5 Benefits of Using Handmade Soap Bars

Soap is soap, right? Wrong. The truth is, there’s a huge difference between the handmade soap bars you’ll find here at The Soapstress and the soap you’ll find on your local supermarket shelves. 

You can’t beat the luxe lather of a beautifully scented handmade soap bar! But that’s not all… there are so many benefits of using handmade soap bars. Here are five of our favourite reasons why handmade soap is better. 

You know exactly what’s in it

Soap making has been in our family for generations. We make our soap using a recipe passed down to us from our grandmothers, tweaked with the help of modern science to make a truly gentle soap.

Soap is made from a combination of plant oils, water and lye. Each soap molecule has two ends. One end is attracted to dirt so as you rub it over your hands or body, it collects the dirt as it goes. The other end of the molecule loves water so it helps to wash the dirt away. It’s kind of amazing when you think about it.

For our handmade soap bars we don’t use any synthetic ingredients. For the most part, the plant oils we use are staples you would have in your kitchen. To add colour we only use natural clay and the end result is a vegan soap product.

It doesn’t dry your skin like commercial soap

You know that saying “squeaky clean”? Well, that’s ok for your dishes, but do you really want your skin to feel squeaky after using soap? 

Unfortunately, that’s what you get when you use commercial soap bars. They dry your skin and can strip it of its natural oils. Why? It all comes down to how the soap is cured.

When we make our handmade soap bars, we take the time to get it right. And curing takes time. It takes about a month for the water to evaporate from the soap and for it to harden, or cure. We also retain the glycerine in the soap. Glycerine is a humectant so it attracts moisture to your skin, all day long.

For commercial soap manufacturers, time is money. Rather than waiting for the soap to cure naturally, they add harsh chemicals to speed up the process. It’s these chemicals that can dry your skin. As for glycerine? This is removed from the soap to use it in other types of skincare products. 

When you use handmade soap, your skin benefits from these hydrating and nourishing oils and moisture-attracting glycerine.

It’s better for the environment

When you wash soap off your skin, it goes down the drain and eventually finds its way into our waterways. If you’re someone who is concerned with reducing your eco footprint, this is likely worrying to you. It’s worrying to us too.

Body washes and commercial liquid soaps often contain synthetic ingredients and preservatives, both things we don’t want in our waterways. 

Handmade soap bars are more cost effective than liquid soap

When people hear the word handmade, they generally associate it with a higher cost. Thankfully, the opposite is true with handmade soap. And that’s because handmade soap is more economical than commercial liquid soaps that are so popular today.

Why? Because one of the biggest ingredients in liquid soaps and body washes is water. That’s right, you’re paying for watered down soap. Why do that when you can go straight to the real deal?

If you leave your handmade soap bars on a soap dish to drain and dry between uses, you’ll also find that it will last for the long haul. By leaving it to dry in this way you can also prevent any germs from developing. It’s a win/win.

It smells good… naturally

Soap that smells beautiful shouldn’t come at the expense of your skin or the planet. That’s why we only use essential oils to scent our body products and soap bars. On the other hand, commercial synthetic scents can do way more harm than good.

There are so many beautiful scents in nature, why wouldn’t we make the most of them?!

Discover the benefits of handmade soap for yourself

So, is handmade soap better? Yes, we think it is! And we hope you do too. This is just scratching the surface on the benefits of handmade soap. At the end of the day it is good for you, good for your skin, good for your wallet and good for the planet. What could be better than that?!

Discover our range of handmade soap bars and see for yourself why handmade soap is better.