A Very Brief History

The first verified record of traditional soap-making is a recipe from Ancient Babylon (2200BC) that called for water, an alkali, and cassia oil. Other verified accounts of soap or soap-like substances can be found in Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and from the Gauls.

Soap-making spread in popularity and eventually soap-making guilds appeared in Italy and Spain, in some areas making the production of soap a valuable commodity. Areas of the West Bank and Iraq began producing perfumed soaps, and the popularity of it only grew from there.

Eventually, as knowledge of pathogens and personal hygiene grew, soap became an ubiquitous part of society.

How Soap Works

Soaps gain their unique cleaning capabilities because their molecules can bind with water on one end, and grease on the other. This turns soap molecules into an effective emulsifier which assits water in rinsing away grease that, without the molecular bond of soap, would only repel the water.

How Soap is Made

Blushie soaps are handmade in small batches using the cold-process method of soap making. This is accomplished by combining our own special blend of fair-trade, sustainably grown and harvested plant oils with an alkali solution, also known as "lye" or sodium hydroxide.

Oils, fats, and butters are triglycerides. This means they are made up of a backbone of glycerol with three fatty acids attached to it. When mixed with an akali solution (sodium hydroxide and water, tea, or milk), the sodium aspect of the sodium hydroxide bonds with the fatty acids to make soap while the hydroxide portion of the sodium hydroxide bonds with the glycerol to make glycerin. This means that all of the lye is reacted out of solution and all that's left is cleansing soap with its moisturizing glycerin left intact. All true soap is made with either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide for liquid soap.

If someone tries to tell you that they don't use lye to make soap, they're either misinformed or being intentionally misleading.