Dr. Bronner's - Organic Shikakai Hand & Body Soap

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Soaps have been made for millennia. Aside from making fire and cooking food, "saponifying" oil and fat into soap is one of the oldest and simplest chemical reactions known to humankind. In fact, the first soaps were accidentally made by fat dripping into the ashes of cooking fires. Soap is made by saponifying a fat or oil with an alkali. A fat or oil is a "triglyceride," which means that three fatty acids of various carbon lengths are attached to a glycerin backbone. The alkali is either sodium (for bars) or potassium (for liquids) hydroxide, made by running electricity through salt water.

The saponification process is a simple one-step reaction with no waste generated: the glycerin is split off from the fatty acids, and the fatty acids combine with the sodium or potassium to form soap, while the hydroxide forms water. The result is soap, glycerin and water (no alkali remains in our soaps).

Quality soap-making consists in great part of choosing the right proportions of the right oils with their different fatty acids. Most commercial soap manufacturers skimp on quality because of cost and use lots of tallow from beef fat with a little bit of coconut or palm kernel oil.

Dr. Bronner's unsurpassed soaps are made with certified organic olive, hemp and palm oils instead of tallow, and contain three times more organic coconut oil than commercial soaps. Saponified coconut oil generates high-lather cleansing even in hard water because it has shorter-chain saturated fatty acids. Hemp, olive and palm oil-based soaps make a mild, smooth, creamy lather because these oils contain longer-chain unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acids.

Other Ways Dr. Bronner's Makes Higher-Quality Soap

• Unlike most commercial soap-makers who distill the glycerin out of their soaps to sell separately, Dr. Bronner's retains it in their soaps for its superb moisturizing qualities.
• They superfat their soaps with organic hemp and jojoba oils for a milder, smoother lather.
• They use natural plant-derived vitamin E and citric acid to protect freshness.
• They do not add any chelating agents, dyes, whiteners or synthetic fragrances.
• They use pure and powerful high-quality certified organic essential oils.
• Their liquid soaps are 3 times more concentrated than most so-called "liquid soaps" on the market, and are only a few percent away from being a solid, which ecologically saves on packaging materials.
• Their new plastic cylinder bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic.
• Their soaps are a superb value, costing less than less-concentrated, inferior detergent body-wash "liquid soaps."
• Their soaps are most popular for at-home washing, but they also are the soap of choice for many campers and hikers, as they are so biodegradable and nature-friendly.