What Makes Handmade Soap Different?
Handmade soap can look like a very simple product.
Oils. Butters. Essential oils. A bar that sits beside the sink or in the shower.
But there's quite a lot behind that little bar.
We've been making cold process soap in Tarbert, Argyll since 2008. Every batch is made by hand, properly cured and based around ingredients chosen for the job they do in the finished soap.
So, what actually makes handmade soap different?
Made in Small Batches
Our soap isn't produced on a factory line.
We weigh the ingredients, make the soap, pour it into moulds and cut the finished bars here in our workshop in Tarbert.
Working in small batches gives us control over the recipe and the process from beginning to end.
It's slower.
But that's rather the point.
A Carefully Balanced Recipe
A good bar of soap isn't about adding as many ingredients as possible.
Our Signature soaps are made with olive oil, coconut oil and shea butter, along with carefully chosen essential oil blends.
Each ingredient has a purpose.
Coconut oil contributes cleansing, hardness and lather. Olive oil helps create a milder bar. Shea butter adds richness to the finished soap.
It's the balance between them that matters.
Made Using the Cold Process Method
We use the traditional cold process method.
The oils and butters react with sodium hydroxide in a process called saponification. This creates soap and naturally occurring glycerine.
Once the soap has been made and poured into moulds, the work isn't finished.
The bars still need time.
Properly Cured Soap Takes Time
Our soaps are left to cure before they're ready to use.
During the curing period, excess water gradually evaporates and the bars become harder.
A properly cured bar lasts better in use, which is one of the reasons we don't rush this stage.
Soap making involves plenty of doing.
It also involves quite a lot of waiting.
Simple Ingredients You Can Understand
We prefer uncomplicated recipes.
Plant oils. Natural butters. Essential oils.
We list our ingredients clearly because we think you should be able to see what's in the products you use.
Nothing added simply to make the ingredient list look more impressive.
Essential Oils for Natural Scent
Our Signature soaps are scented with blends of essential oils rather than synthetic fragrance oils.
Some are fresh and citrusy. Some are floral. Others are earthy, woody or gently spiced.
The scent isn't there to overpower you.
It's simply part of the character of each bar.
Handmade Means There Are Real Hands Involved
There's another difference that doesn't appear on an ingredient list.
Someone actually made it.
Every batch of our soap is poured, cut and handled here in Argyll.
There are no enormous production lines behind Damn Fyne Soap.
Just ingredients, equipment, years of soap-making experience and usually a radio playing somewhere in the workshop.
Is Handmade Soap Worth It?
That depends on what matters to you.
If you simply want the cheapest thing available to wash with, handmade soap probably isn't what you're looking for.
But if you value simple ingredients, small-batch production, traditional methods and knowing where something was made, there's a difference.
We've been making ours that way since 2008.
No factory lines.
No unnecessary complication.
Just properly made soap from Tarbert, Argyll.
Explore our handmade soap collection and find the bar that suits you.