The Beauty of Handcrafted Soap
Author:Ben Brown
Those of us who use handcrafted soap can easily distinguish between mass produced bars and handcrafted ones simply from the feel of our skin after use. Mass produced bar usually have all the goodness stripped out of them, if they had any in the first place. Handcrafted soaps will often still contain the natural glycerins that are are byproduct of the traditional methods of soapmaking. Mass produced bars don\'t.
Handcrafted soaps don\'t just clean, they also nourish the skin. The oils that are chosen to go into handcrafted soaps are carefully chosen for their properties, whether that be to moisturise and replenish the skin or simply to produce a wonderfully rich lather. Manufactured soaps are designed according to the price of the oils a very different manufacturing ethos. You may pay more for a handcrafted bar but the benefits far outway the price you pay.
The beauty of handcrafted soaps are they are natural and are environmentally friendly that the mass produced alternatives. They aren\'t tested on animals and if made using the cold proceess are far more energy efficient than the hot processes that are used by large corporations.
In addition to the natural base oils being used, handcrafted soaps come in a wide range of scents and colours. The better producers will use natural colourants such as madder root, alkanet root and spirulina to create their bars. It is the scents that truly make a handcrafted bar of soap beautiful. Ranging from the musky scents of sandalwood and cedarwood to the floral scents of jasmine and rose with citrus smells of lemon and grapefruit and sweet chocolate and vanilla in between, the choices can suit any mood or need. Essential oils are often used to fragrance soaps and many of these have therapeutic or medicinal properties.
Other additions to handcrafted soaps include exfoliants such as oatmeal or rooibos tea to help open pores and scrub away dry skin. Or natural humectants or moisturisers such as honey and goats milk.
Regardless of the ingredients the true beauty of handcrafted soap is that you can find one that suits you and your skin. Relax in a bath with a goatsmilk and honey soap or wake yourself up in the morning with a zingy citrus bar, or scrub yourself clean with an exfoliating bar after a hard day\'s graft.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/skin-care-articles/the-beauty-of-handcrafted-soap-4884243.html
About the AuthorBen creates handcrafted bars of soap for Indulgence Soaps.
