Activated Charcoal in Soap: What It Does and What It Does Not
Charcoal soap is sold as a detox. The real story is smaller and more useful: what activated charcoal does in a rinse-off bar, and which claims to ignore.
4 min readingredients, charcoal
Writing
12 articles, newest first.
Kaolin, Pink, Green and Bentonite: Cosmetic Clays Compared
Cosmetic clays differ mainly in how much oil and water they absorb. Here is how the common ones compare, which is gentlest, and which suits which skin.
3 min readingredients, clay
How to Make a Bar of Soap Last Longer
Most bars do not wear out, they dissolve. Six habits that slow that down, from the soap dish to the cure, and why a handmade bar rewards them more than most.
3 min readusing soap, buying soap
Manjistha (Indian Madder) in Soap: Colour, Tradition and Evidence
Manjistha is Rubia cordifolia, the Indian madder root that dyes a soap rose to red-brown. Where it comes from, what it does in a bar, and what is only tradition.
3 min readingredients, manjistha
Tangedu (Tanner's Cassia): The Flower Behind a Telangana Soap
Tangedu is Senna auriculata, the state flower of Telangana and a fixture of Bathukamma. What the plant is, where its name comes from, and what we can honestly claim.
3 min readingredients, tangedu
Why Handmade Soap Costs More Than a Supermarket Bar
A handmade bar can cost several times a supermarket one. Where that money goes: the oils, the weeks on a curing rack, the glycerine, and the work done by hand.
4 min readbuying soap, cold process
Why Real Soap Is Alkaline, and What pH-Balanced Bars Really Are
True soap always tests alkaline, usually between pH 8 and 11. Here is why that follows from the chemistry, and what a bar sold as pH 5.5 actually contains.
4 min readchemistry, ph
How to Read a Soap Label Without Being Sold To
Saponified oils, INCI names, syndet bars and the word natural. A practical guide to telling real cold process soap from a decorated commercial base.
4 min readlabels, buying soap
Superfat and Lye Discount, Explained With a Worked Example
Superfat and lye discount are the same adjustment described from opposite ends. Here is the arithmetic, worked in full, and how to pick a number.
5 min readsuperfat, formulation
How Long Each Type of Soap Needs to Cure
Cure times by recipe type, what is actually happening during the cure, and which of the numbers everyone repeats are measured rather than inherited.
5 min readcuring, cold process
What Is Saponification? The Chemistry of Every Soap Bar
Saponification is the reaction that turns fat and lye into soap and glycerine. Here is what happens molecule by molecule, and why no lye survives it.
5 min readsaponification, chemistry
Cold Process vs Melt and Pour vs Hot Process Soap
The three common ways to make soap differ in chemistry, control and cure time. Here is what genuinely separates them, and which one suits what you want.
5 min readcold process, methods