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Soap FAQ

Everything you need to know about soap... and some you wish you didn't

We have put together a list of articles on soap and soap related issues for you to read and reference.

As specialist soapmakers, everyone at Moon Haven takes their soap seriously ...and we really do want everyone else to be as passionate about good quality, handmade, natural cold process soap as we ar... so here goes....

More Articles...

Glycerine in Soap - Naturally

Honey Bee Very Good for Your Skin Soap

If you suffer from sensitive skin, psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis …even acne?

… then your skin will love the newest addition to the Moon Haven soap collection

Chris and Laura have developed this wonderfully soothing and skin nurturing honey and infused with Moon Haven’s famous skin anti-inflammatory- Oat Gunk (Extract of oats for the technically minded)

Honey Bee Very Good For Your Skin soap has been declared a national treasure by our clients.

You see they discovered Honey Bee Very Good (previously known as Honey & Oats) was the best and most effective way to look after their skin in the shower – when all other cleansers have failed to soothe and restore their skin.

We’re talking serious soothing here… not just gentle or non-irritant… but soothing.

The secret of course is in the addition of the copious amounts of two wonderful ingredients:

Local Red Gum Honey. Known to be even more effective that Manuka honey for soothing and restoring skin
Moon Haven’s Famous Oat Gunk (Extract of Oats) which has been used by herbalists (people who would have been burnt at the stake in previous centuries as witches) for hundreds of years, to soothe inflamed skin and ease itching.

Our wonderful clients have told us that this enriched yet gentle soap far out-performs any liquid soap, sorbolene based cleanser and even the specialised “non-soap” eczema cleansers you can buy from the chemist.

Plus they enjoy the peace of mind and know that that all of our products are as natural as they can be - because we work long and hard to make sure that every formula we develop is the very best, the most natural and with the highest quality ingredients it can be and still do what it is supposed to do.

We have limited initial stocks of this wonderful bar available … so click here to reserve your bar!

Using MORE than Oilve Oil in Soap

Recently we have received a number of requests from visitors to the Moon Haven Soap cottage for olive oil soap.

Certainly there has been a lot more olive oil soap available over recent years due to the rapid increase of olive plantings in Australia.... and more soapmakers are sourcing stunning olive oil from local plantations...as we certainly do at Moon Haven.

Yet an all olive soap doesn't always stack up in the shower.

You see each vegetable oil used in soap gives that soap certain properties.

Is Moon Haven soap better than olive oil soap?

This question is a bit like saying is the colour Red better than the colour Blue? But I must admit that at Moon Haven we do have a preference for a well balanced, skin conditioning soap blended from 4 diverse but nutrient rich oils (including olive oil) rather than a straight 100% olive oil soap.

Certianly Olive oil only soap( also called castille soap) is characterised by good skin conditioning properties but the lather can be quite disappointing, even slimy and stringy with small. poorly formed bubbles. The bubble/lather situation can be even more disappointing when the soap is used in hard water!

You see each base oil used in the soap making process provides different properties to the soap. Some oils help make the soap harder and long lasting, some oils produce lovely skin conditioning agents and others promote bubbles and lather.

So each soap maker must decide how they would like their soap to perform when used. This will help determine the soap recipe and base oils used in the formulation.

Soap that is gentle on the skin with great bubbles

At Moon Haven we have formulated our soap to be gentle on the skin with good skin conditioning properties, mildness and of course a good lather. We have produced a wonderful soap that can be used by people with eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis yet still be fun and bubbly as well.

How do we achieve this ..we combine four beautiful vegetable oils which each bring something special to our soap and your skin.

The oils we use and what they offer a soap are:

Rice Bran Oil - Beautiful conditioning properites, moisturising and gentle with a stable lather
Coconut Oil - strong, long lasting, fluffy and large bubbles
Palm Oil from sustainable sources- bar hardness and stable bubbles
and Olive Oil - great skin conditioning properties

You see at Moon Haven we can utilise the wonderful conditioning properties of Olive Oil while offseting the poor lathering and bubble formation by using other wonderful oils like coconut and palm oil to bring the longed for lather to your skin. It really is the best of both worlds!

For more information on the role fatty acids play in the soap making formulation please click here.

Sodium Hydroxide in Natural Soap

Recently we received an email from a concerned Moon Haven client ...she had just realised that we used Sodium Hydroxide in our soap... and was concerned that our soap was too harsh for use on people with sensitve skin.

Here is our answer... Warning it is quite long but well worth the read if you are interested in why Natural Cold Process Soap is actually great for your skin!

Soap Making at Moon Haven

Soap making days are so much fun at Moon Haven. We have worked hard at getting our systems down pat to the point where most days we are able to produce a wide variety and volume of beautifully crafted, natural soaps.

The Routine:
Eric, Chris and Leonie arrive at the "Soap Shed" early in the morning...

How best to look after your hand made natural soap

People ask us how to best look after their Moon Haven hand made, natural, cold process soap ... so here are a few guidelines to help get the most out of each bar.

Our soap is fully cured at the time of labelling and does not need to be left to cure further– although there are many Moon Haven soaps out there happily scenting drawers and wardrobes, even cars!

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