Soap has not always contained the long list of ingredients found in today's products. Soap formulations have been known since at least the second century, when soaps were made from only two ingredients--a fatty acid source and a strong base. Centuries later, soaps routinely contain bleaches, chemicals, enzymes, perfumes and dyes. Pure soap flakes, however, are still available. Many companies tout their benefits, not only for individuals, but also for the environment.
Purified Water
Soap flakes are made from oils using a chemical process known as saponification. When a vegetable oil or animal fat is mixed with a strong alkali, soap and glycerin form. Purified water is used to dissolve the strong alkali, which would otherwise be a dry powder. Purified water is used to ensure that toxins, pollutants and microbes do not end up in the final product. Water from any source, physically processed to remove impurities, can be labeled purified. Common processes to obtain purified water include distillation and deionization.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has traditionally been used to make soap. Obtained from the dried inner flesh of the fruit, coconut oil provides fatty acids, such as lauric acid, capric acid, myristic acid and palmitic acid. During saponification, the fatty acids in coconut oil react with a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide, yielding glycerol, a crude soap product. The crude soap precipitates out of the solution by the addition of sodium chloride. Both water and glycerol are then removed, leaving behind the soap flakes.
Soybean Oil
Soybean oil is similar to coconut oil and also provides fatty acids for saponification. The oil is extracted or expressed from soybeans. Soybean oil primarily provides oleic, linoleic and linolenic triglycerides, as well as saturated acids. When the oil reacts with a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide, crude soap forms. Soap flakes are then purified away from the glycerol byproduct.
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