Did you know that soap is a crystal? It is true, soap has a crystalline structure. Traditional soaps are made of soap crystals!
“Although soap is crystalline, little is known of the characteristics of soap crystals”
THE CRYSTALLINE PHASES OF SOAP
By M. J. BUERGER, L. B. SMITH, F. V. RYER AND J. E. SPIKE, JR.
MINERALOGICAL LABORATORY, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, AND LEVER BROS. RESEARCH LABORATORY
June 14, 1945
Most of our soap is made with the cold process method. This process involves adding lye alkali to oils which are more acidic, and this chemical reaction results in saponification. This age old process used to be achieved by adding wood ash as the alkali and can be achieved with any plant oil, butter or animal fat under the sun. During the mixing stage of the soap making process, as lye and warmed oils are creating a stable mixture, the crystallization process is beginning.
After mixing, this thicker blend is poured into molds where it gets even hotter and cooks for a time on its own like magic, eventually cooling and hardening enough to be removed from the molds. At this point the soap is removed from the molds and left to cure for 3-4 weeks. It is during this time of curing that full saponification and crystallization occurs and we get a nice, hard bar of soap, which is a beautiful collection of soap crystals!
In conclusion, soap crystals may be the most cleansing crystals of them all ;)
♡M