The gentle cleansing and moisturizing properties of the oils used in Garland Goat Soaps make them ideal for baby's tender skin.

Palm oil is another important oil for use in a natural bar soap. A gentle cleanser and moisturizer, palm oil contributes to lasting hardness in a bar of soap. Unlike coconut oil, however, it will not cause the bar of soap to become brittle, so when these two types of oils are combined together, the resulting soap lasts a long time without becoming brittle and cracked. Palm Oil is rich in palmitic acid, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium and is considered to be a natural source of anti-oxidant.

Last but not least, Vitamin E oil completes the well-rounded selection of oils in Garland Goat Soap of Maine’s base soap recipes. Vitamin E oil is extremely emollient, and deeply moisturizing. Because of it’s make up, it does not saponify in the soapmaking process (in other words, it does not react with sodium hydroxide to make soap, but rather remains in it’s pure form as an unsaponified oil) and acts as a natural preservative in the soap.

Is your skin needing a lift? A bar of natural soap chock full of skin-nurishing oils, coupled with the special luxeries of goat milk, will give your skin just what it needs! Check out your options here.

Coconut oil is also an essential component of Garland Goat Soap. Coconut oil is obtained from copra, which is dried coconut meat. It provides many benefits to a natural bar soap!

Coconut oil creates a hard bar of soap with fluffy lather.

When used in the right proportion, coconut oil creates a good, hard bar of soap that won’t just “melt away” in your soap dish. It also contributes generous, fluffy lather for a squeaky clean feeling. More than that, though, coconut oil is an ideal skin-care oil! Because coconut oil’s molecules are small, they are easily absorbed into skin, making it the perfect moisturizer for dry or rough skin.

It helps protect your skin from the aging effects of free radicals.  It can help to keep the skin from developing liver spots, and other blemishes caused by aging and over exposure to sunlight.  When coconut oil is absorbed into the skin and connective tissues, it helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by working to keep connective tissues strong and supple. The oil is absorbed into cell structure of the skins connective tissues, limiting the damage excessive sun exposure can cause. Coconut oil will aid in exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making the skin smoother.

Coconut oil helps prevent aging in your skin!

Antiseptic fatty acids in coconut oil help to prevent fungal and bacterial infections in the skin to a certain extent when it is used in skin-care. Because of these qualities, coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. I consider it indispensable in my soap recipes!

I got a shipment of soapmaking supplies in today, including  olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil, some of the major ingredients I use in my soap. I wonder how many people realize what oils in soap do – or not do – for their skin. When first experimenting with soap making, I followed a simple recipe that used primarily vegetable shortening as the oil (fat), with a smattering of olive oil. It was certainly a cheap option for producing soap…and it worked for the time being, but as I began to develope my soap recipes, I began to look into other oils that would provide complete care for the skin, from moisturizing to rejuvanting skin cells, from gently cleaning baby’s face to aiding mature skin types.

After all, oils are the primary components of a natural soap bar, composing approximately sixty-five percent of the ingredients of bar soap. It would make sense then, that the type and quality of oil used in the soap drastically effects how that soap works for your skin, for the essential nature of any soap is directly related to the oils within it. The oils used in soap affect both the physical nature of the soap bar (feel, texture, hardness, etc.) and the skin-care properties of the bar (moisturizing, softening, protecting, etc.) Too much of one oil can create a bar of soap that is hard to the point of being brittle and cracking. Too much of another type of oil will produce soap that is soft, sticky, and quickly melts away in the soap dish.

Some oils are ultra-moisturizing for the skin, yet will spoil in a natural bar of soap like ours (since we don’t use the often harmful chemical preservatives found in many commercial soap) unless used in the correct proportions. Other oils will leave a greasy film on the surface of the skin. It was important, than, that I used the right kind of oils in the right proportions to get just the perfect bar of soap! I also wanted to use oils that would compliment and enhance the qualities of goat milk in my soap. In the next blog, I’ll begin to look at the oils I did choose, and why I chose them. Right now, it’s time to go get that oil stored away!