What is a genuine cold process soap?
Every soap comes from the same meeting: oils, water and lye. The difference lies in the heat. In industrial soap the batter is heated, and the glycerine that forms naturally during the reaction is often extracted and sold separately. In cold process soap everything is mixed at low temperature and time does the work.
You can feel the result on your skin: the glycerine stays in the bar, and part of the oils never turns into soap. That is what makes a cold process soap gentler than a conventional one. I explain it in more detail in my article on cold process soap.
Superfat: which percentage should you choose?
Superfat is the share of oils that does not turn into soap and stays in the bar to nourish your skin. It is the most useful number to know, and many brands don't give it. Here is how to read it:
| Superfat | What it does | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 4% | Cleanses hard, can feel tight | Household use, very oily skin |
| 5 to 8% | Balance between cleansing and gentleness | Daily use, face and body |
| 9 to 15% | Very gentle, softer lather | Dry skin, for short periods |
Above 10%, the soap becomes more fragile: free oils can go rancid sooner, with small orange spots. All my soaps are at 8%, which I find right for a soap you use every day, on your face as well as your body.
How do you read the organic share?
Turn the bar over: in the INCI list, organic ingredients carry an asterisk. It is the simplest check, and it is worth more than the word "natural" on the front of the pack.
When a brand gives a percentage, there are two methods. Certifiers calculate it by weight, water included: since water cannot be organic, a very organic soap often shows between 80 and 95%. Others count the number of ingredients. On my product pages I give what you can check yourself in the INCI list: on AMARATERRA, for example, 15 of 17 ingredients are certified organic, and the other two are water and glycerine.
Nature & Progrès, COSMOS: what do labels guarantee?
A label is a promise checked by someone other than the brand. The two you will see most often on handmade soap:
- Nature & Progrès: an association charter designed for small producers, with requirements on organic ingredients and working methods.
- COSMOS Organic (Ecocert and other bodies): a European standard that sets a minimum of organic ingredients and checks the whole formula.
- "Certified organic ingredients": not a product label. It means the raw materials are certified, which you can check with the asterisks in the INCI list.
My soaps don't carry a label at the moment. That is why I publish the full INCI list of each one, with its asterisks, so you can check everything line by line.
How do you spot palm oil in the INCI list?
Palm oil is almost never called "palm oil" on a label. Look for these names:
- Sodium Palmate: palm oil turned into soap.
- Sodium Palm Kernelate: palm kernel oil turned into soap.
- Elaeis Guineensis: the Latin name of the oil palm, as an oil or butter.
A soap with none of these names is palm oil free. None of my soaps contains any: they are made with organic olive, coconut and castor oils and butters such as shea or cocoa, depending on the recipe.
Which soap for your skin type?
Superfat isn't everything: the recipe matters just as much. Here is how I designed mine:
- CLAIR DE LUNE, fragrance-free with no essential oils: sensitive and very dry skin, babies from birth.
- AMARATERRA, with red clay: combination to oily skin, every day.
- ELIXIR, with plant charcoal: oily skin, excess sebum.
- GRENADA, with apricot kernel oil and carrot macerate: dull, dry skin.
- NOSTALGIA, with grape seeds: the exfoliating soap, once or twice a week.
To go further for your skin: which soap for oily or combination skin, and what to check for delicate skin or a baby.
How long does a soap last, and how do you store it?
A cold process soap wears down fastest when it can't dry. Left in a puddle, it goes soft within days; kept dry, a 100 g bar lasts several weeks of daily use.
Keep it out of the shower spray, on something that lets the water drain, or hang it on a magnetic soap holder. All my tips are in this article on storage.
