They are soaps without the added preservatives, parabens, surfactants and other assorted nasties
commonly found in the commercial soaps, apart from the lye (sodium hydroxide or caustic soda) that is necessary in the soap-making process. Natural soaps are made largely from various plant oils, although animal fats can be used too, but Katharos Natural Beauty only use organic vegetable oils..
The soaps chemistry
Saponification is at the heart of soap making. It is the reaction in which the building blocks of fats and oils (triglycerides) react with lye to form soap. Saponification literally means "turning into soap" from the root
word, sapo, which is Latin for soap.
How to make a natural handmade soap bars and liquid:
Cold process: the only heat required is to initially melt any hard oils. The reaction itself generates its own heat, and takes up to 48 hours.
Hot process: the ingredients and methods are the same as for the cold process, but external heat is used to complete saponification process.
Liquid soaps are made in a similar way to the hot process, but with potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide, as it has a ‘looser’ molecular structure, and therefore produces a liquid, rather than a solid soap.
In Katharos Natural Beauty, we use various botanicals (plants / herbs), minerals, clays, essential oils and more, with well known and recognized properties, as anticeptic, antibacterial, sanitary, cleansing, conditioning, among many others.
Come and discover the wonder of the bathroom beyond hygiene!!
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