What's the difference between milled soap and handmade soap?

Since we launched milled soap, we've received at least a dozen questions about this solid gold (actually, kind of a white) bar of lathery awesomeness...

The #1 Question: How does milled soap differ from handmade soap?

The first thing you'd probably notice if looking at these bars side by side is that one of them is white and the other is all swirly colored:

campfire soap handmade or milled

This is because the soap on the left is made by a machine (a milling machine that mixes the ingredients together and presses them into a block), and the soap on the right is mixed using color and water, like this:

russ making handmade soap

(recognize those colors from the earlier photo of handmade soap?)

Obviously, it's lots harder to make the handmade soap because the soapmaking process is a very tricky chemical process. It's so tricky that it literally inspires entire communities and even a soapmaker's guild. Yeah, it's all medieval 'n' shit.

What does this mean to you, the naked person standing in the shower?

Handmade soap has a reputation for being more moisturizing. Ours is made with "superfatting," which means that we use extra oil that end up nourishing your skin (or so we're told... we're also told by our lawyer that we can't make product claims like this, so your mileage may vary and this doesn't represent a medical or product claim *clears throat importantly*).

The oils we use in our handmade soap are also outstandingly high quality, so you're getting real coconut, avocado, olive, and castor oils in these bars.

But what about the lather?

I find the lather big and pleasurable on both. Otherwise we wouldn't have made the milled version.

But what about the scent?

The scent isn't going to be as strong in the milled soap, at least as of yet. We have asked the manufacturer (Made in the USA by a family-owned business, fyi) to bump up the scent in future batches.

I personally find the scent wonderful in both versions, but I've noticed that the handmade soap fills the room with the scent, where as the milled soap is more of a localized scent.

For now, our milled soap is only available in four scents:

Or you can try all seven in our 7-Pack of travel-sized soap set!

We have reached out to various milled soap manufacturers to start the process of making even better milled soaps!

But what about the price?

Due to the handmade and intensive chemical process of our handmade soap, it's more expensive. In fact, since we have had recent disruption in our supply thanks to rolling power outages, so we're increasing the price of our handmade soap to $8.50 since we started getting our production rolling at optimal capacity.

But since milled soap is plentiful and abundant, it's a clever and affordable $6.

As with everything we sell, both milled soap and handmade soap are covered by our 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if you don't love what you get, you can get a refund.

Try Milled Soap

Try Handmade Soap

 

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Karen Agugliaro

I’ve been meaning to write this forever. Everything about this company ROCKS! The products, the service,
communication, and OMGs!!!Their commitment to the environment is outstanding. I cannot love these soaps more. I am still working my way through the samples, and am having a hard time picking a favorite- they last so long (if you treat them right), that I get anxious to try the next scent! But the absolute best thing (aside from a surprise Clucky!) is that my hands are so happy! No more cracked dry eczema or bleeding cuticles! (And I had been using unsented – ahem -“white bird” soap thinking it was the best for me.)
I originally tried these because of the fun quirky scents (who can resist bourbon, leather, clove…?), but the miraculous healing I did not expect! And my husband no longer complains about me leaving sticky lotion wherever I touch!

Karen Agugliaro

I’ve been meaning to write this forever. Everything about this company ROCKS! The products, the service,
communication, and OMGs!!!Their commitment to the environment is outstanding. I cannot love these soaps more. I am still working my way through the samples, and am having a hard time picking a favorite- they last so long (if you treat them right), that I get anxious to try the next scent! But the absolute best thing (aside from a surprise Clucky!) is that my hands are so happy! No more cracked dry eczema or bleeding cuticles! (And I had been using unsented – ahem -“white bird” soap thinking it was the best for me.)
I originally tried these because of the fun quirky scents (who can resist bourbon, leather, clove…?), but the miraculous healing I did not expect! And my husband no longer complains about me leaving sticky lotion wherever I touch!