Soap is one of the oldest cleansers used in the modern world. Soap is made by chemical reaction caused by a mixture of oil, water, and lye (the catalyst the soap making process). When making soap, while lye is used, after the saponification process, all the lye is completely depleted. All soap used is made using lye. The oils and ingredients used in soap change from recipe to recipe and can achieve different types of cleansing. Animal and plant oils are used for making soap and each attains a different soap texture and result.

The factory made soap purchased in stores today aren't what our ancestors would define as soap. Soap has natural moisturizing qualities which have been stripped from modern factory soaps. While soap is a "cleanser" factory soap is more like a "detergent" and will dry and irritate your skin. The reason why factory soaps do this to your skin and handmade soaps don't is due to the ingredients used in mass-produced soap. When companies make soap in bulk, they switch ingredients so that they can get more soap made for less money. This can prove to be very harmful to the end-consumer.

While handmade soaps used to be used all time by our ancestors, it was only recently that we switched to mass-produced soap. Ever since then, however, people have been slowly switching back to handmade soaps due to their health benefits. The use of synthetic, harmful chemicals in factory soap has been scientifically proven to cause harm to the skin over long periods of time.

Handmade soaps have always been known for the effective cleaning power but recently scientific studies have shown the benefits of handmade soap to be incredible. It's always been speculated that handmade soap has built-in healing properties. People suffering from skin disorders like eczema, or have excessively sensitive skin, have found relief through the use of handmade soap. Compared to the mass-produced soaps in the store, handmade soaps are much more mild and skin friendly. The major difference between factory soap and handmade soap is the amount of glycerin found natural handmade soap. Glycerin has natural moisturizing abilities and is typically stripped from commercial soap and put into lotions. That stripped glycerin is then replaced by synthetic, irritating chemicals.

Natural handmade soap is much better for you than commercial store-bought soap. If you've been having skin problems or have easily irritated skin, you should seriously consider switching to handmade soap. You'll notice the difference almost immediately and will grateful that you did switch.