Unscented Vitamin E and Coffee INGREDIENTS:
Saponified oils of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), Sustainable & Organic Palm (Elaeis guineensis), Castor (Ricinus communis), Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Natural Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) Fine Grind Coffee and Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii). Why Coffee? It's a strong anti-oxidant just like Natural Vitamin E.
What do we mean by "all natural soap"
To us, natural soap means a soap whose ingredients are plant based, and we further define our product as an herbal soap.
No Synthetic Anything:
We oppose the body care industry's use of the word "natural" to include synthetic fragrances, colorants, and preservatives. We add no artificial substances to our soaps, such as synthetic fragrances, dyes, and preservatives. Where possible, we use organically grown products. Our purely herbal soap is scented with essential oils only and colored with organic herbs and plant extracts only. Our soap base recipe is made from 100% certified organic oils. Our products contain no parabens or Pegs.
Read through our ingredient list to see what we mean by "natural soap." Then, to really see what we mean, take a copy of our ingredients with you next time you go to the store and compare them to the ingredients of soaps on the shelves. Your skin will know the difference.
How organic is Equisoft Soap?
We make every bar with a minimum of 85% organic ingredients.
Due to the chemistry of soap, it is almost impossible to go much higher than that. Within the natural products industry, there is a conversation taking place about whether soap can be technically defined as "organic" (since soap is the result of a chemical reaction and most of the original organic materials have been transformed). For our part, we commit to making soap using ONLY organic base oils and keeping our soap's ingredients above 85% organic. A soap's raw ingredients are either organic or they're not, regardless of the definitions, and Equisoft commits to using certified organic oils.
Does Equisoft soap have organic certification?
Yes. Equisoft Soap has organic certification under the USDA's National Organic Program. Organic certification is a rigorous professional standard that must be validated and re-issued annually. Many skin-care companies claim to sell organic products but are not officially certified. Without certification, they are actually in breach of national policy, and, technically, they are not allowed to make the organic claim. We believe that official organic certification assures our customers that our ingredients, and our procedures truly support our organic status.
What makes a good bar soap?
A good bar soap balances bar hardness (durability), lather quality (both fluffiness and stability), and moisturizing ability (enhancing your skin). These varying properties come from the different fatty acids that make up molecules of the organic vegetable oils we use as the base of our herbal soap. Unfortunately, the fatty acids that are moisturizing are not those that contribute much to lather quality, and the ones that make great lather are drying to our skin!
A perfect bar soap is the result of carefully balancing the fatty acids to maximize the bar's hardness, lather quality, and moisturizing ability. Still confused? Try our herbal soap. Trust us.
Does Equisoft use Olive Oil in their soap?
No, we do not use olive oil in our base recipe. Instead, we use high-oleic versions of organic safflower oil. For soap-making there is no functional difference. Olive oil produces good quality soap because it contains 80-82% oleic fatty acid, which contributes moisturizing ability to the lather. The organic safflower oils we use contain 81-85% (higher) oleic fatty acid, and their other fatty acids line up similarly to those of olive oil. Because of this remarkable similarity, we can substitute the safflower oil for olive oil without changing the final soap product. (If you are a soap maker, you should do this too.) However, although substituting high-oleic safflower oil for olive oil does not change the functionality or quality of the soap bar, there is one other significant difference. Olive oil costs much more than the safflower oils we source, allowing us to keep our prices down for you while still providing a high quality soap made from organic oils. Also, the safflower oil we use is grown specifically for us by a local organic farmer, keeping our carbon footprint as small as possible on one of our main ingredients.
Does EQUISOFT organic soap contain glycerin?
Yes. Glycerin is a natural part of the vegetable oils we use to make our herbal Vitamin E & Coffee soap. Our soap qualifies as "glycerin soap," because glycerin accounts for 9-10% of the final product. However—unlike most commercial soap companies, we retain all glycerin produced during the soap making process. What does that mean? Well—since glycerin is a valuable commodity, commercial soap makers remove it for sale, or they keep trace amounts for mention on their labels. Our soaps differ from clear "glycerin soaps" because our bars are not transparent. To produce their transparency, so-called "glycerin soaps" contain a sugar-alcohol compound that can dry your skin. Ours does not.
How does Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Soap get all its soap colors?
Our soap’s colors come from natural plant ingredients. In most cases, herbs provide the color, though natural vitamin E and coffee also contribute color. Because the oils we use may slightly vary from batch to batch based on the season, our soap bars can exhibit slight variations in color. This is completely normal.
What are essential oils and fragrance oils?
This is one of the most common misrepresentations among natural products, especially for natural soap.
Essential oils are pure plant extracts used for scenting or aromatherapy.
Fragrance oils are synthetically made substitutes for essential oils.
Many soaps, even those labeled "natural" still contain fragrance oils. Often, a soap label will say "contains essential oils." However, such a label can be deceiving -- it is always important to check if it ALSO contains fragrance oils. Fragrance oils are problematic because, as synthetic compounds, they dry out your skin and irritate sensitive skin. Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Soap, as a purely herbal soap, contains only true, plant-extract essential oils. As always, read a product's label. If the ingredients includes the word "fragrance," "perfume," or "perfume," then it's synthetic and not-natural, even though its packaging may say it is a natural soap.
I have sensitive skin and can't use soap. Can I use Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee organic herbal soap?
Although we cannot guarantee it, chances are, yes. Most skin sensitivities are aggravated by the synthetic ingredients in lotions, creams, make-up, and soaps. Without these ingredients, however, there is nothing left to irritate your skin. Many people who have had trouble with dermatologist recommended soap or "sensitive skin" soap have found success with Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Herbal Soap. This is because even doctor recommended sensitive skin soaps contain many unnecessary chemicals that can, and do, irritate your skin. Again, always read the list of ingredients in your soap. Although many people with sensitive skin can use scented herbal soap varieties, we recommend our Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Unscented Soap for people with extreme sensitivities.
Will Equisoft’s herbal soap help with my eczema or psoriasis?
Yes. Although our herbal soap does not heal eczema, it will minimize both the redness and the itching. Again, remove the synthetic ingredients from soaps and there is nothing left to bother your skin.
After using our soap, you'll be surprised to see just how bad your eczema or psoriasis was before. We have many customers with eczema and/or psoriasis, and they all write to say the same thing: "Thank you!"
What is superfatting?
Superfatting is a process by which soap makers maintain extra skin-nourishing oils in their soaps. All high quality soaps have super-fatted recipes. Superfatting soaps does not make your skin oily. Rather, it allows your skin to maintain natural moisture levels.
Does your soap contain lye?
All soap, including ours, is made using lye (NaOH, "sodium hydroxide"). Even transparent "glycerin" soap and "melt and pour" soaps are made using lye. (Transparent glycerin soaps are made from oil and lye, like opaque soaps, except that a sugar-alcohol compound is added to maintain transparency.) In a properly produced soap, lye is a raw ingredient, but there is no lye that remains in the final product. All lye is consumed in the soap making process and presents no danger to you. Superfatting further assures that all lye is consumed.
Any company that claims their soap is not made with lye is either promoting false information or doesn't understand the chemistry behind soap.
Does your herbal soap contain SLS?
No. SLS (sodium laurel sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate) and other surfactants are often added to soaps to increase lather quality. They are commonly found in soaps, including many marketed as natural soaps, as well as glycerin soaps, liquid soaps, and shampoos.
As synthetic compounds, SLS and other surfactants dry out your skin and, for many people, cause irritation. We use neither SLS nor any other surfactants. We don't believe in cost-cutting short cuts. Instead, we prefer to focus on making a high quality soap from organic oils that doesn't depend on surfactants for its lather. We carefully balance the oils in our base recipe to provide the proper fatty acid mix for a wonderful, rich - and most importantly - completely natural lather.
Fatty acids sound like chemicals; are they natural?
All oils (and fats) have a molecular form called a triglyceride, which means they are made up of three fatty acids, (just chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms), and a glycerin-like base. In saponification, the fatty acids participate in a chemical reaction that results in molecules of soap while leaving the glycerin behind. We make all our herbal soaps from organic vegetable oils and the natural fatty acids they contain.
Saponified oils of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), Sustainable & Organic Palm (Elaeis guineensis), Castor (Ricinus communis), Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Natural Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) Fine Grind Coffee and Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii). Why Coffee? It's a strong anti-oxidant just like Natural Vitamin E.
What do we mean by "all natural soap"
To us, natural soap means a soap whose ingredients are plant based, and we further define our product as an herbal soap.
No Synthetic Anything:
We oppose the body care industry's use of the word "natural" to include synthetic fragrances, colorants, and preservatives. We add no artificial substances to our soaps, such as synthetic fragrances, dyes, and preservatives. Where possible, we use organically grown products. Our purely herbal soap is scented with essential oils only and colored with organic herbs and plant extracts only. Our soap base recipe is made from 100% certified organic oils. Our products contain no parabens or Pegs.
Read through our ingredient list to see what we mean by "natural soap." Then, to really see what we mean, take a copy of our ingredients with you next time you go to the store and compare them to the ingredients of soaps on the shelves. Your skin will know the difference.
How organic is Equisoft Soap?
We make every bar with a minimum of 85% organic ingredients.
Due to the chemistry of soap, it is almost impossible to go much higher than that. Within the natural products industry, there is a conversation taking place about whether soap can be technically defined as "organic" (since soap is the result of a chemical reaction and most of the original organic materials have been transformed). For our part, we commit to making soap using ONLY organic base oils and keeping our soap's ingredients above 85% organic. A soap's raw ingredients are either organic or they're not, regardless of the definitions, and Equisoft commits to using certified organic oils.
Does Equisoft soap have organic certification?
Yes. Equisoft Soap has organic certification under the USDA's National Organic Program. Organic certification is a rigorous professional standard that must be validated and re-issued annually. Many skin-care companies claim to sell organic products but are not officially certified. Without certification, they are actually in breach of national policy, and, technically, they are not allowed to make the organic claim. We believe that official organic certification assures our customers that our ingredients, and our procedures truly support our organic status.
What makes a good bar soap?
A good bar soap balances bar hardness (durability), lather quality (both fluffiness and stability), and moisturizing ability (enhancing your skin). These varying properties come from the different fatty acids that make up molecules of the organic vegetable oils we use as the base of our herbal soap. Unfortunately, the fatty acids that are moisturizing are not those that contribute much to lather quality, and the ones that make great lather are drying to our skin!
A perfect bar soap is the result of carefully balancing the fatty acids to maximize the bar's hardness, lather quality, and moisturizing ability. Still confused? Try our herbal soap. Trust us.
Does Equisoft use Olive Oil in their soap?
No, we do not use olive oil in our base recipe. Instead, we use high-oleic versions of organic safflower oil. For soap-making there is no functional difference. Olive oil produces good quality soap because it contains 80-82% oleic fatty acid, which contributes moisturizing ability to the lather. The organic safflower oils we use contain 81-85% (higher) oleic fatty acid, and their other fatty acids line up similarly to those of olive oil. Because of this remarkable similarity, we can substitute the safflower oil for olive oil without changing the final soap product. (If you are a soap maker, you should do this too.) However, although substituting high-oleic safflower oil for olive oil does not change the functionality or quality of the soap bar, there is one other significant difference. Olive oil costs much more than the safflower oils we source, allowing us to keep our prices down for you while still providing a high quality soap made from organic oils. Also, the safflower oil we use is grown specifically for us by a local organic farmer, keeping our carbon footprint as small as possible on one of our main ingredients.
Does EQUISOFT organic soap contain glycerin?
Yes. Glycerin is a natural part of the vegetable oils we use to make our herbal Vitamin E & Coffee soap. Our soap qualifies as "glycerin soap," because glycerin accounts for 9-10% of the final product. However—unlike most commercial soap companies, we retain all glycerin produced during the soap making process. What does that mean? Well—since glycerin is a valuable commodity, commercial soap makers remove it for sale, or they keep trace amounts for mention on their labels. Our soaps differ from clear "glycerin soaps" because our bars are not transparent. To produce their transparency, so-called "glycerin soaps" contain a sugar-alcohol compound that can dry your skin. Ours does not.
How does Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Soap get all its soap colors?
Our soap’s colors come from natural plant ingredients. In most cases, herbs provide the color, though natural vitamin E and coffee also contribute color. Because the oils we use may slightly vary from batch to batch based on the season, our soap bars can exhibit slight variations in color. This is completely normal.
What are essential oils and fragrance oils?
This is one of the most common misrepresentations among natural products, especially for natural soap.
Essential oils are pure plant extracts used for scenting or aromatherapy.
Fragrance oils are synthetically made substitutes for essential oils.
Many soaps, even those labeled "natural" still contain fragrance oils. Often, a soap label will say "contains essential oils." However, such a label can be deceiving -- it is always important to check if it ALSO contains fragrance oils. Fragrance oils are problematic because, as synthetic compounds, they dry out your skin and irritate sensitive skin. Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Soap, as a purely herbal soap, contains only true, plant-extract essential oils. As always, read a product's label. If the ingredients includes the word "fragrance," "perfume," or "perfume," then it's synthetic and not-natural, even though its packaging may say it is a natural soap.
I have sensitive skin and can't use soap. Can I use Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee organic herbal soap?
Although we cannot guarantee it, chances are, yes. Most skin sensitivities are aggravated by the synthetic ingredients in lotions, creams, make-up, and soaps. Without these ingredients, however, there is nothing left to irritate your skin. Many people who have had trouble with dermatologist recommended soap or "sensitive skin" soap have found success with Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Herbal Soap. This is because even doctor recommended sensitive skin soaps contain many unnecessary chemicals that can, and do, irritate your skin. Again, always read the list of ingredients in your soap. Although many people with sensitive skin can use scented herbal soap varieties, we recommend our Equisoft Vitamin E and Coffee Unscented Soap for people with extreme sensitivities.
Will Equisoft’s herbal soap help with my eczema or psoriasis?
Yes. Although our herbal soap does not heal eczema, it will minimize both the redness and the itching. Again, remove the synthetic ingredients from soaps and there is nothing left to bother your skin.
After using our soap, you'll be surprised to see just how bad your eczema or psoriasis was before. We have many customers with eczema and/or psoriasis, and they all write to say the same thing: "Thank you!"
What is superfatting?
Superfatting is a process by which soap makers maintain extra skin-nourishing oils in their soaps. All high quality soaps have super-fatted recipes. Superfatting soaps does not make your skin oily. Rather, it allows your skin to maintain natural moisture levels.
Does your soap contain lye?
All soap, including ours, is made using lye (NaOH, "sodium hydroxide"). Even transparent "glycerin" soap and "melt and pour" soaps are made using lye. (Transparent glycerin soaps are made from oil and lye, like opaque soaps, except that a sugar-alcohol compound is added to maintain transparency.) In a properly produced soap, lye is a raw ingredient, but there is no lye that remains in the final product. All lye is consumed in the soap making process and presents no danger to you. Superfatting further assures that all lye is consumed.
Any company that claims their soap is not made with lye is either promoting false information or doesn't understand the chemistry behind soap.
Does your herbal soap contain SLS?
No. SLS (sodium laurel sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate) and other surfactants are often added to soaps to increase lather quality. They are commonly found in soaps, including many marketed as natural soaps, as well as glycerin soaps, liquid soaps, and shampoos.
As synthetic compounds, SLS and other surfactants dry out your skin and, for many people, cause irritation. We use neither SLS nor any other surfactants. We don't believe in cost-cutting short cuts. Instead, we prefer to focus on making a high quality soap from organic oils that doesn't depend on surfactants for its lather. We carefully balance the oils in our base recipe to provide the proper fatty acid mix for a wonderful, rich - and most importantly - completely natural lather.
Fatty acids sound like chemicals; are they natural?
All oils (and fats) have a molecular form called a triglyceride, which means they are made up of three fatty acids, (just chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms), and a glycerin-like base. In saponification, the fatty acids participate in a chemical reaction that results in molecules of soap while leaving the glycerin behind. We make all our herbal soaps from organic vegetable oils and the natural fatty acids they contain.