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Introduction
We like to be clean. Clean feels good. It smells good. Clean
means fewer microbes are around to hurt us. Clean clothes
feel good. Clean dishes make food safer and more attractive.
For thousands of years, soap was the last word in clean

INGREDIENTS IN SOAPS

Ingredients used in making of soaps initialy:

The first soaps were probably the saps of certain
plants, such as the Soap Plant (Chlorogalum
pomeridianum), whose roots can be crushed in water
to form a lather, and used as a shampoo.
Other plants, such as Soapbark (Quillaja saponaria),
Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi), and Soapwort
(Saponaria officinalis) also contain the same main
ingredient, a compound called saponin, which forms
the foamy lather, and is also a toxin used to stupefy
fish in streams to make them easy to catch.

VARIATION IN THE INGREDIENTS USED IN

PART OF SCIENTIFIC WORLD

SOAPS IN THE LATER

Later, people learned that fats would react with alkalies in the ashes

saponified

left over from a fire to produce

compounds such as
sodium stearate and the related potassium stearate.

AND TODAY:

Today, soaps are made from fats and oils that

react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like
coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or
lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of
soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the
water left in the soap dish.
Oils such as olive oil, soybean oil, or canola oil
make softer soaps. Castile soap is any soap that
is made primarily of olive oil, and is known for
being mild and soft.

As warm liquid fats react with lye and begin to saponify,

they start to thicken like pudding. At this point dyes
and perfumes are often added. The hardening liquid is
then poured into molds, where it continues to react,
generating heat. After a day, the bars can be cut and
wrapped, but the saponification process continues for a
few weeks, until all of the lye has reacted with the oils.

Soaps are often superfatted, so after all of the

lye has reacted with the fats, there are still
fats left over. This is important for two
reasons. First, the resulting soap is easier to
cut, and feels smoother on the skin. Second,
the extra fats make sure that all of the lye
reacts, so no lye is left to irritate the skin, and
the resulting soap is not too alkaline

The saponification process results in about 75%

soap, and 25% glycerine. In homemade soaps, the
glycerine is left in, as it acts as an emollient (skin
softener) and adds a nice feel to the soap. In
commercial soaps, the glycerine is often removed
and sold separately, sometimes showing up in skin
moisturizers that remedy the damage done by
drying soaps.

Commercial bar soaps contain sodium tallowate, sodium

cocoate, sodium palmate and similar ingredients, all of
which are the results of reacting solid fats (tallow,
coconut oil, and palm kernel oil respectively) with lye .

To these ingredients, they add fatty acids

such as coconut acid and palm acid (the fats
in coconut oil and palm kernel oil) as the
extra fats needed to ensure the lye is
completely reacted, and the soap has a good
feel.

Polyethylene glycols such as

PEG-6 methyl ether may be added as
either surfactants, detergents,
emulsifiers (to make the dyes and
perfumes blend evenly), or as
thickeners

Glycerine is added as an emollient and texture

enhancer. Sorbitol is another emollient used along with
glycerine. It is often added to help make glycerine
soaps more transparent. Titanium dioxide is added to
make the soap opaque.

Pentasodium pentetate, tetrasodium etidronate and

tetrasodium EDTA are added as water softeners, and to
protect the dyes and perfumes from the effects of metal
ions in the mixtures. These compounds lock up calcium
and magnesium in the water, preventing them from
reacting with the soap to form insoluble soap scum.

DETERGENT BARS

Not all bars that lather contain just soap. Many

contain the same detergents that you find in
shampoo, along with soap.
In addition to the soaps and fatty acids, some bars
will contain cocamidopropyl betaine (a mild
amphoteric detergent added to decrease irritation
without decreasing suds or cleaning power) and
benzine sulfonate detergents such as sodium
dodecylbenzinesulfonate. Other detergents such as
sodium isethionate and sodium cocoyl isethionate
are also common.

PRESERVATIVES

BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene) is sometimes

added as an anti-oxidant preservative to keep the
oils from going rancid.

ANTI MICROBIALS

Antibacterial soaps usually contain triclosan or

triclocarban as the active anti-bacterial
ingredient.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SOAPS

Soap making goes back to the ancient city of

Pompeii, Italy about 2000 years ago. Before the
advent of bath soap, people would wash with
plain water, and in ancient Rome they washed
with oil. The Roman's body was rubbed with oil
and the person would sweat in a steam bath. The
oil was then rubbed off, and the bather finished
up in a pool of cool water. This Roman oil bath
sounds interesting, but not very clean.

Why are soap bubbles round? We thought

you'd never ask. It's because the surface
tension of the bubble's water wants to
contract, and the sphere is the shape that
holds the most volume within the smallest
surface area.

Why does Ivory soap float? One day

in 1875, an employee at Procter &
Gamble accidentally left a soap
mixer on when he went to lunch.
The soap was so over-mixed that it
had much more air in it and was
more white than usual. The
company tried selling this new
product, and people loved it. The
soap became very popular and has
been floating ever since.

In the 1930s, soap companies

sponsored the first US radio shows
about the lives of everyday
people.These were 15-minute
shows intended to grab the
attention of the listener so they
would stick around to hear the
advertisements. The term "soap
opera" was eventually applied to all
similar dramas. And all this time
you thought a soap opera involved
singing the praises of good soap.

Most Expensive Soap

Cor retails for $125 for a 120 gram bar.

If you cant stand using the same soap as the plebeian

hordes, then Planka producer of yoga-themed products
has the soap for you. Its called Cor and its the worlds most
expensive soap.
Among its ingredients, Cor has chitosan to even out skin tone, sericin
a silk extractto trap moisture and provide UV protection and four
types of collagen to help maintain skin structure. Silver, a known
antibacterial agent, is what makes Cor the most expensive soap in the
world.
On the other hand, its questionable (at best) that any of
that crap can really help your skin. Chitosan and sericin
will rinse right off and collagen is more useful in deeper
layers of skin. The silver is, of course, proven, but there are
much cheaper antibacterial soaps out there.