As previously stated I do not believe in using animal fats/oils nor oils that come from the endangered rain forests.   Therefore it took time and a great deal of research to formulate a great base recipe. I decided on a base recipe using avocado oil which is an extremely skin friendly oil. It is rich in vitamins A, D, E, amino acids and proteins. Olive oil was chosen due to its skin conditioning properties. Ever hear of castile soap? It is made with 100% olive oil. I chose coconut oil for its natural lathering abilities and sunflower oil because of its high content of vitamin E.

 My grandmother often spoke about how she and the women from neighboring farms would get together each spring to make soap.  The fats, that each family had contributed to, had been kept in an outbuilding all winter. The women would choose a date once the cold weather had broken.  A great big pot was placed over an open fire and all of the fats would be melted down (rendering) and skimmed to remove any debris. (My grandmother said that it smelled terrible. That’s why they did it outside.)  Then this was cooled as the lye/water solution was cooled.  Then the lye/water solution was added to the fats and stirred, by hand, for hours. (I use a hand mixer and think that’s hard! I can’t imagine having to stir a huge pot by hand for hours.) Then each neighbor brought along her own essential oils and boxes. When the “soap” was ready, they would pour it into their lined boxes, add their oils, cover the soap, help clean up and off they would go with their soap for their families for the year.

 I have never been able to use commercial soaps because they dry my skin.  I have tried so many over the years. I never knew why until I began the research to make my own soap. It seems that commercial soap makers remove the glycerin from the soaps and sell it to the cosmetic and food industries. They make more money from selling the glycerin than keeping it in the soaps. This may be good for them but it makes for a drying soap. Soap goes through a gel phase in which the glycerin is produced.  They simply scoop this out. No wonder commercial soaps are so drying.  They remove all the good stuff! That’s why you will find that homemade soaps are so rich and cleansing without being drying. I never thought that I would wash my face with soap but I do now and it’s never dry.

Soaping dates back to ancient Egyptian women. They noticed that their clothes were a lot cleaner when they washed them, in the Nile, near where the sacrifices were performed. It makes sense. The rains would have washed the animal fats and wood ashes into the Nile. (Lye was a by-product of water being washed through wood ashes.)

Back in the 1800’s there was a young man who was thinking about how to make money. He saw how the average housewife worked very hard at the regular household chores, especially making soap. He researched it, made a few batches and went door-to-door convincing women to buy his soap instead of going through the labor intensive process themselves. Women were thrilled and it caught on fast. Soon this young man could hardly keep up with the demand.  He had to come up with a name for his new business. He thought for a while and then decided to name it after the oils that he used; palm oil and olive oil.  Get it?  Palm-Olive – Palmolive.