Possible Soap Ingredients

(in alphabetical order)

The soap maker usually has specific ratios of different oils (vegetable / nut / animal) and fats, with specific curing times and conditions, which along with the other ingredients, become the "secret recipe"!

Abrasives	Pumice, zeolite, oatmeal, herbs….to exfoliate the skin (remove outer layers)
Aqua	water
Baking soda	See sodium bicarbonate
Benzoin	Eeither natural or synthetic compound to fix the perfume scent (hold it in the soap) and as a preservative.
Caustic soda / sodium hydroxide / NaOH	Lye
Cetearyl alcohol	A non-ionic surfactant
Cetrimonium bromide	Cationic surfactant and anti-septic agent
Citric acid	Weak organic acid and preservative, and acts as an anti-oxidant. Can act as a chelate, which means it binds with metals in hard water, improving the soaps’ foaming capacity
Colours (by number)	Artificial colouring unless specified otherwise
Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl disulfonate
EDTA, Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid	A chelating agent which has many differing chemical forms. Used to create a stable chemical compound that is soluble in water and ‘hold’ components that otherwise may precipitate or fall out. A preservative and suspension agent.
Essential Oils	Distillates from herbs to improve healing / soothing action. Usually quite expensive for quality product.
Fragrance	Perfume
Goats milk	usually added as a fat source for the initial reaction
Glyceryl stearate and glycerol mono-sterate	An emulsifier, usually derived from vegetable fatty acids
Glycerine / glycerol	Emollient and humectant. It attracts water, and therefore gives the skin a moist feel. It is produced during the soap making process, but often removed before the soap cures
Kaolin	Increases covering capacity
Lanolin	Usually derived from wool, it is a skin ointment and water proofing wax.
Lye	Sodium hydroxide, Potassium hydroxide (or a mix of both)
NaOH (Caustic soda)	Will give a harder soap and caustic potash (KOH) will give a softer soap. Oils with a high oleic acid concentration may yield a liquid soap. Lye is a general term for either.
Oils (such as coconut, palm, olive, rice bran, almond oil, etc)	To provide a unique texture and scent to the soap (often a blend is used), to provide the “fat” for the initial saponification reaction, a smooth skin feel, to capture the healing / health properties of the oil itself, to create a ‘super-fatted’product with enhanced lathering
Palm Kernel	Oily flesh from the seed of the oil palm = source of “fat”for the saponification reaction.
Parabins / Parabens	A range of chemicals which act as a preservative. They have anti bacterial and fungicidal properties. Rumuoured to mimic oestrogen. Methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, methyl paraben, Propyl paraben
Parfum	French for perfume (just pure snobbiness)
PEG Stearate or PEG-100 Stearate	Polyethylene glycol. So this is a mix of polyethylene glycol and stearic acid.. Usually derived from palm oil. Used as a thickener and emulsifier.
Perfumes	Usually synthetically derived in “commercial” soaps: A ‘natural’soap maker would make a point of naturally derived perfumes as these are an expensive component of the soap”. Generally added at 0.5-1.0%, but may be up to 4%
Polyethylene / Polythene	One the main constituents of plastic manufacture. Used in soaps as hardening agent and to reduce cracking.
Propylene Glycol	Attracts water (a humectant) so is used a moisturizer. Also used an an anti-freeze and a carrier for fragrant oils. Number E1520
Sodium bicarbonate	Baking soda. It is used in bath fizzy bombs; causes water to become slightly alkaline (increase pH). When added to warm water, it produces CO2 in a mild bubbling action in a bath, or helping a loaf of bread to rise. Sodim Bicarb also acts as a deodouriser, cleanser, stabiliser, mild preservative. Through neutralising acids in the skin, it can act as an exfoliating agent, which can give the skin a clean “moist” and ‘tingly’ feel.
Sodium chloride	Plain old salt, or table salt, or sea salt (although seas salt will contain a number of impurities and an appreciable amount of Magnesium chloride). Salt may be added to help curdle the soap
Sodium cocoyl isethionate & sodium isethionate	Cleansers derived from coconut oil.
Sodium Lactate	Humectant - helps binding with water, reduce water loss from the soap, keeps the weight of soap high (basically a marketing tool to sell water)
Sodium Stearate	A surfactant
Sodium Stearate
Sodium laurel sulphate	Anionic surfactant. Can be a slightly irritant, leaving the skin with a dry feeling
Sodium Palmitate	A common saturated fatty acid. Laboratory tests with rats showed interference with insulin metabolism.
Sodium Palm Stearate	A salt of stearic acid
Soya Lecithin	Amino acids from the Soya Bean plant. Acts as an emulsifier, stabilizer, anti-oxidant. Often included in products for dry skin.
Stearic acid	A colourless, odourless organic fatty acid (derived from animal and vegetable fats). Acts as an emollient and emulsifier.
Tartaric acid (Cream of tartar)	An acid used to regulate pH of a product. Occurs naturally in nature but usually synthetically produced
Tetrasodium EDTA	Water softener and binding agent which helps keep materials in suspension and can act as preservative.
Tetrasodium Etidronate	EDTA
Titanium dioxide	Will absorb UV rays so is the main active ingredient in sun-block. Also acts as spreading agent, increasing covering capacity
Tocopheryl	Vitamin E
Vitamin E	Can be extracted from natural sources, but usually synthetically produced, claimed to reduce oxidation damage to the soap (stop the soap going rancid) and oxidation damage to the skin.
Zinc oxide	A concentrated form of zinc. Zinc has many skin curative properties, but must be applied with care. Can improve covering capacity and act as a mild antispetic .