A lot of people remember the harshness of ``Grandma's old lye soap".  Modern day ``lye soap" (redundant, since technically ALL true soap is LYE soap!!) is mild and gentle.  The difference is in modern technology - being able to measure the ingredients to 1/10 of an ounce - and the quality and strength accuracy of lye available now.  ``Grandma" used to test her lye by floating an egg in the lye and water mixture. If the egg floated, the lye was strong enough to make soap.  But there was no gauge for being TOO strong, hence some soaps were ``lye heavy" and harsh.  We hope you'll try a bar of Beulah Land soap and find ``that this ain't Grandma's old lye soap"!

What's so special about Hand-Crafted Soap?

Glycerin is a natural by-product in soapmaking that is very moisturizing and gentle.  Commercial soap makers siphon off the glycerin from their soaps to use in other products, such as hand and body lotions.  In hand-crafted, homemade soap the moisturizing glycerin remains in the soaps. You can feel the richness of homemade soap by just rubbing the dry soap.

Once the glycerin is removed, commercial soaps are then ``milled" to produce a very hard, long lasting bar of soap.  Hand-crafted soaps are not ``milled", nor is the glycerin removed, so if left in a watery soap dish hand-crafted soaps can become soft.  We recommend you allow hand-crafted soaps to dry thoroughly between uses. (See our selection of handcrafted soap dishes.)

Beulah Land hand-crafted soaps are made with oils that have a healthful benefit to your skin - olive, palm, coconut, avocado, castor, jojoba and cocobutters.  The soaps are ``superfatted", which means an additional amount of oil is added that remains unsaponified to soothe the skin.  Saponified just means lye and oil mixing to become soap.  This is the true definition of soap - all true soap starts with lye and oils or fat.  When the lye and oil mixes, it changes chemically and becomes a brand-new compound we know as soap.  In a super-fatted soap, there is additional oil used so some oil remains as oil and is not changed into soap.  It is this additional oil that can moisturize and nourish the skin. 

Since this additional oil does remain in the bar unsaponified and because the oil is natural there is a shorter shelf life to hand-crafted soaps.  We recommend the soaps be used within a one year period.  The soap scent will decrease past this stage also.

USA Weekend, Feb. 13-15, 1998 issue, discussed common chemicals that we use daily possibly causing a ``scrambling of your hormones".   In this article, Brenda Biondo said ``Dozens of synthetic chemicals found in our food, environment and everyday products have proven harmful to wildlife and animals. Now there's a new focus on whether they're putting people at risk, too, by playing havoc with hormones that control reproduction and development."

The chemicals and synthetics found in commercial soaps also go down the drain and into our environment.  Damage to our environment has brought about changes in commercial soaps - remember the phosphates that were found in our streams and rivers?

Ingredients that are as natural as possible go into Beulah Land soaps.  We have researched to find the best base oils available and use only pure Essential oils and/or the highest quality cosmetic grade fragrance oils to scent our soaps.  We  started making our soaps to avoid the  chemicals and synthetics found in commercial soaps so we do not color our soaps. 

The Essential oils we chose have aromatherapy qualities as well as the healing qualities of the  original plants.  For example, lavender is calming as well as anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.  Tea Tree oil (used in the Complexion Bar) is also anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.  Both of these, as many other essential oils, were used before modern medicines came along.  All essential oils are anti-septic in nature.

Fragrance oils are used either when there is no such essential oil or when the cost of essential oil is prohibitive.  There is still aromatherapy value in smelling fragrance oils.

So, there are pluses and minus to both commercial and hand-crafted soaps.  The pluses of hand-crafted soaps are - chemical and synthetic free, glycerin rich, and superfatted with additional oil and the benefits of Essential and fragrance oils.  The minuses are a softer bar than commercial soaps (as a diabetic with sore hands, this isn't a minus for me or for those who suffer from arthritis), a shorter shelf-life, and, of course, a higher cost. 

Try a bar of hand-crafted soap and test for yourself.  Hand-crafted soap has to be experienced to be appreciated fully. Always feel free to contact us at Beulah Land Soaps if you have any questions or concerns.  We want our soaps and bath products to be of the highest quality we can possibly produce, so we are interested anytime a customer has any problems with one of our products. 

Copyright 1998-- 2001  © Beulah Land Services