High Quality Soap Ingredients = High Quality Soap
At Whey Better Farm I insist on the highest quality soap ingredients in making my soaps and other body care products. The higher quality materials you use to build something the better it will turn out in the end. Well, this certainly holds true for soap. I might pay a little more, but I believe that in the long run the added expense is more than worth it, because I know I am producing something that is really wonderful. Once they try my products customers return knowing they can trust them. Vegetable Oils Yes, I have made soap in the past using animal fats but I have found that nothing matches the skin conditioning properties of vegetable oils and butters. Soaps made with lard or tallow might last a bit longer because they tend to be harder, but the lather produced from vegetable oils is creamier and more emollient. The primary base oil used in almost every single one of my soaps is olive oil. You won't see this soap ingredient listed first in very many other companies' labels. That's because olive oil is expensive. However, olive oil lends such a creamy gentleness to soap. While other large soap companies have cut corners, I continue to make olive oil the mainstay of my soaps. The next oils I use the most is coconut oil. Coconut oil as a soap ingredient makes a light and fluffy lather with big bubbles. Olive oil and coconut oil naturally compliment each other and clean thoroughly without drying out your skin. Another oil I commonly use is Shea butter which adds a further creaminess to soap. Many people are already familiar with the moisturizing properties of this nut-derived butter. For persons with nut allergies, please note that besides this potentially sensitizing ingredient some recipes also contain almond oil. However, none of my soaps contain peanut oil. If you have already looked at my different kinds of soap and read the soap ingredients you will notice that I do not rely on only one recipe. My soaps are good on everybody's skin but I have formulated some to be better with certain skin types. This will be noted in the descriptions of each soap.
Goat Milk Goat milk has long been hailed as a superior base in soap. I use fresh, vitamin and mineral rich goat milk from clean-living, spoiled goats: ours. Goats milk has natural skin conditioning properties and is extra gentle to sensitive or fragile skin. All handcrafted soap is wonderful on its own, but the addition of goat milk kicks it up a notch.
Fragrances Some of my soaps contain no fragrance for those who are sensitive to scents or simply have extra sensitive skin. When I first began making soap I planned on just using essential oils in my soaps thinking that this was definitely the more natural and thus more desirable choice. After reading and research however, I discovered that some essential oils can cause problems for pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions such as hypertension or epilepsy. It was at this point that I decided not to go with exclusive use of essential oils. I realized that I would be missing out on a lot of fun fragrances by avoiding manufactured fragrance oils. I do still make soaps using essential oils but try to stick to those deemed "safer". Be aware that even with normal skin some essential oils such as peppermint oil can cause a harmless tingling after use. The fragrance oils that I do purchase are from reputable dealers, have been tested for safety and are approved for use on skin. I have had customers who claim they have extremely sensitive skin who have so fallen in love with a certain fragrance that they have (against my advice)purchased soaps made with fragrance oils. The soaps did not bother them. I cannot promise this for everyone but this gives an idea of the gentleness of the fragrances I use.
Colors When I use color in soap, along with some natural plant-derived colorants I use oxides and ultramarine pigments. These are found in nature. However, you probably wouldn't want the naturally mined pigments in your soap as they can sometimes contain impurities such as lead or arsenic.The pigments I purchase are laboratory produced and made in an FDA approved manner, copying those found in nature.
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