Yesterday, I wrote about why Russ and I decided to start a soap company instead of, say, a cologne company or a body wash company. I also wrote a little about the hotly contested topic of whether handmade soap is better... and, in a way, I sidestepped the issue by talking about why *I* liked handmade soap.
In today's post, I'll write about the specific oils we use to make Outlaw soap and why we picked those oils in particular.
We use coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, and castor oil because of the different properties they bring to the soap. Because we use these high-quality, natural oils, we have created the best handmade soap around (we think so, at least).
Natural soap is made with saponified oil -- that means oil that has completely blended with sodium hydroxide and undergone the chemical process of saponification... or "soapmaking." When we created the original formula for Outlaw soap, we knew we wanted something that was both practical and fun.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is one of our main ingredients. Not only does it help give structure and hardness to the bars (so they don't melt as quickly in the shower), it's good for your skin. It brings the cleansing power to wash away dirt and bacteria, making it a great substitute for palm oil.
👉 Side note: Coconut oil is considered more ethical than palm oil, palm oil harvesting is responsible for the destruction of orangutan habitats.
One of the main reasons we chose coconut oil is because of the lather. You know those big, crazy, round soapy bubbles in the photo? That's coconut oil and castor oil (which I'll talk about later) being all awesome right there.
Our soap's lather is luscious - one of the best lathers you can find in handmade soap... again, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Some people claim that coconut oil is good for Eczema and acne, and some people have in particular claimed that our soap has helped their skin... but we're not going to get that certified by the FDA or anything, so, you know, your mileage may vary.
I do know that I personally have used our soap to wash my clothes in hotel sinks. And it's probably coconut oil that contributed to the effectiveness of that task.
Avocado Oil
And speaking of things that I'm not going to get certified by the FDA... Avocado oil is pretty much my favorite oil of all (except for the fact that it's so darn expensive). It's the most moisturizing and conditioning of the oils, and is why Outlaw soaps won't dry out your skin (despite using coconut oil, which, if used by itself, is pretty drying).
I think it's the avocado oil that means it's ok to be used in hair (yeah, for reals).
The lather of avocado oil is what some might call as "creamy," If you watch my video of me washing my hands for 45 minutes (do I know how to party or what?!?), you can see I work up a pretty wonderful creamy lather.
In fact, in this video, I really go through all the kinds of lather of our handmade soap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6sfeoNYFiE
And as much as I'd love to stay up all hours working on blog posts about oils, I've got to hit "publish" on this bad boy and get some sleep... tomorrow, I'll try to write about our other two oils, olive oil and castor oil! And some trivia: ONE of those oils contributes to our soap being good for shaving... do you know which it is?
