How is Eclore soap made?

 

All bar soap soap is made by blending oils (fatty acids) with old fashioned soda lye (alkali) and water.

 

When the temperatures and measurements are exact, we stir and stir with large wooden spoons until "saponification" begins to take place and then add our more delicate butters, herbs, flowers, clays and other botanicals.

After this, we pour into molds and wrap in wool blankets where the soap quietly sits to complete the "saponification" process over the next 24 hours.

 

This is called the "cold cure" kettle process because we don't "cook" our soap with additional heat to speed up the saponification process. We let the natural process take place on it's own within the blankets with the heat naturally created. It takes more time, but allows the goodness of the more delicate ingredients to remain in tact.

 

By the time the soap comes out of the mold, there is no soda lye left!

Through the wonderful exothermic process, all that is left is soap, water and skin loving glycerin – a natural byproduct of soaps made of plant oils.

 

We cut our bars and allow them to cure on wooden racks under French flour sacks for three weeks. During this time, the water evaporates allowing for a firm mild bar.

 

Is all soap made with soda lye?

 

Yes. No lye, no soap.

Made correctly, there is no trace of lye left in the final bar.

 

You may see something called "glycerin" or "melt and pour soap" which is a fabricated transparent soap base that a hobbiest can melt and remold without having to use lye, but it was made with lye when it was originally created.

Unfortunately, most generic bases are full of detergents and unnatural ingredients.