"Made from scratch" is printed on a lot of soap, and it can mean very different things. Some of the simplest words take the longest to explain. So here is what it means for ours, from the fat we start with to the dish you keep the bar on.
What goes into a bar of tallow soap?
Fat, oil and lye, plus something for scent and color. In our bars the fat is tallow we render ourselves from Zabiha Halal suet, blended with organic extra virgin olive oil and organic coconut oil. The scent comes from essential oils only, and the color comes from a plant or a spice.
Here is a whole ingredient list, read straight off our Golden Ginkgo bar: Suet Tallow (Zabiha Halal, hand-slaughtered, home-rendered), Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Annatto Seed, Lemongrass Essential Oil, Orange Essential Oil, Lye (none remains in the finished bar).
That's the full list. There are no fragrance oils, no synthetic dyes and no palm oil in any of our soaps.
Our plainest bar, Gentle Tallow, leaves out the scent and the color altogether. It's tallow, olive oil, coconut oil and lye, with a few calendula petals on top for decoration.
What is saponification?
Saponification is the reaction that turns fat into soap. When fats and oils are mixed with lye, they react with each other and become soap. Made properly, the lye is used up along the way, which is why our ingredient lists say "none remains in the finished bar."
Lye is the part that worries people, and it's a fair thing to ask about. Every true soap is made with it. There is no way to turn fat into soap without it. What matters is that none of it is left once the soap is made, and that is what the line on our labels tells you.
What's the difference between "from scratch" and melt and pour?
Melt and pour soap starts from a ready-made soap base that someone else already made. It's melted down, scent and color are stirred in, and it's poured into a mold. Making soap from scratch means starting with the fats and the lye yourself. Every one of our bars is made from scratch, never melt and pour.
Melt and pour is a perfectly fair way to make soap, and lots of people start there. The difference is choice. When you begin with someone else's base, you don't get to choose the fat, where it came from, or how it was made. When you begin from scratch, every one of those things is your decision.
For us, the decision that matters most is the tallow.
Where does the tallow in our soap come from?
The suet comes from our local butcher, where animals are hand slaughtered the Zabiha Halal way. We render it ourselves, at home, slowly and in small amounts. The same tallow goes into every soap we make and into our tallow cream.
Rendering means melting the fat down slowly and keeping the clean fat. We do it at home, in small amounts, so we know exactly what went into it.
We say halal-sourced, and we mean exactly that: the suet comes from Zabiha Halal hand slaughter. We don't hold a formal certification, so we don't claim one.
Tallow is also why these bars feel the way they do. It's naturally close in makeup to the oils our own skin produces, which is why tallow soap cleans well without leaving skin tight and stripped. It makes a hard, long-lasting bar with a soft, creamy lather, the way soap was made for centuries before cheaper oils took over.
Where do the colors and scents come from?
Every color in our soaps comes from a plant or a spice, and every scent comes from an essential oil. Nothing synthetic is added for either.
Here is this fall's set, with what colors each one:
- Dreamy Fall: madder root, from beige to light peach. Sweet orange and soft cedarwood.
- Pumpkin Pie: a touch of cayenne, for a pumpkin color. Sweet orange over cedarwood.
- Red Maple: mountain rhubarb, from deep burgundy to dark maroon. Orange and cedarwood with a cozy spice.
- Toasted Acorn: turmeric, for a warm, toasty color. Sweet orange and a deep, cozy spice.
- Golden Ginkgo: annatto seed, for gold. Lemongrass and sweet orange.
- Lemon & Poppy: a little annatto for a pale yellow, lemongrass for the scent, and poppy seeds for a gentle scrub.
One thing to know, so it doesn't surprise you: plant colors aren't as fixed as dyes. The shade can vary a little from batch to batch and soften over time. It doesn't affect the soap.
How do you make a handmade bar last?
Keep it on a draining dish away from standing water, and let it dry between uses. A bar that sits in a puddle goes soft and washes away much faster than one that gets the chance to dry.
Lather it between your hands, on a washcloth, or straight onto the skin, then rinse. For external use only, and avoid the eye area. If you have sensitive skin, try a new bar on a small area first. With Lemon & Poppy, use gentle pressure and skip any skin that's broken or irritated.
Every bar is made by hand, so no two are exactly alike. Slight variations are natural.
If you'd like to start with one, the plain Gentle Tallow bar is the simplest place to begin, and the Lavender Tallow Cream is made from the very same tallow.
Hikma Botanicals is a woman-owned, family-run kitchen. Everything is made by hand, slowly, in small batches. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.