Cold saponification,
an exceptional manufacturing process.
Our manufacturing secrets
Cold saponification is the process of transforming a fat (such as shea or mango butter, olive, jojoba or coconut oil…) with a sodium hydroxide base (also known as soda) into soap containing glycerine. The mixture is made with water to make a soda lye, at room temperature, as the preparation must not be heated in order to maintain all the virtues of the vegetable oils and butters used. Generally, at least three different fats are mixed together depending on the desired result. Creamy foam, cleansing power, moisturising…
Then comes the step of over-greasing, which is essential to obtain a nourishing soap, suitable for sensitive skin. There are two types. The first is the reduction of soda: by mixing a quantity of sodium hydroxide that is deliberately lower than that of the fat, the soda will be totally consumed during the saponification process, while the final product will still contain unsaponified oils. Saly Savons has opted for the second method, which involves adding oils (sweet almond, macadamia, apricot kernel, etc.) at the end of the preparation process. A soap is said to be “superfatted” when it is at least 5% superfatted.
Our cold saponified soaps are over-greased by 6 to 10% to protect and nourish the most delicate skins. This ancestral manufacturing method allows us to benefit fully from the properties of each ingredient.
In order to add colour in a totally natural way, we have chosen to use mineral dyes. Indeed, without it, our soaps would all have a tint ranging from pale yellow to light green to beige. According to the recipe, we therefore incorporate oxides, ultramarines and clays into our preparation to give it a nicely coloured appearance. Finally, the chosen essential oils give our soaps the specific virtues of the plants used.
In a nutshell
What are the advantages of cold saponification?
It’s simple, unlike industrial soaps which dry out the skin (the oils used are denatured by heating them and the glycerine is removed from the final product), this ancestral method is the only one to preserve the glycerine, which naturally preserves the hydrolipidic film essential to the epidermis. It is in this way, by ensuring that all the oils are not transformed into soap, that you can benefit from their beneficial effects.
