The Cure Room Shuffle

With a production capacity of 10,000 handmade cold-process soap bars per month we are often confronted by what we call the "cure room shuffle"…..here is Lely in the process of moving boxes of soap out of our temperature & humidity controlled cure room into the labelling/packaging room to make room for more soap on the cure racks.

Just to let you know, our handmade natural cold-process soap is cured for 30 days.

On her right are boxes of recycled soap offcuts that will be powdered for our Natural Washing Powder product….something that sells out fast and we are always short of!!

This how our soap is made HERE.

WILL SOAP DRY OUT MY SKIN? DR. MIKE RESPONDS

This is a question that often comes to me, especially when referring to facial cleansing. Unfortunately bar soap has received a lot of negative criticism as marketers have duped consumers into thinking that soap strips necessary oils from the skin. Consequently bar soap has had a tough time competing with the overabundance of liquids, creams and foams that skin care companies effectively market these days.

Commercial soap companies mass produce soap using industrial processes that decrease or remove glycerin, and to compensate they add a range of synthetic ingredients to create what they perceive as the perfect bar. Take the time to check out the ingredient labels of supermarket bars and you will see for yourself. Liquid washes can be just as drying or even worse than these mass-produced soap bars, since many contain harsh chemical surfactants that can be very drying on the skin. Again, take a close look at the ingredient lists of liquid washes and you can confirm this for yourself. Some industry professionals are of the opinion that these big companies want these products to dry your skin so as to create a demand for their lotions and moisturizers.  

However enlightened consumers are now demanding products that are free from preservatives, added chemicals and synthetic fragrances. Natural handmade soap bars fit this bill, especially as these soap bars are more economical and have environmentally friendly packaging.

And why don’t handmade natural soap bars dry out the skin? The answer is very simple……in the hands of a competent soap maker, the recipes for these soap bars are “super-fatted.” What this means is that the soap-making recipe leaves a portion of unincorporated natural vegetable oils in the finished soap, and these super-fatted soaps have superior moisturizing and emollient qualities. This is something that the large commercial soap makers can never achieve, as it takes at least thirty day to make one batch of cold-process handmade natural soap.

I do hope that the above answers the many questions we receive on this topic.

Kind regards,

Dr. Mike

INTERESTED IN HOW HANDMADE NATURAL IS MADE? 

IndochineNatural products are available from all JustLife stores 

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ARE YOUR SOAPS COLD PROCESS?

Indochine Natural handmade soaps are made using a traditional method called “cold process”. This method takes the most time, but without a doubt is the best method for producing the truest, highest quality soaps. Cold processing does not require any heating of the ingredients, and as a result there is no denaturing of the ingredients due to heat, which maintains the natural benefits of the carefully selected plant-derived ingredients. However, this is not an easy method and requires a high level of skill to produce consistently high quality soaps.

When buying soap, ask the soap maker if the product is cold processed, and they should be happy to show you photos of their soap making process.

See a full description and photos of our cold process soap making HERE.