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No one knows for certain how soap was discovered. The popular belief
is that it was serendipitously discovered by the Romans and the slightly less popular belief is that the Romans stole it from
the Celts.
Before there was soap, bathing was done in scented water and cleaning was done with oils mixed with
sand. Except maybe for the Renaissance when, soap being available, nobody bathed anyway.
In any event, soap is soap
and there's only one way to make it. It comes from a chemical reaction between oils, fats and caustic soda. The reaction is
called saponification and the result is soap. When someone claims their soap is made without lye, what they
really mean is that they bought and used a pre-mixed soap base from someone else who did use lye to make their soap base.
When
fats, oils and lye are mixed, the by-product is glycerin which is a natural moisturizer for the skin.
Manufacturers
of commercial soaps separate the glycerin which is then either used in that company's more expensive cosmetic products or
sold to the cosmetic or food industry. Removal of glycerin is one of the reasons why commercial soap can be so drying (and
inexpensive), and why they often add synthetic products to try to regain the properties lost by that glycerin removal.
In
the cold process soapmaking process, the naturally occurring glycerin is stirred back into the soap as the saponification
reaction takes place. That means The Chandlery's soap retains all the glycerin, making a gentle, moisturizing, and far superior
soap which is approximately one-quarter glycerin.
Only the best food-grade vegetable oils and organic herbs and spices
are used to make Snowbound Soap. No animal products are ever used (except for honey in the Oatmeal & Honey soap, but that's
not really an animal product). All testing (and each batch is tested) is done on eager family members and friends.
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