I know, every natural soap maker believes their soap is the best soap you can use. Now I’m going to tell you why we feel ours in unquestionably the best. The creator of our soap, Art Felix, is an actual rocket scientist. He spent a career in the tech industry working on very complex systems, including the space shuttle and space station. When Art became interested in soap, he spent three years creating a soap formula that he believed provided the best nourishment and healing benefits for your skin. He selected each ingredient based on its’ ability to help create a great bar of soap and to help nourish and repair your skin. Art began giving soap to his family and friends to see how they liked it, and their response was overwhelming. Every month Art had to make hundreds of bars in his garage just to fill the demand from his family and friends. As the demand grew, a number of us that were using Art’s soap regularly realized that we needed to give Art a hand making the soap we wanted. A year later we were making 1000 bars of soap each month just to fill the demand from our circle of family and friends that where using the soap. At that point it was a natural decision to bring Art’s soap to market, and The Art of Soap was born.
First a quick discussion about soap. By definition soap is created by mixing lye with fatty acids. The lye chemically interacts with the fatty acids and is completely consumed. The end result is soap. A product can’t be called soap unless it is made this way. Almost all big brand bars sold on the market today aren’t actually soap, they are detergents. For example, nowhere on the packaging for Dove does it say soap. That is because it isn’t. This is true of most big brand cleansing bars and liquid body washes. If you really want to scare yourself, read the ingredient lists for almost any of these products and you will be shocked. There are numerous ingredients that not only do you have no idea what they are, but you can’t eve pronounce them. Many of these ingredients are manmade chemicals that strip the natural oils from your skin, making you feel clean but in reality, damaging your skin. Don’t believe me, just grab your favorite big brand cleansing bar or body wash and give the ingredient list a good read.
In contrast, most natural soaps are made with natural ingredients that clean your skin without removing natural oils or damaging your skin. What differentiates natural soaps, are the ingredients that the soap maker uses to provide the fatty acids needed to absorb the lye when creating the soap. We use a combination of 6 different vegetable oils and butters to provide the need fatty acids. Each was selected for the positive properties it provides to making a good bar of soap to clean your skin, while also nourishing and repairing it. We believe our formula is superior to other natural soaps, most of which only use two to three oils to provide the needed fatty acids. We feel so strongly about the superiority of our formula that we use it for every bar of soap we make. The only difference is the coloring and scent.
Another factor that differentiates natural soaps is how they are made. Without getting into too much detail, the “cold process” is universally accepted as the best way to make a natural soap that is nourishing for your skin. This is because the ingredients are not excessively heated in the soap making process. Some ingredients, like shea butter, are mildly warmed to melt them, but there is no excessive heating. That means that none of the positive qualities of the oils are cooked out in the soap making process. The downside of the cold process is that it is labor and time intensive. The ingredients must be mixed together and then poured into block sized forms.
After sitting in the forms for a day or so, the blocks then need to be cut into bars. Once cut into bars, soap made by the cold process must cure. This simply means that each bar is placed on a drying rack to allow the excess water to evaporate out of the soap, causing it to become harder and longer lasting when used. How long the curing process takes is dependent upon the humidity of the environment it is cured in. The lower the humidity, the faster it cures. Soap makers in high humidity areas often use rooms with a de-humidifier to cure their soap. Since we are in dry Las Vegas, we allow our soap to cure naturally and it typically takes 2-3 weeks.
We know how easy it is to say our product is the best. But the simple truth is, we believe it. Our entire team was using Art’s soap long before we even thought of selling it. We are willing to bet (we are in Vegas) that you will love it too. Simply order a bar and try it for a week or two. If you don’t love it, then let us know and we will refund the entire cost of your order.
Below is a list of all of the ingredients in our soap. They are ordered (from most to least) based on the percentage of the weight they represent in a bar when our soap is made. There is a detailed explanation of why each ingredient was chosen. We encourage you to google the benefits to your skin of the oils we use and you will soon understand why we use them. Read through our list and then compare it to other natural soaps and you will understand why we believe our soap is simply the best.
- Coconut Oil – Has a high content of Lauric and Myristic acids, which are both very good for your skin. Coconut Oil is a good anti-bacterial, reduces inflammation, helps with acne, and repairs and smooths skin. All of these benefits make it a great choice to use in natural soap.
- Distilled Water – Is mixed with Sodium Hydroxide to for the lye that is used to make our soap. Much of this water evaporates during the curing process.
- Olive Oil – Has very high concentrations of Oleic acid, which promotes healing and repairing of skin. Oleic acid is a good anti-inflammatory that stimulates wound healing for your skin. Olive oil is also an antioxidant, an antibacterial, is high in vitamins, and is a moisturizer for your skin. Olive oil isn’t used in most natural soaps, but it should be.
- Palm Oil – Has high concentrations of Palmitic acid which acts as an emollient and moisturizer, softening the skin and helping retain moisture by forming an occlusive layer. Palmitic acid is also a strong antioxidant. Palm Oil also has high concentrations of Oleic acid which promotes the healing and repairing of your skin. As an anti-inflammatory substance that stimulates wound healing, Oleic acid can also help calm, balance and help repair skin. Palm oil is often used in natural soaps. We only use sustainable and ethically produce Palm Oil sourced from South America.
- Castor Oil – Has high concentrations of ricinoleic acid, which has anti-inflammatory properties useful in treating irritated skin. Castor oil also has strong anti-bacterial properties. It is excellent for reducing acne, stimulating collagen production, and protecting against wrinkles. Castor oil is rarely used in natural soaps, but again, it should be used.
- Sodium Hydroxide – When mixed with water, Sodium Hydroxide creates the lye which is used in our soap making process. All of the lye is consumed during the making of our soap and is not present in the finished product.
- Avocado Oil – Has high concentrations of Oleic, Linoleic and Palmitic acids. Avocado oil is rarely used in natural soaps, but it’s benefits for your skin are undeniable. It protects your skin from ultraviolet rays which protects against skin ageing. It is also an excellent skin moisturizer. Avocado oil is excellent for treatment of skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
- Raw Shea Butter – has high concentrations of Oleic and Stearic acid which help wash away excess oil and dirt from the skin. Stearic acid also acts as an emollient, having the quality of softening or soothing the skin. Shea Butter has strong anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties that help hydrate your skin. It is also known to help fade scars and blemishes on your skin. We believe every natural soap should contain Shea Butter.
- Essential Oil or Fragrance – Whenever possible we use essential oils to scent our soaps. Some of our scents are manmade (like barbershop) and in these cases we use high grade fragrances. For those trying to avoid scents and colors, we offer a natural bar that does have either.
- Sodium Lactate – This is the sodium salt from lactate acid and is utilized in soap making to help harden the soap. We use Sodium Lactate derived from sugar beets.
- Vegetable Glycerin – Is a natural skin conditioner. Since Glycerin is a humectant, it is an excellent moisturizer for your skin. It fortifies and strengthens your skins moisture barrier. Glycerin is also known to smooth and plump your skin.
- Mica Colorant – We use cosmetic grade Mica Colorants in our natural soap. These colorants are approved, and generally used, for cosmetics that are applied to your lips and eyes. We believe they are the safest colorants to use in soap.
- Vitamin E Oil – Has strong antioxidant properties. Vitamin E oil is excellent for repairing your skin. It helps diminish scars and blemishes. It also helps relieve dry, itchy skin. Very few natural soaps include Vitamin E oil, but we do.
- Rosemary Oleoresin Extract Oil – Is a strong antioxidant and helps preserve the shelf life of our natural soap.