How We Made Soap

How We Make Our Soap
at The Great Canadian Soap Company

Not all Soap is really Soap

At The Great Canadian Soap Company, we want you to feel comfortable in your skin! Today, many people don't. That's because the soap sold in stores today is more likely to be a synthetic detergent than a true soap.

"The [US FDA] regulatory definition of "soap" is different from the way in which people commonly use the word.[...] FDA interprets the term "soap" to apply only when --The bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the product's detergent properties are due to the alkali-fatty acid compounds, and The product is labeled, sold, and represented solely as soap". http://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/guidancecomplianceregulatoryinformation/ucm074201.htm

Our soap is, by this definition, a true soap. It is not a "beauty bar", a "bath bar" a "deodorant bar" or any other non-soap bar that is likely just a synthetic detergent. Our true soap is safe enough for your whole family, from babies to elders, unlike some other "soap" out there, and it is gentle to even the most sensitive skin.

How we make our Goat's Milk Soap

Cold Process Soap Making is an exercise in exact measuring of both ingredients and temperatures. In chemical terms, soap is a salt, made by combining an acid (fat or oil) and a base (lye). This process is known as saponification. The resulting foaming salt is what we know as Soap.

Our soap is made with a mixture of Olive Oil and Coconut Oil. Olive Oil is a mild oil, high in antioxidants, including vitamin E. Coconut Oil helps to make the soap lather and makes the bar harder. These oils are carefully measured, mixed together and then gently heated to just the right temperature.

Mixing and Heating Oils

Next we add our own farm fresh goat's milk.
Milking a Goat

Again, the milk is carefully measured and the temperature must be just right before adding it to the warm oil mixture. Our soap is 26.5% goat's milk. Goat's milk has a Ph very close to our own skin's Ph and is full of protein, lactic acid and vitamins A, Bs and D. It's rich in beneficial nutrients and is easily absorbed into your skin where it goes right to work as a natural moisturizer.

Adding Goat's Milk to the Oils

Once added and mixed in well,
the mixture thickens to a consistency much like butter.

Now it's like Butter

Next the lye is added. It is mixed with just enough water to dissolve it. Again this ingredient must be carefully measured. The saponification process depends on exact amounts of acid (the oils and the milk fat) and base (the lye) in order to produce the salt that is Soap. This is where the safety glasses and heavy gloves come into play; lye can cause a nasty chemical burn! The saponification process will convert the lye over the next 48 hours and the resulting soap will be a gentle, moisturizing product that is as kind to your skin as can possibly be!

Adding Lye

After the lye is added and blended in, the mixture returns to a thick liquid.

The mixture after Lye is added

Now is the time, depending on the soap we're making, to add essential oils,

Adding Essential Oil

herbs, spices, flowers, oatmeal etc.

Some of the Herbs & Flowers we use

As well, now is when our extra butters; cocoa butter and shea butter are added. These have, among other good things, great skin softening and moisturizing properties.

Blending extra Butters to add

Another good mix and the blend goes into the molds.

The Final Mixing Ready to Pour

We have 15 minutes to get it poured whether it's going into one big 100lb mold like the one pictured or many smaller individual soap molds.

Pouring into a 100Lb Mold 1 Pouring into a 100Lb Mold 2

Pouring into a 100Lb Mold 3

Saponification

The molds are then insulated and for the next 48 hours
they sit quietly as chemistry takes over and saponification happens.

The Insulated Mold

Two days later they are ready to unmold and cut.

Ready to Unmold

Once they are cut into bars (or individual soaps are popped from their molds)
they are put on drying racks and left to dry for 6 weeks.

Cutting up the Soap Blocks Arranging the Soap Bars on racks to Dry

The Drying Room

This ensures you get a good hard bar that,
if left to dry on a well-draining soap dish after use,
will last comparitively longer than store bought "soap".

A Rectangle Bar of our Goat's Milk Soap on a Wooden Soap Dish

Our Unscented Rectangular Bar

This totally fragrance free soap is guaranteed to please those with
even the most sensitive of skin or severe allergies.

Ingredients: Farm Fresh Goat's Milk, Saponified Coconut & Olive Oils,
Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter

For more on the benefits of Goat's Milk Soap and Information on our Products, see our FAQ