How to read a soap ingredients list
Most of what is on the label is not doing what you think it is.
A short guide to the words you will see on soap, ours included.
Saponified oils. Any real soap is oil that has reacted with lye. If a label lists oils, that is what happened. There is no lye left in a finished bar.
Sodium lauryl sulfate and friends. These are detergents, not soap. They lather beautifully and they clean well. They also strip more, which is why some people find commercial bars drying.
Fragrance or parfum. A single word that can stand for dozens of undisclosed compounds. It is the most common cause of a reaction. We do not use it.
Clay, charcoal, juice, honey. These are what colour a bar when nothing was added for colour. If the shade shifts between batches, that is the honest sign.
What to do with this: read the first three items. They are most of the bar. Everything after is present in small amounts.