Glycerin is a natural byproduct of the soap making process. It is a humectant, which means it attracts moisture to your skin. Many major soap manufacturers remove the glycerin from their soaps to use in more expensive products, like creams and lotions. By using soaps containing glycerin, your skin will remain softer and not dry out.

Glycerin is a sweet-tasting colorless thick liquid. Glycerin can be dissolved in water or alcohol, but not oils. But many things can be dissolved into glycerin, so it is a good solvent. Glycerin absorbs water from the air. So 100% pure glycerin placed on the skin would be dehydrating, but when mixed with water, glycerin softens the skin. Some people say this softening is the result of the glycerin attracting moisture to your skin. But others say the glycerin has some other properties which are helpful to the skin. But either way, the bottom line is that glycerin does soften the skin.

The process of removing glycerin from soap is a complicated procedure, and before 1889 no one knew how to remove the glycerin from soap. At that time, soap making became a lot more profitable, because the large soap manufacturers removed the glycerin to sell for use in making nitroglycerin, which was used to make dynamite. Soap is made from fats and lye. The fats contain glycerin as part of their makeup. When the fats and lye interact, soap is formed.

A cold process soap maker simply pours the soap into molds at this stage, but a commercial soap maker will add salt. The salt causes the soap to curdle and float to the top. After skimming off the soap, they have glycerin left over.

Glycerin is also used to make clear soaps. Highly glycerinated clear soaps contain about 15% - 20% pure glycerin. Because of their high glycerin content, these soaps are very moisturizing to the skin. You may notice that when a bar of soap with lots of glycerin is left exposed to air, it will attract moisture and "glisten" with beads of ambient moisture.

The glycerin soaps that we sell are cold-processed soaps that contain natural vegetable glycerin and are highly moisturizing. The emollient, skin loving and gentle nature of these soaps is especially good for tender or dry skin and children.


Organic Fiji - Coconut Oil Soap Certified 100% Organic

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