Our Ingredients

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As BrooklynBath is growing with its product line I figured I should take some time to explain what are some of the ingredients that I like to use and why.
Through the course of learning and product development I have learned about different vegetable and fruit oils, their properties and how they can contribute to beautiful skin! One of the natural by-products of handcrafted soap is that glycerin is retained in the soap. Glycerin is a humectant that helps attract moisture to the skin. In commercial soaps glycerin is a commodity. It is extracted from the soap manufacturing process and used in other body products such as lotions.
Here are my base oils that I use for making  soap:

1. Coconut Oil – provides a fluffy lather to soap. It’s high in lauric acid which is also found in human milk (breast).  It is highly praised as a “natural skin conditioner” as it easily penetrates skin and hair follicles.

2. Palm Oil – I like using palm oil because it provides the “hardness” that I need in a bar of soap. We use sustainable palm oil.

3. Olive Oil – not just for cooking! Olive oil has been known to have moisturizing properties. It is widely used in skin and hair products.

4. Castor Oil – a multi-purpose oil that is used in such a variety of different things. I like using castor oil because it gives my soap “extra” bubbles.

These oils alone make a great bar of soap. Personally, I barely use lotion after my shower now that I use handmade soap with the oils listed above. My skin feels less dry and much smoother.

From time to time I do add an extra oil such as sweet almond oil, mango butter, avocado oil, etc. for a super luxurious bar. Keep tuned! I will come out with some of these luxurious bars of soap soon enough.

Formulating: Lesson I Learned

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One of the things I love to do as a bath & body company owner is the ability to learn how to formulate my own products. Formulating helps not only to know what ingredients I prefer to use but also to perfect my product. Taking accurate notes of the process from beginning to end ensures that I have a record of the ingredients and how much I used. This helps to duplicate future larger batches.

So what lesson did I learn today?  Label your finished product by adding a sticky note with the percentages to cross-reference with the formula. Why? I made a whipped mango body butter for the first time several months ago. I followed the percentages according to my formula, but I realized as you can see from the picture below my body butter didn’t come out exactly as I wanted.



I decided to change my formula but failed to label the two batches. I now had two different formulas but couldn’t remember which formula went with which batch. I won’t be able to make any batch a potential candidate as a “finished” product to sell later on but, I went ahead and added avocado oil to make the body butter softer. I can still use this batch for my own personal use, and this time I labeled my finished batch. Even though I can’t figure out the exact amounts of my ingredients but at least I’ll know what avocado oil will do for my body butter.  And maybe I’ll use it for future batches….to be continued…..



New Test Soap Mold

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My youngest brother who is only 15 years old and is an aspiring carpenter made me the cutest wooden soap mold for me! This is perfect for creating small test batches of soap.This is how I know whether a particular fragrance blends with my soap recipe. From this I can take notes. Whenever I decide to try out a new soap recipe with new additives including new fragrance oils, a small test batch is the perfect solution.  If the soap turns out great then I can create bigger batches for you!

 

Wood Soap Mold


Here it is lined up with parchment paper and ready to go! Thanks Miguel Colon!

Oil Extraction Methods

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Oils are obtained by pressing of the vegetable or fruit. What is extracted and filtered is what many soapmakers use.  The techniques involved are cold process, solvent process, heat process, and refined process.  Each technique produces different grades of oils as some are used differently for different formulations. Let’s look at the different techniques used.

Cold pressing involves pressing and filtering. As the name implies, no heat is used to extract the oil from the seed. The oil that is produced afterwards is called virgin oil and it’s of the best quality and pricier but quantity is minimum compared to the other processes. Such examples are virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil.

Heat process involves pressing and filtering of the vegetable/fruit with of course the aid of heat. Results of this process produce oils with a slight variation in color, taste or composition.

Solvent process will produce the highest amount of oil extracted. A solvent is mixed in with the solvent and once the solvent has evaporated the batch will produce oils. Although the quantity of oil produced is greater however, actives such antioxidants or extracts are removed in this process. Actives are key ingredients to have in leave-in body products as the skin can greatly benefit from them.

Refining process alters the composition of the oil by means of bleaching, deodorizing. This process removes properties such as color and odor from the oil.

A great example of oil that goes through the process mentioned above is coconut oil.

Ingredient Profile: Mango Butter

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I just received a bag of mango butter and I must say I am in love! At first I wasn’t sure what to expect but very clearly from the first application of this butter on my skin I knew I can never be without. So what is mango butter and what is it good for? Let’s look at the profile for this incredible butter.

INCI:Mangifera indica (Mango) Seed Butter


Mango Butter

Color: pale gold

Shelf Life: 1 – 2 Years

Mango butter is an odorless butter obtained from the kernels of the mango tree. Although solid at room temperature it melts on contact.  It  has a melting point of about 100 degrees higher than that of shea butter (about 85 degrees).  Because of this it makes it an ideal raw ingredient to use in solid bath products such as lip balms and lotion bars. In fact, it is a great alternative butter to that of shea butter to use in the summer months.

Like all butters, mango butter is moisturizing for the skin. It is said to help the skin retain its elasticity and it is a great ingredient to use for people with eczema and/or psoriasis.

It can be used as is or in combination with other soft oils in the formulation of bath products and soap. The usage rate can go as high as 100% for solid bath products.

What Is Melt & Pour Soapmaking

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What is melt and pour?

This is a pre-made soap base made with vegetables oils and solvents. The solvents allow the soap to be re-heated many times. Some bases might contain surfactants which help the soap to lift off dirt from the skin and also increases lather. Melt and Pour soapmaking expands the soapmaker’s creativity to create visually striking effects.  A multitude of transparent to opaque finishes and sometimes both can be created with melt and pour soaps. Another great thing about melt and pour soaps is that they can be used right away.

Why melt and pour soapmaking?

Melt and pour soapmaking is great for the new soapmaker in training. There is no handling of sodium hydroxide (safety is very important when handling this) or calculating percentages of oils, butters, etc. Melt and pour soapmaking is very basic and easy to understand. The real challenge is deciding what colorants and fragrance or essential oils to choose!
SoapQueen.Tv has dedicated a series of videos of melt and pour soapmaking tutorials for easy learning.

A glycerin soap handcrafter can create detailed soaps using molds or creating his/her own. Great glycerin handcrafters such as Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove has created a niche in the soapmaking industry with her amazing creative and talented skills.

Melt & Pour soaps make great gifts as custom soaps. Instead of making a big batch you can make a custom soap using an individual mold. You can select the color and the fragrance and it’s ready to be used the same day.



How to Make Cold Process Soap Lye Safety & Ingredients, Episo

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As promised here’s the latest video from Anne-Marie Faiola from SoapQueen.Tv. Not only have I learned so much from watching Anne-Marie’s videos but I love going back to them time and time again. I always learn something new each time. Sit back, take good notes and enjoy learning!

How to Make Cold Process Soap : Lye Safety & Ingredients, Episode 1 from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

4 Ways To Make Soap

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A few readers have asked me, Rose, how do you make soap? Is it easy? What are the main ingredients in soap.  Is it like cooking?  Here’s a great post to read on the different ways to make soap.

There are generally 4 ways to make soap.

  • Melt & Pour: a pre-made glycerin base and the easiest to make. The name itself implies the process. You “melt” the base and “pour” into a mold. Additives such as oils/butters, colorants, fragrances, etc may be added to your soap base.  Once the soap has cooled in its mold you can unmold and use right away.  This method creates visually striking soaps for the handcrafter.
  • Cold Process:  Mixing vegetable/animal oils and butters with a saponifying agent such as sodium hydroxide, poured into a mold.  The soap “cooks” itself.  The drying time generally takes 6 weeks. This method of soapmaking allows the soapmaker to be in the “Director’s Chair”.  A soapmaker has control of what ingredients go in a batch of cold-process soap. The soapmaker can omit ingredients such as fragrances or any other allergens for those with sensitive skin.
  • Hot Process: This method has the same foundation as cold process soap except that soap is “cooked” before pouring into a mold.
  • Rebatching (Handmilling): Is a pre-made cold process soap that allows the soapmaker to handcraft beautiful soaps without having to touch caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). Choice of fragrance and additives can be added to the soaps.

In the next post I will share the first installment of a video series from Anne-Marie Faiola of SoapQueen.Tv on the process of making Cold Process Soap.