the handmade soap masters

I have a simple question, when is a soap natural.
For example with sodium hydroxide, fragrance etc. Surely these are not natural.

Interesting and important question, which requires all but “simple” answers.

Firstly- “natural” has (sadly) become such an ambiguous and controversial term, that I cannot answer unless its meaning is better qualified. What does “natural” refer to in this context, and what do you mean by “natural”?
For example, sodium hydroxide “naturally” reacts with fatty acids to give soap. This seems to me to contradict your conclusion that making soap with sodium hydroxide (if I understand correctly what you are saying) is not natural.

And if not natural refers to fragrance etc., we would first need to better qualify and describe what “fragrance” one could be using, and what “etc’s” were they planning to add to the soap.

In short, the best answer I can give to this Cosmic Question, is to recommend that you refer to the Soap Naturally book. In my opinion, this book contains enough information for each of us to decide whether and how we can make as natural as possible soap to our own liking. And, of course, (although not so “obviously” for a number of people, I found), I suggest that, at the very minimum, you actually read Chapters 1, 2 and 5 of this book.

May the Soap Bubble Fairy inspire and purify your thoughts!

Today’s cosmic question:

I have a simple question, when is a soap natural.
For example with sodium hydroxide, fragrance etc. Surely these are not natural.

Interesting and important question, which requires all but “simple” answers.

Firstly- “natural” has (sadly) become such an ambiguous and controversial term, that I cannot answer unless its meaning is better qualified. What does “natural” refer to in this context, and what do you mean by “natural”?
For example, sodium hydroxide “naturally” reacts with fatty acids to give soap. This seems to me to contradict your conclusion that making soap with sodium hydroxide (if I understand correctly what you are saying) is not natural.

And if not natural refers to fragrance etc., we would first need to better qualify and describe what “fragrance” one could be using, and what “etc’s” were they planning to add to the soap.

In short, the best answer I can give to this Cosmic Question, is to recommend that you refer to the Soap Naturally book. In my opinion, this book contains enough information for each of us to decide whether and how we can make as natural as possible soap to our own liking. And, of course, (although not so “obviously” for a number of people, I found), I suggest that, at the very minimum, you actually read Chapters 1, 2 and 5 of this book.

May the Soap Bubble Fairy inspire and purify your thoughts!

In the ten years or so I’ve been “talking” to other people on the Internet, I have received something like twenty thousand email enquiries about “natural” skincare, handmade soap, or some other topic that can be broadly classified as pertinent to sustainable choices for personal and household products.

For the vast majority, these queries appear to come from people who have an honest and perfectly legitimate desire of better understanding these issues. However, some of the questions I have been asked were “questionable” at the very minimum —if not decidedly suss.

As so many other negative behaviours, both on the ‘net and in real life, suss queries seem to be enjoying vast popularity. So does the number of shonky “customers” I find myself dealing with —and it’s probably silly of me to keep listening and doing my best to answer…

But anyway, the time seems to have come for me to start collecting the most interesting, strange, provocative and outrageous questions people ask me, and publish them in a new category of this Blog journal, called Cosmic Questions. I hope this will both contribute to the general knowledge about natural soap, chemical-free skincare and sustainable options, and maybe also raise a few smiles…

And on a side note —I’ll have to better qualify what I mean by natural and sustainable one of these days!

Suss: Australian slang for suspect or suspicious, fishy.
Shonky: Australian slang for less than transparent, somewhat dishonest, fishy.