Caring For Your Handmade Soap

Handcrafted soap is different from commercial soaps and detergents available in stores. If you've never used it before, review the article below.

How long does my handmade soap last?

The best piece of advice we can give is: use yo soap! Handmade soap doesn't last indefinitely because the oils, butters, and fragrances used within have a shelf life. They will eventually lose their color, scent, and potency over time; the pace often depends on storage conditions.

We recommend using your soap within 6-12 months of purchase to get the best cleansing experience (we especially hate when scents fade), although you may find that certain bars will last much longer.

How can I make my soap last longer?

We highly recommend the use of a soap saver or a thoughtfully-designed soap dish. This will help stretch the life of your soap bar. Soap savers are available on our website. Click here to shop. 

We formulate most of our soaps so that we prioritize skin moisturization (less stripping, more replenishing) above all. We also love a luxurious, creamy bar of soap (basically we love shea butter!). Depending on the distribution of the ingredients we use, it may create softer bar of soap than you might be used.

Ask us for recommendations.

Can I leave my soap out? Like bare naked?

Yes. Bar soap doesn’t need packaging and that’s one of our favorite parts about this cleansing product. We package ours so that they arrive to you properly and with the information you need to see at the time. But once it’s in your hands, feel free to leave it out!

There are little beads of liquid on the surface of my soap. What is it?

If you purchased one of our soaps made with our melt and pour base (like Milk and Honey), you might run into what’s known in the handcrafted soap community as “glycerin dew” or “sweating”. It’s harmless and easily removed by rinsing your soap.

Melt and pour soap has extra glycerin (a moisturizing ingredient found in soap and other skin products) added during the manufacturing process. Glycerin is also a humectant, so it draws moisture from the air. This is perfect for when glycerin is on your skin! However, it can also happen that the glycerin in the soap bar itself is attracted to the moisture from the air. This creates the “dew” you see on the soap. 

Places with high humidity (like South Texas) might create the perfect conditions for this. Your bathroom/shower is also a humid environment. If you see dew on your soap, simply rinse it off and it’ll look like normal.

Sources

1. Personal experience!
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol
3. EWG Glycerin