My soaping diary....

I can only remember seeing one person in my entire life making soap, it was the Mother of a childhood friend. I can't remember all of the ins and outs but believe that it must have been a 'hot process' (HP) as I remember a pan on the kitchen range and a slow burning fire. I also remember being mesmorised, wanting to stay and watch but being dragged away by my friend, it was mundane to her, this family never bought soap.

The water supply to my farmhouse has very hard water, that is, the water supply has a high concentration of lime, large deposits of lime are left in the kettle, around the taps, in the shower, in the water pipes, When we moved here over twenty years ago we had to replace blocked up water pipes), the washing machine and even the clothes washed in the washing machine. The hard water even makes my hair feel like straw so cosmetics, shampoos and conditioners are important to me. Washing with soap and water used to leave my face feeling tight, stretched and dry, because of that, I haven't washed my face with soap and water for around 8 years. I found the combination of manufactured soap and hard water to be very drying on my skin,  so I used various facial and skin washes that gave me some moisture.

Years after, and after having many tests, taking lots of different prescription drugs and using many washes and potions from my GP, a 'patch test' revealed that among other things I was also sensitive to Bensoic acid and it's many derivitives. Bensoic Acid is a preservative, it's used in cosmetics, food, cleaning products and is also present in many natural foods such as soft fruits. One of the main foodstuffs that bensoic acid is added to is flour. It is impossible to remove this substance from your life or diet completely, the best that can be done to reduce the itching and hives is to limit your intake as much as possible   (Urticaria – also known as hives, welts or nettle rash – is a raised, itchy rash that appears on the skin).

I was enthralled when an online quilting friend posted photos of her hand made soap on Facebook, it was beautiful, I was intigued. I tried to figure out how she had coloured it so wonderfully with swirls and texture. Then began my quest to research soaping methods, firstly as an aid to my own sensitivity to bensoic acid and secondly to replace some of the moisture in my skin that our hard water supply takes away.

This blog will be a Soaping Diary to follow my progress and is a sister blog to my quilting blog Borderline Quilter