Back in the olden days handmade soap was not uncommon in everyday life. Now, in the 90's, we head out to our local grocery store to find our favorite brand of soap, such as Ivory and Dove. Yes, the new versions of soaps are better for our skin but, it is harming our environment in many dangerous ways. Time changes everything. Now the population of America uses brand names of soap.
 

In making "hand made soap" there are five common ingredients. You start off with white (wood) ash. You can use dried palm branches, dried out banana peels, cocoa pods, kapok tree wood, and apple tree wood if you do not feel like putting ashes on yourself. You can also use flower extracts for smell. Hand made soap is made with both biotic (organic) and abiotic (not organic) materials. Followed by rain or spring water, animal fats or grease, plant oils, and finally salt. Everything impacts something. True these ingredients are not as good to our skin but there are many different recipes to make hand made soap.

In one home page a woman talks about how her husband and she went to a country fair and found home made soap. Her husband refused to go back to regular bar soap. Their one bar of soap lasted them one month. This compared to the modern bar of soap, which lasts two weeks.

In our discovery, what people put on their bodies is almost as important as what you put in your body. The majority of the population has made an adaptation to chemically made soap. Sodium chloride can be drying to the skin. Sodium isethionate, if ingested can cause vomiting, prostration, and cause you to collapse. These chemicals can even cause pollution and damage our biosphere. Humans can impact anything on earth. Why would we want to put these harmful substances on our body?!
 

Now in finding all of our information, you, as the public are educated in the difference between the two. Answers come from asking essential questions, doing good research, and presenting your findings publicly. You as a public have no such thing as a free lunch.
 
 

Here are some recipes for you to try!!!!!!!!!

By: Rachel K.

Nate B.

1/2 Ounce or 14gm lye

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup luke warm fat

1 T. lemon juice (optional)

In a plastic container, gently stir lye into cold water with wooden spoon. Slowly add luke warm fat. Continue to stir until slightly thickened. Add lemon juice, stirring to mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into plastic molds. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for 24 hours. Remove soap from molds and allow to air dry for 14 days. Yield: 1-2 medium bars. Keep in mind one bar can last up to one month!