Mini Soap - African Garden
Our By the Sea Soap Shoppe "African Garden" mini soap is a favourite with its unique and beautiful colours, and also because of its floral scent.
This is one of our soaps that includes Castor Oil. Castor oil has a high fatty acid content which deeply moisturizes, softens and soothes, stimulating production of that all-important collagen and helping to boost elasticity in the skin.
And the floral scent is so lovely. This African Garden mini soap is one to enjoy.
Ingredients
Coconut oil, Olive oil, Palm Oil, Distilled Water, Lye (Sodium Hydroxide), Castor Oil, Green Oxide Powder, Fragrance, Yellow Oxide Powder, Titanium Dioxide, Pink Ultramarine Powder
Vegan, all-natural ingredients
No parabens, sulfates, petrochemicals, artificial colours or synthetic fragrances
Benefits
Castor Oil:
- High fatty acid content - deeply moisturizes, softens and soothes the skin
- Collagen - boosts elasticity in your skin, keeps you looking younger longer!
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-bacterial
- Anti-fungal
- And adds lots of lather!
Coconut Oil:
- Easily absorbed into the outer layer of your skin (called the epidermis)
- Helps to protect the outside layer of your skin from infection
- Repairs your skin barrier
- Helps to regulate how much water you lose through your skin
- Keeps your skin hydrated
Olive Oil:
- Nourishes your skin – contains lots of Vitamins A, D, E and K
- Vitamin E gets special notice as an “antioxidant”, helping to prevent skin damage and possibly preventing premature aging and sun damage
Palm Oil:
- Antioxidant - fighting free radicals that cause premature aging
- Nourishes your skin with carotenes, Vitamin E and other nutrients
- High Vitamin E content which helps with skin conditions such as eczema, acne and dermatitis.
- Moisturizing
Size
Each bar is approximately 2 in. x 1 in. x 1/2 in. - or 5 cm. x 2.5 cm. x .5 cm. Weight is around 1 oz., or 28 grams.
Please note that because this soap is handmade, the appearance of the soap may not be exactly as pictured.
Lye
Some of you might be wondering, "Lye? Isn’t lye dangerous? Won’t it harm my skin?”
First - all actual soap is made with lye. No lye, no soap. (A lot of "soap products" in the stores are actually detergent. If you look at the labels, they are not called "soap". They are called "hand wash" or "body cleanser" or some such thing.)
This could become a chemistry lesson, but to make it short - soap is made from lye, fats and liquid. When the lye mixes with the fats and liquid, some kind of chemical reaction goes on, and the lye and fats change into soap and glycerin. In the process, the lye is all used up. Even though lye is used to make the soap, there is no lye left in the soap at all.
This is why soap made with lye is not dangerous, and it definitely won’t hurt your skin.
Let's talk about Oxides - that sounds like some kind of weird chemical, doesn't it?
Oxides (or metal oxides) are types are natural substances which make up most of the earth's crust; they're formed when metal react with oxygen and they create a certain colour.
For instance, everyone is familiar with rust which is iron oxide - the iron reacts with oxygen (which is in water). Perhaps you've seen the green roofs on cathedrals - that's copper oxide.
So the red, green, pink and yellow powders that we use are all from these natural metal oxides.