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faq's
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What is pure handmade soap?Real handmade soap contains raw ingredients that include Oil and/or Butter, Water and Lye. It cleanse, moisturize and soothe your skin with all organic Oils and Plant Butters, pure Essential Oils, and Organic Herbs. Pure Handmade Soap recipes are meticulously developed to produce a mild, skin-nourishing soap that offers a magnificent long-lasting lather and leaves your skin feeling clean, soft and radiantly healthy.
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Why is handmade soap better?Handmade soap contains glycerin which is a natural byproduct of the soap making process, an excellent moisturizer and also one of the reasons that handmade soap is so good for your skin! Glycerin is an emollient which attracts moisture from the air maintaining moisture in the skin throughout the day. Mass-produced Soap bars normally do not contain glycerin and can leave your skin feeling dry and irritated. Not being real soap, they contain detergents which strip natural oils from the skin. They use synthetic ingredients to achieve thick lather or specific hardness of the bar. Our Handmade Soaps achieves all these properties by having the correct ratios of plant-based Oils and other natural ingredients which makes the soap moisturizing. Typical factory made soaps have all of the glycerin removed and used in additional products, such as lotions and creams. The reason is, where a Handmade Soap achieves both the purpose of cleaning and moisturizing, a consumer now has to buy two commercial products to serve the same purpose. Soap making is just like cooking, caring for a child or tending to the elderly - it all needs love, attention and time. We believe the hands on approach of handmade soap provides soap the love and attention it needs and we know you will feel that energy once you use it.
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How do I know Which soap is good for my skin?By knowing and learning your skin type can help in choosing the right kind of soap for your Skin. Skin is the largest organ of the body and your skin is as unique as you are, and needs particular attention to help it nourish. There are 5 Skin types. Let’s get an idea about these skin types a little. 1. Normal Skin – It means you are blessed and no extreme issues to be dealt with. The sebum, or the oil is naturally produced by the skin’s sebaceous glands, is on regulated production. That is why your skin is neither very dry nor very oily. The goal here is to maintain that balance. Changes in the skin may be subtle and should be noted when they happen. You might assume that normal skin means you can use any type of soap, but the careful balance of your skin means quite the opposite. If you use soap formulated for oily skin, you will dry your skin out, and soap for dry skin might leave you over-moisturized and clogged. We have soaps for such skin types which is neither oily or dry. Buy Soaps for Normal Skin2. Oily Skin / Acne prone skin - Often seen as problematic skin, if we see the positive side, this skin type has the benefit of staying soft and resilient much longer than others and taking much longer to show wrinkles. But the over-active sebaceous glands can cause unwanted shine, and in some cases, acne. This often results in over-cleaning, which damages the skin, drying it out and causing it to produce more oil. Be gentle to your skin and look out for ingredients that remove oil without drying out your skin like Aloe Vera, jojoba oil, Grapeseed oil, Argan oil, Avocado oil, Sweet Almond oil, Sunflower oil, Neem oil, turmeric powder, French green clay and Bentonite clay has a stronger absorption properties and doesn’t clog pores. An exfoliating bar of soap can be excellent like Activated charcoal and coffee grounds (you can choose from variety of other exfoliant) however don’t over-use it. Two or three times a week should be fine, fewer if your skin is sensitive. To know more, click here. Buy Soaps for Oily/Acne Prone Skin 3. Dry skin – This is a big issue with some, again, there is a positive side too. People with dry skin generally deal with fewer spot and blackhead issues than other skin types and have little issue with unwanted shine. However, dry skin can become uncomfortable: itchiness and tightness are common problems since the skin doesn’t produce enough of its softening sebum. This means it’s very important to make sure the products you use won’t strip your skin’s oils even further. A recommended ingredient to look out for is glycerine which is the by-product of handmade soaps.Other oils like Sweet Almond Oil, Apricot Oil, Sunflower Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil,Coconut Oil are some of the oils which are beneficial. Soaps enriched with Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, and Aloe Vera, among others, can cleanse your skin without drying it further. Be careful not to over-use your chosen product, as over-washing can contribute to dryness; once, while bathing and at the end of the day might be enough with warm water. To know more, click here.Buy Soaps for Dry Skin 4. Combination Skin – This skin type is very tricky. Using something made for oily skin will be a problem on dry patches, and vice versa. It’s best to go for milder versions of soap types and good news is – handmade soaps are milder version. Select the soaps to suit your skin type - explore it. Buy Soaps for Combination Skin 5. Sensitive Skin - If you suffer from sensitive skin, your priority is to be as gentle with it as possible. Look for soaps without perfumes, colorants and alcohol. Gentle ingredients such as natural herbal teas, herbs, purees, milk and that old favourite aloe are preferable. Exfoliating soaps can be a risk, depending on how sensitive your skin is. If all the soaps you try seem to be giving trouble, consult a doctor or your dermatologist for advice. I highly recommend to also try our other soaps with natural ingredients like milk – it can be goat milk, buttermilk, coconut milk or any other milk. Purees like carrot, tomato or pumpkin, Wine soap and Beer soap. It will give you the variety and learning what more can suit your skin. To know about it, you have to use it. To know more, click here. Buy Soaps for Sensitive Skin
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I am allergic to perfumes/essential oils/Fragrance oilsFor you we have kept few soaps without fragrances, keeping in mind the sensitivity towards it. Its not only for ones who are allergic to fragrances, there are people who don’t like it at all. Also check for the ingredients you are allergic to, other than perfumes/Fragrance oils. Every good thing not necessarily suit everybody. For me, herbal shampoo tangles my hair or Lakme anti-wrinkle cream gives me an itch feeling. That doesn’t make a product bad, only thing is that product is not for my skin type. Please read labels of the soaps before buying.
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I don't know if I am alergic to anything used in Handmade soapsWe at "Rise & Shine... naturally", take utmost care in selection, and use only the highest-quality, all-natural ingredients in all of our soaps. We encourage you to read the ingredient list included in each listing prior to purchase to make sure you don't have any known allergies or sensitivities to any of the components used in our products. We also recommend to do a patch test or wash your hands, before using the soap if you are not aware of whether you are allergic to something or not.
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What is the shelf life of soaps made with purees, milk and other fresh ingredients?"Although handmade soaps usually get better with age, we recommend using our soaps within 12 months of packaging date as we don’t use any preservatives. In some soaps, essencial oil can fade after three months, but still the soap can be used within 12 months. Essential oils’ scent doesn’t remain for long in the soap due to the exposure to air and sun light, though you will always get the benefit of its therapeutic values. For this same reason, we don’t stock our soaps and its in continuous process of making. As far as fresh raw ingredients are concerned, these ingredients go through saponification process wherein the pH level of cold process soap does not allow mold to grow still we recommend to use such soaps within 6-8 months from date of packaging.
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What is the difference between Essential oil and Fragrance oil?Essential oils are natural oils that contain the “essence” of a plant. They are the liquid or resin that is distilled, pressed or extracted from different parts of the plant—leaves, flowers, bark, berries, root, needles, seeds, beans, peel, cones, wood, stalks etc. Fragrance oils, aromatic oils or perfume oils as they are sometimes called, are manufactured scents. They are artificially created fragrances and they contain artificial substances. They are specifically designed to mimic the scent of a natural product (such as coffee fragrance oil) or are created to invoke a feeling (for example “spring rain”) just like the perfumes and deodorants. Both essential oils and fragrance oils are harmless / safe for skin if used in a right proportion. However, fragrance oil is man-made, engineered scent which may contain a combination of multiple chemical ingredients, including hormone disruptors and allergens.Fragrance is a mix of natural and synthetic ingredients of aromatic extracts from which is used in nearly in every beauty product. It has a LOT of unknown toxic chemicals that can be harmful to you. Fragrance can irritate skin, have toxic hormonal effects, and may even cause cancer without you knowing about it. It may smell great, but it can lead to not-so-great effects on your skin and health. Try to find natural fragrances that are chemical free as an alternative. To know more about Essential Oils, click here.
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What is the difference between Premium Soap and Fancy Soap?We have 2 catagories of our soap – Premium and Fancy Premium soaps will be made as and when stock clears on a regular basis. These soaps will have natural colours and may or may not have fragrance. These soaps will have natural colors and Oxides & Ultramarine. Oxides & Ultramarine - Oxides and Ultramarines are considered “Natural” although they are lab processed to endure any harmful impurities are removed (such as arsenic and lead). We have tried to keep our Premuim Soaps as natural as possible. On the other hand, Fancy soaps will have colorants such as Micas, Pigments and Glitters to give a bright look to the soaps and fragrance will always be present. These soaps may or may not be repeated. Such soaps will be crafted for those who are colourful by nature and ready to explore new and variety of things in life. Micas - Mica is a rock (Earth mineral )that naturally occurs in the ground almost everywhere. This mica is sterilized, ground into tiny particles, and dyed to achieve the soap colorants you want. Because they are dyed, you can find them in almost in any colour of the rainbow. The minerals that mica comes from having a fragile, layered crystalline structure gives it a pearlescent and metallic look. These micas are cosmetic grade and safe for your skin. Pigments - Pigments are considered nature identical. That means they’re the exact same chemical structure as the platelet minerals found in the earth, but they’re created in a lab to remove impurities like lead and arsenic. Glitter – We use bio-degradable, cosmetic grade glitter specially for soaps.
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What colours are used in premium soaps?As our soaps doesn’t grow on trees, so saying it as a 100% Organic would not be completely right. However, we have tried to keep our Premium Soaps as NATURAL as possible, from oils to scents and colours. Our premium soaps are coloured with natural kitchen based ingredients and we use them as per the benefits/color to be provided in a particular soap. Some are listed below as an example, such as – Black Activated Charcoal Brown Cinnamon Beet Root Powder Cocoa powder Cloves Coffee Green Spirulina Chlorophyll Alfalfa Comfrey Leaf Dandelion Leaf Purple Alkanet Powder Black Walnut Hull Red Sandalwood Powder Hibiscus Powder Yellow Calendula Powder Saffron Powder Tumeric Annatto seed Ginger – muted yellow Blue Indigo Powder – creates a deep blue Woad Powder – creates a lighter blue Red Moroccan Red Clay Madder Root Powder Orange Paprika Annatto seed Tumeric Fresh Tomato Puree It is very important to check with the ingredients of the soap before buying as some may have allergies to the ingredients used. For example, Some people are sensitive to cinnamon and cloves. Some can be sensitive to nuts such as Black walnut shell, no matter how natural and good they are for the skin.
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Are handmade soaps hygienic?Natural handmade Soap making is a science and it demands cleanliness. To get a perfect bar of soap, hygiene is a requirement. Any unwanted or imbalance proportion of ingredients can ruin the soap batch and it will a great loss of resources. It would not be wrong if I would say Soap making lab is cleaner than our kitchen. Soap making is just like cooking however it needs extra precautions to cook. So, I am following “swachh Bharat” from my home to make “Swasth Bharat” (just a try). We are tough enough to eat anything but not that tough to apply everything on our body...isn’t it? :-) Eat healthy, use healthy.
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Are handmade soaps safe?We have mentioned every posssible ingredients and its benefits that is used in the soap on the website along with the pictures so that it is easier for you to go through the ingredients and select the soap as per your need. I am also a consumer (infact everyone is) and its our right to know what we are paying for. We have developed this website to keep the transparency between us. Trust and faith needs to be built for a happy and peaceful relationship. We use ingredients which are edible also, like oils, milks, purees etc, which is definitely safe for skin. We don’t use any kind of preservatives which make the shelf life of our soaps shorter than commercial (6-12 months). For this reason we don’t stock them. Only additives we don’t eat is colour, glitter and fragrance for which we have made sure that it is of cosmetic grade and skin safe. Any constructive feedback is welcome to make this relationship strong and which will help us to grow and make things up to you.
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Why the cost of handmade soaps higher than factory made soaps?There are many factors which impacts the cost of handmade soaps. To mention, few main reasons are: Costly Ingredients: Handmade soap preserves the integrity of all natural and cold-presssed Oils and Butters. Coconut Oil goes in, gets saponified (made into soap), Coconut Oil comes out. Shea Butter goes in, Shea Butter comes out. Because of this, the Oils and Butters maintain their vitamins, minerals and skin-loving qualities in the final soap product.Additives which are used in soap making, like clays, exfoliants, purees, milk which makes skin radiant and glowing. All these ingredients are not so economical. Not to mention, Essential Oils, which are a costly affair. Curing Place and Time: Apart from ingredients, a dedicated space is needed for curing of the soaps. It needs to be dark, cool and free from humidity. Humidity is a major factor in spoiling soaps during the curing period. A lot of attention and precaution is required to correctly cure the soaps.Curing takes approximately 4-6 weeks of time to harden-up. No Bulk Business: The additives and other raw material used are all bought from local stores. These ingredients cannot be bought in bulk to avoid expiry of shelf life and keep them as fresh as possible. Hence the bulk discount is not applied. All these things make handmade soap costlier than machine made soaps. We have tried to use the best of our knowledge and kept the cost as minimum as possible. Our motive is, that people should be able to use our product and keep using it. Know more about Handmade Vs Commercial Soaps
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What is the process of Handmade Soap?During the Soap making process, the fats/oils and Lye solution blends together to saponify. This process is called Saponification and is the heart of soap making process. It is the chemical reaction in which the building blocks of fats and oils (triglycerides) react with lye to form soap. Saponification literally means "turning into soap" from the root word, sapo, which is Latin for soap. The products of the saponification reaction are glycerin and soap. So, the formula for making soap can be written like this: Fatty Acids + Sodium Hydroxide = Soap + Glycerin The saponification generally takes about 24 to 48 hours to complete once the lye and oils have been mixed and the raw soap has been poured into the mold. Homemade soaps then left to air dry for approximately four to six weeks. This is known as the curing time and it will allow for any excess water to evaporate out of the soap.
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Can I stock my soaps?You can stock as per the usage which can be used “best before” the mentioned date. Normally a soap last for 15 days/Person. Everybody has their own way of using it during shower. Learn your way and stock accordingly. Check date before buying when planning to stock.
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Are essential oils safe for children, pregnant women and elderly people?"Skin is the largest organ on our body and will absorb most of what you apply to it. Essential oils are very potent, and just because they are natural does not mean that they are safe if used improperly. After all, you may find that you are allergic to some. Here are some general precautions for special circumstances. Cinnamon bark can burn your skin even after being diluted. Use Cinnamon leaf, not bark. There is a huge difference! Other essential oils to avoid because of potential skin irritation are Oregano and Clove. They are fine in small amounts when blended with other oils, but are an irritant to those with sensitive skin if used in large amounts. Be aware of possible allergic reactions as well. Those with grass allergies may have difficulties with lemongrass or chamomile. Some essential oils are considered hard on babies and should be avoided – Wintergreen, Birch, Peppermint, Rosemary and Eucalyptus. We normally keep Baby soaps unscented. Some essential oils should be avoided during pregnancy or breastfeeding, just to be safe – Basil, Birch, Camphor, Hyssop, Parsley Seed, Sage, Tansy, Tarragon and Wintergreen. Elderly and those with Fragile Immune System – Common essential oils to avoid – Birch, Wintergreen, thyme, Oregano, Cinnamon, Clove, Basil, Birch and peppermint.
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Aren’t all handmade soaps the same?The asnswer is NO. Saying a soap is "handmade" says nothing about quality of the ingredients or the knowledge and skill of the soapmaker. Always go through the ingredients of the soap. Handmade soapmakers will always list all the ingredients used. They will never list ingredients like…”coconut oil and other oils" or "Coconut oil, olive oil, etc." or "aqua, lye”. Lye ( Sodium hydroxide which is also called caustic soda) is in flake or powder form. Before mixing it with oils, it has to be mixed with water. No Lye-No Soap. At the time of curing for 4-6 weeks, water eventually evaporates and what remains is the hard bar of soap. What matter is its ingredients. Even bars used to wash clothes is also a soap. There are small scale industries which make handmade washing bars it doesn’t mean you use it for your skin. So, it is important for you to check the ingredients of a bath soap.
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Why does natural soap sweat in humid weather?A Handmade soaps, rich in natural glycerin, are the most moisturizing soaps you can find! Natural soap tends to sweat during humid weather due to the large amount of glycerin it retains. Glycerin, a humectant that provides amazing benefits to soap, is a natural by-product of saponification, the chemical reaction that produces soap. In commercial soaps, the glycerin is removed and used to produce commercial lotions. When natural soap sits out in humid conditions, the glycerin in the soap draws moisture out of the air and onto the soap which then appears as little beads of water on your soap bar - like morning dew on blades of grass. Common Humectants in Soap that Cause Sweating Dead Sea Salt - The waters and salt in the Dead Sea contain a varied mix of magnesium, potassium, calcium chloride, and bromides. Magnesium salt, for example, has absorption properties that make it a powerful humectant. Dead Sea Mud/Clay Soap - It is a natural soap made with mineral-rich Dead Sea mud bathing in the waters of the Dead Sea. It helps stimulate blood circulation, balance and tone skin and deep clean to remove impurities. It is also our soap that tends to sweat the most in humid months. Honey - is also a natural humectant, attracting and retaining moisture in the skin. Castor Oil - It also moisturizes by acting as a humectant. So soaps and shampoos containing added honey, and shampoo bars with loads of castor oil, may sweat even more. There is nothing wrong with your soap and it is not melting and it is safe to use. The wetness is just the glycerin and other natural humectants doing their job.
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Why my soaps doesn’t last for a month?Natural soaps are normally softer than commercial soaps because they retain their natural glycerin (which is removed in commercial soap production) and contain no artificial hardening chemicals, synthetic waxes or free alkali. How long a bar will last depends on: How many people are using it How often you bathe or shower How you use the bar The size of the bar Some have the habit of using soaps for hair wash Our Natural Soap will last a long time with proper care: Don't let your soap sit in water Store soap on a well-drained soap dish Allow soap plenty of fresh air to dry between uses Never place soap where shower water can continuously hit it If your bar ever gets waterlogged and becomes gooey, simply set it on a draining soap dish or stand it on its edge for a few days and let it dry out thoroughly The right way of using handmade soap while bathing, in order to make it last for longer time and also to get the maximum benefits of priceless nature present in your soap is, simply rub the soap in your palm and use on face or any part of body and massage for a minute. It will not only clean your body but also moisturize and condition your skin. You will surely observe and feel the difference in your bathing experience. After bath, soak water from your body by just pressing towel instead of rubbing.
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I use soap to clean dirt from the body. So, does it make a difference whether it’s a handmade soap or factory made soap?"If you want to just clean your body, detergent bars do this job the best- clean dirt. Bathing time is the only time, we rip all the moisture from our skin, leaving it dull, dry and lifeless by using factory made soap, and then to recover that moisture, we use creams and lotions. What if we can moisturize and condition our skin while bathing? Will it not be great?? There is a hugh difference between handmade and factory made soaps. Use it to know it. Know more about Handmade Vs Commercial Soaps
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How can I know/observe that handmade soap doing any good to me?You can observe the feel during bath - It will give you moisturized feeling, as if you have applied oil. After bath, check if - Is your skin is feeling dry and stretchy? - Are you feeling to apply lotion after bath? - Is skin showing white drag marks after you scratch your skin? If the answer to anyone of the above is NO, it means soap is doing its job. In winters, some places have extreme climates, there you may have to take extra care by moisturizing your skin. After bath, soak water from your body by just pressing towel instead of rubbing.
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