oil that acts as an emollient.
This soap base ingredient is made up of a mixture of fatty acids, including lauric, linoleic, oleic, palmitic, stearic, and myristic acid.
What does coconut oil do?
Coconut oil is primarily used for its hydrating properties as it limits moisture loss to brighten your complexion and prevent your skin. You can think of coconut oil as a natural anti-aging ingredient as it plumps your skin to prevent sagging and wrinkles. It helps to diminish the appearance of fine lines by promoting cellular turnover.
What are the benefits of coconut oil?
As it contains lauric acid, coconut oil is an antibacterial that works to kill bacteria and prevent inflammation in your skin. We incorporate coconut oil into soaps for its exfoliating properties as it helps to exfoliate dead skin cells to smooth the texture of your skin.
It leaves your skin silky-smooth, while helping you achieve all-day hydration. As an anti-inflammatory, coconut oil can also boost your skin’s natural protective barrier to prevent free radical damage. As an antimicrobial, coconut oil is an ideal treatment for acne and to prevent breakouts and inflammation.
Glycerin
What is glycerin?
As a humectant, glycerin attracts moisture to your skin. It’s helps to protect and hydrate your skin and is used in virtually every beauty product. A 2014 Cosmetic Ingredient Review named it as the third most popular ingredient after water and fragrance. You’ll struggle to find any moisturizer that doesn’t contain glycerin.
What does glycerin do?
Glycerin is typically used as a moisturizing agent, helping to lock-in hydration for your skin. As a natural product, your risk of having a reaction to glycerin is extremely low. Glycerin is derived from plant-based oils and has been used in soaps since the mid-19th century. It’s the perfect ingredient to add to a vegan soap and is suitable for sensitive skin, while also helping to treat conditions like acne, dermatitis, and rosacea.
What are the benefits of glycerin?
Glycerin works to hydrate the outer portion of your skin, while improving your skin’s natural protective barrier to prevent against free radical damage. It also soothes your skin and protects against irritation, while accelerating the healing process for scars and other imperfections.
EDTA
What is EDTA?
It’s easy to overlook EDTA on an ingredients list and shrug it off as another chemical. EDTA – otherwise known as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid – helps to improve the foam produced by soaps and personal care products. It’s suitable for all skin types and is safe to use in beauty products.
What does EDTA do?
EDTA is used in soaps and beauty products as a preservative to prevent the development of bacteria in the product. It helps to extend the life of your soap and prevent contamination, which can lead to irritation in your skin. We add EDTA into soaps to prevent them becoming mouldy or producing scum.
What are the benefits of EDTA?
EDTA as a soap base ingredient serves two primarily functions. It helps create a lather with your soap, making it easier to cleanse your skin, while also acting as a preservative to extend the useability of your soap. If you want to create a soap with a velvet lather that you can enjoy for weeks on end, EDTA is an essential ingredient.
Propylene Glycol
What is propylene glycol?
Another humectant is propylene glycol, which helps give your skin the extra hydration it needs to develop a silky-smooth texture. This water-soluble ingredient is found in almost all personal care products as a multi-tasking ingredient that protects and rejuvenates your skin. Propylene glycol works in soaps to help the water-based ingredients absorb into your skin.
What does propylene glycol do?
Like EDTA, propylene glycol acts as a preservative to extend the lifespan of your soap. Propylene glycol can also boost the effectiveness of the other active ingredients in your soap to help you achieve the maximum results. It also helps ingredients penetrate deeply into your skin.
What are the benefits of propylene glycol?
As an emollient, this ingredient attracts and locks-in water to give your skin all-day hydration. It acts as an anti-aging ingredient to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, while keeping your skin moisturised to prevent dryness and irritation. This ingredient is suitable for all skin types, including sensitive skin. As a moisturiser, it helps to diminish the appearance of imperfections, including acne scars.
goats milk
What is goat’s milk?
Goat’s milk isn’t just for your friend. It’s a popular moisturizing ingredient that hydrates and nourishes your skin, while helping to prevent premature aging. Goat’s milk has been used for generations to treat sensitive skin and is ideal for those who want a gentle soap to cleanse and moisturize your skin.
What does goat’s milk do?
Goat’s milk is gentle soap base ingredient but effective as it has the same pH as your skin, meaning you can avoid irritation and inflammation. One of the main components in goat’s milk is lactic acid, which hydrates and gently exfoliates your skin to repair damage.
What are the benefits of goat’s milk?
As a natural humectant, goat’s milk helps your skin attract and retain moisture to keep it hydrated all-day long. It’s rich in vitamins, fatty acids, and probiotics that repair, rejuvenate, and protect your skin. If you want to create an all-natural soap, goat’s milk is one ingredient you’ll be reaching for. It helps to smooth and brighten your complexion as an all-in-one ingredient.
Myristic Acid
What is myristic acid?
Myristic acid is an emulsifier and surfactant that adds stability to your soaps to prevent the different ingredients from separating. It’s a fatty acid – also known as tetradecameric acid – that is naturally occurring in palm kernel oil and coconut oil.
What does myristic acid do?
When you use myristic acid in your soaps, it helps to prevent the water-based and oil components of your soap from separating, helping to thicken the emulsion to make it more stable. As a surfactant, myristic acid works to gently cleanse your skin and is easy to rinse off.
What are the benefits of myristic acid?
Using myristic acid helps you get the most out of your soap by preventing it from breaking apart while in use. It works to thicken the ingredients in your soap, while providing a natural base for your product.
Lauric Acid
What is lauric acid?
Lauric acid is one of the fatty acids that you’ll find in coconut oil, along with other natural facts. It is a saturated fat and medium-chain fatty acid, containing twelve atom carbons.
It’s commonly found in beauty products as it has a pleasant natural scent that gives a refreshing fragrance to your soap. It has antimicrobial properties that help to cleanse and smooth your skin’s texture, making it a popular ingredient for anti-aging products.
What does lauric acid do?
We primarily use lauric acid in soaps for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also a preservative that helps to extend the shelf life of your soap. It works to repair and cleanse your skin, while tackling acne and breakouts. Lauric acid is popular for its antimicrobial properties, which helps your skin fight against bacteria and breakouts.
What are the benefits of lauric acid?
As lauric acid is anti-fungal and anti-microbial, it’s ideal for tackling acne by cleansing your skin and removing bacteria. It can also help to tackle inflammation and soothe your skin. If you suffer from psoriasis, lauric acid can help moisturize your skin to prevent dryness.
Sodium Hydroxide
What is sodium hydroxide?
Sodium hydroxide is an alkaline ingredient that helps soap maintain its pH level. Also known as ‘lye’, it’s a common ingredient for soaps and cleansers. It acts as a film for amino acids and oils, helping to protect your skin from oxidative stress and free radical damage.
What does sodium hydroxide do?
It’s used in soaps to help incorporate oils into the formula and is suitable for all skin types. The primary purpose of this ingredient is to maintain the soap’s pH level, which is important to prevent irritation. It’s considered a ‘basic’ingredient that you’ll find in almost all soaps and cleansing products.
What are the benefits of sodium hydroxide?
Sodium hydroxide is a cleansing agent that has a highly alkaline concentration, helping to establish and maintain the soap’s formula. It’s a necessary ingredient in soaps to maintain a specific pH level to allow the soap to gently cleanse your skin.
Shea Butter Oil
What is shea butter oil?
Shea butter oil comes from shea nuts that are processed to create a hydrating oil. This natural ingredient is rich in magnesium, protein, and potassium. It’s also made up of essential fatty acids that hydrate and replenish your skin. As a non-reactive ingredient, it works as a moisturizing and conditioning agent in your soap.
What does shea butter oil do?
This ingredient acts as an anti-inflammatory that soothes your skin to tackle redness and irritation. Shea butter oil is rich in antioxidants that protect your skin against free radical damage, preventing premature aging. It helps to smooth your skin to create a dewy, natural glow.
What are the benefits of shea butter oil?
Shea butter oil is a multi-tasking ingredient that moisturises your skin, helping to diminish the appearance of everything from blemishes to stretchmarks and acne scars. It helps to boost your skin’s natural protective barrier to prevent UV and free radical damage.
Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
What is sodium methyl cocoyl taurate?
Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate is derived from fatty acids in coconuts, acting as a foaming agent and popularly used for its moisturising properties. This ingredient is safe for sensitive skin and is typically found in baby products. It’s also eco-friendly as a biodegrable ingredient.
What does sodium methyl cocoyl taurate do?
It acts as a surfactant in soaps and cleaners, allowing the oils within the soap and the water to blend. You’ll typically see Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate being used as a natural alternative to sulphates and silicones, which can irritate your skin. It’s a popular ingredient for anti-acne products as it prevents inflammation and breakouts.
What are the benefits of sodium methyl cocoyl taurate?
What makes this ingredient so popular is that it gently cleanses your skin to remove impurities without stripping your skin of its natural oil. It leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. This mild surfactant nourishes your skin and helps keep your skin hydrated, without using harmful sulphates.
Sodium Stearate
What is sodium sterate?
Sodium sterate is an emulsion stabilizer and is one of the ‘stearate salts’. It’s a fine white powder that is popularly found in personal care products, including skincare and soap. This ingredient is a stabilizer that helps to thicken your soap, allowing you to mould it into any desire shape or size.
What does sodium sterate do?
It acts as a lubricating ingredient that prevents the emulsions in your soap from separating with use by thickening the lipid ingredients in your soap. This vegetable-based material typically comes from coconut and palm oils, helping to create a rich later for your soap.
What are the benefits of sodium sterate?
The benefit of using sodium sterate is that it hardens your soap, allowing it to take whatever shape or size you desire. You’ll find this ingredient in almost every soap on the market as it acts as a mild cleanser, acting as an alternative to harsher surfactants.
Sorbitol
What is sorbitol?
When you hear that sorbitol is a sweetener, you might wonder how it ended up in your soap’s ingredient list. It’s a naturally occurring sweetener that you’ll usually find in plants and fruits. Sorbitol is a humectant that helps to smooth your skin, while also thickening the soap. You’ll typically find it used in soaps as a conditioning agent, preventing moisture loss to keep your skin hydrated and protected.
What does sorbitol do?
Sorbitol is used in soap as a prebiotic ingredient, helping to promote the healthy bacteria in your skin, meaning it can fight off harmful bacteria. It works as a hydrating and moisturizing agent that visibly brightens your complexion, improving the texture of your skin and its overall health.
Within your soap, sorbitol acts as a thickening agent that helps you apply the soap evenly and smoothly against your skin, it also helps to create a gentle lather.
What are the benefits of sorbitol?
This ingredient is suitable for all skin types and won’t cause irritation. It also works well with most ingredients, making it ideal for your homemade soaps. You can use sorbitol as an anti-aging ingredient as it acts as a humectant that attracts water to your skin, giving it a healthy, dewy glow.
Betaine
What is betaine?
Betaine is an ingredient that naturally occurs in the body. It’s a gentle hydrator that keeps your skin plump, healthy, and youthful. This amino acid is found primarily in hair and skincare products to soothe, hydrate, and prevent premature ageing.
What does betaine do?
The primary purpose of betaine is to hydrate your skin as its molecular structure allows it to deeply moisture your skin for all-day hydration. It gives your skin a smooth, silk-like feel. Betaine also protects and soothes your skin, making it ideal for sensitive skin types. It boots your skin’s natural protective barrier to prevent free radical damage.
What are the benefits of betaine?
As a hydrating ingredient, betaine is typically used in anti-aging products to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It helps to plump your skin, while softening and smoothing its texture. For the same reasons, you can use betaine to diminish the appearance of acne scarring.
Betaine is an ingredient that protects, repairs, and rejuvenates your skin. Whatever your skin type is, betaine is an essential ingredient that will help balance your skin’s moisture levels and prevent dryness.
Stearic Acid
What is steraic acid?
Stearic acid – also known as octadecanoic acid – is a long-chain fatty acid that is derived from plants and animals. It is a natural cleansing agent that works to remove excess oils, bacteria, and dirt from your skin. It’s a multi-tasking active ingredient that acts as an emollient, emulsifier, and lubricant.
What does steraic acid do?
Steraic acid works to harden your soap to create a rich lather that feels like velvet against your skin. It’s ideal for using on soap that you intend to use before shaving as it helps promote your skin’s overall hydration.
Steraic acid helps to remove excess oils from your skin to tackle breakouts and blackheads. What makes this ingredient ideal for soaps is that it creates the smooth and creamy feel that soothes your skin.
What are the benefits of steraic acid?
In soaps, steraic acid acts as a natural emulsifier to harden and prevent the ingredients within your soap from separating. It’s considered a safe ingredient for all skin types and is commonly found in other moisturizing ingredients, such as cocoa and shea butter.
With this ultimate guide, it’s easier for you to decide which ingredients to look out for when making homemade soap. Each of these ingredients play a role in nourishing and hydrating your skin. Want to find out more about SLS/SLES and all the characteristics of what isn’t in our soap bases and why that benefits you? Read all about them here.
our Melt & Pour Soap Base
Shea Butter
★ 100% NATURAL – Organic, Vegan and Premium Quality! with only natural ingredients to ensure the best homemade results. No SLS/SLES, PEG free, Soy free, Phthalate/ Paraben free and Cruelty free (not animal tested). Makes about 22 luxurious soap bars of 4oz (113 gr.) each!
Goat's Milk
★ NOURISH THE SKIN – This gentle cleanser is rich in nutrients. A great option for people with sensitive skin. Maintains your skin’s natural moisture, prevents overdrying and leaves a smooth feeling. With Coconut Oil to create a foamy rich lather, just as our Shea Butter and Glycerin!
Glycerin
★ SAFE & SOFT – Our soapbase has already gone through the ‘saponification’ process, making it a safer alternative to cold process soapmaking. Avoid handling lye! Use it straight out of the package. Works great with soap colorants, essential oils, etc. More pounds for less money!
