Sodium cocoate, sodium olivate, sodium shea butterate, these are some of the ingredients you’ll find on our labels. But there’s nothing scary here! Sodium cocoate is what is made when you combine cocoa butter with lye, a.k.a sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide plays a crucial role in soap making. In fact, it is not possible to make soap without it.
When making soap, we combine our oils and fats (like olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter and shea butter), with lye (sodium hydroxide). Lye is alkaline, and reacts with these oils and fats in a process called saponification. During this process, the lye breaks down the oils or fats into glycerin and soap molecules. Soap molecules give the soap its cleaning properties, while glycerin is a natural moisturizer.
Once the saponification process is complete, there is NO residual lye left in the final product and we are left with a gentle and effective soap. The final product, our soaps, only have the beneficial properties of our high quality oils and fats and the moisturizing properties of the glycerin.
Suds up and enjoy!
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