Glycerin. Handmade Soaps Natural Moisturizer

We like to keep most things as simple as possible.  Hand making soap is no exception. A simple, short list of unadulterated ingredients is best in our book. Making soap has the amazing effect of also making glycerin in the process. Does your soap have glycerin? Glycerin in mass produced soap is generally removed and sold, leaving you with a sub par bar of soap. We leave all the glycerin in the soap we make. 

What’s glycerin and is it good for your skin?

Glycerin occurs naturally in fats and oils. It’s a clear, colorless and odorless liquid that tastes sweet. It draws water from the air and the lower levels of your skin, helping to balance your skins moisture levels. 

If glycerin is so good, then why remove it?

Large factory made soaps often times remove all the glycerin from their bars of soap. For two main reasons typically.  To sell put in cosmetics and to aid in mass manufacturing. 

It happens to be a great moisturizer for lotions and creams. Coincidentally, skin washed with factory soap tends to leave skin feeling dry. That is because the glycerin has been removed. But now you can buy those mositurizing lotions and creams with glycerin in them.

 More isn’t always better

 Mass produced soaps have no glycerin because it gums up the machines. Now that the glycerin has been removed, the soap base is shredded into flakes. The flakes are put into a milling machine, sometimes with synthetic lubricants. They run the flakes through these milling machines three times to finally form a bar made out of these glycerin-less soap flakes. 

I think this is why when most people think of bar soap they think of ultra dry skin. Bar soaps can actually be highly moisturizing.

What about glycerin soap?

 “Glycerin soap” bars are often transparent. Glycerin soap is made like other soap, with the exception that a sugar-alcohol solution is added to it to maintain transparency. The alcohol can have a drying effect on skin, so moisturizers, like glycerin, need to be added.