faq

What exactly is a "cold process" soap? The cold-process method of creating soap dates back *thousands* of years - to when the ancient Babylonians mixed together fats and ash to make the *very first* soap. Modern soap(s) often combine different so-called advanced ingredients - but the essential idea of soap as we know it is based on this original, historic version. There are a number of different methods and forms of making and/or creating soap. However, the one tried and true, oldest and most time-tested method - the cold process method - we believe, many believe, creates the best *quality* bar of soap. Passed down through many, many generations, the cold process method of crafting soap creates gentler, creamier, more natural and more sustainable soaps that - when cured over time (4 to 6 weeks or MORE - depending on each specefic ingredient, recipe and region) ultimately produces a finely long-lasting bar with the highest possible attributes and expectations of what we know and understand today as a traditional "bar of soap". This old-world and original traditional process of soap making allows for the individual soap crafter and soap artisan to us to use only the best of, or most natural of, or in the more complicated construction(s) of recipe design and processes - ingredients to individually craft and design the highest quality, longest lasting, and most desirable of day to day and "specific" (jand/or specifically targeted) bar(s) of soaps possible. Cold process soap bars historically produce a creamier lather than soap bars made using other methods. lather for deep moisturization. Cold process soap bar versions penetrate deeper into into the skin, for longer lasting "cleaning" effects. Most cold process soap recipes include many natural ingredients, such as coconut oil, various olive oils, almond oils, and other fantastically performing oil ingredients - each of which are proven to "preserve" their individual benefits through the cold process method. Additionally, this process creates the perfect environment to retain fantastic fragrances - be they natural essential oils,or naturally produced complex fragrance oils. Cold process soapmaking techniques include and require a very high level of artistry and ingredient knowledge. Visually speaking, many soaps are decorated with intricate or (what would seem to be) simple swirls, layers of bold or subdued colors, and a number of bars can be mixed with a vast array of natural ingredients for texture or performance, as well as top layers or touches of herbs for beautifully artistic final touches. Many soap makers choose to work with natural ingredients, and the cold process method is *ideal* to preserve the benefits of butters, oils, herbs, natural infusions, and property-specific skin-loving ingredients. ZENSKIN soaps are time-tested, trials and errors, recipe constructions and deconstructions, and 20+ years of experience in soapmaking - resulting in a fantastic combination of chemistry, creativity, artistry and quality.

To us, "micro-batching" means working and creating our soap in only the teeniest and tiniest batches possible, and working with only a single batch at a time. Our *largest* batches are generally right around 60 ounces, ultimately producing only about 12 bars per batch. This micro-batching process allows for precise measuring of all ingredients - down to the gram. And in soapmaking terms - bigger isn't necessarily better, and a *single* off-measurement of almost *any* ingredient can lead to a far less desirable batch of soap. The downfalls to micro-batching are that we can't truly offer "bulk" or wholesale purchases of any one batch/one creation of soap. This is why you will generally only see a quantity of 12 or less of any listed soap bar. The other downfall is that there's a WHOLE LOT more dishes to clean on a far more frequent basis than in and when creating much larger batches!

Any more-or-less solid soap need time for three things to happen: to finish saponifying; to evaporate excess water; and to develop a specific crystal structure. Handcrafted soap may be SAFE to use very shortly after it is made, but it will not be at its BEST until some number of weeks or even MONTHS go by. Even if a recipe is designed to make a long lasting, mild, lathery and bubbly bar, you will only see the best of these qualities if you give any particular soap enough time to *fully* cure. The first aspect of "cure" is to complete the last lingering bits of saponification to ensure a soap is safe to use on the skin. When a batch of soap is unmolded, the saponification might be 99% done. But, it's a very wise idea to wait for that laaaaast 1%. Anyone who has over-eagerly bathed with a freshly cut bar of soap, and has therefore experienced some skin irritation, has learned that particular lesson. A few days is generally long enough for a properly made soap to finish saponifying. However... The second aspect of curing soap is the ever-so-slow loss of water. Evaporation causes a bar of soap to lose weight, shrink a bit in size, and therefore increase in hardnes, become far less soluble in water, and perform to the highest abilities that the *specific* recope was created for. To track the weight loss of each of our batches of soap, due to evaporation - two bars of soap per batch are weighed - from the freshly cut bar of soap - and then every few days for a total of anywhere from 6 weeks to 24 weeks for each batch. Once these "selected" soap bars are no longer losing any evaporative/water weight - the second aspect of the curing process has taken place. The third aspect of curing soap is developing a soap's particular crystalline structure. This is a process that most people can't see or measure, so many tend to ignore or discount this as not being important. Since the process is not well understood by the general public, the average consumer, AS WELL AS the novice (and dime-a-dozen) handcrafted soap maker(s) - this particular and natural process should be explained in a bit more detail. A bar of soap is a complex mixture of solid crystals, entirely surrounded by a film of liquid. The crystals are made of soap molecules, fastened together in various 3-dimensional arrangements. Crystals can be big or small, long or chunky. They can form many different shapes -- plates, irregular blocks, or even long spears. In a hand-made, superfatted soap - the film of liquid that surroundis the crystals is a complex alkaline mixture of water, glycerin, and other water soluble chemicals - as well as an assortment of dissolved soap molecules. Even though the average "soap bar consumer", as well as FAR TOO MANY novice and self-taught soap crafters tend to think of a bar of soap as a "dry solid", it's actually a unique mixture of solid particles and liquids. The liquid in a bar of soap is just as important to the overall performance of the soap as are the crystals of solid soap. When you begin to wash with a young bar of soap, it is often the case that the soap will not lather well at first. This is true even though the young soap is relatively soft and contains a fairly large amount of water. The reason for the poor lather is the larger amount of less soluble and less bubbly stearic and palmitic soap molecules in the liquid phase in proportion to the more soluble myristic, lauric, and oleic soaps. The amount of lather usually increases as you keep rubbing the bar, because you are scrubbing more soap molecules off the soap crystals. These molecules from the crystals mix with the soap molecules from the liquid phase. As more soap molecules accumulate on your skin or washcloth, they will build a larger amount of lather. After 4-8 weeks has gone by, the rate of water loss from a bar of soap will slow to a crawl. The water content in the soap might be 50% to 70% of the water originally in the soap bars when they were cut. The glycerin and other water soluble chemicals will be more concentrated as the water content drops. At this time, most people say the soap is ready for use or for sale. But is the cure truly done at this point? At 4-8 weeks, it is true that most soap lathers better, lasts longer, and is milder to the skin, but soap often performs better as even more time goes on. If the cure was only about water evaporation, we should see little or no change in these soap qualities. What could be causing this gradual improvement, even after water evaporation has slowed to a crawl? The high concentration of glycerin and other water-soluble chemicals in an older bar of handcrafted soap has an unexpected effect. Glycerin, along with table salt and certain other chemicals, has the ability to "salt out" soap when the concentration becomes high enough. Salting-out is the process by which soap molecules coalesce from a liquid form into solid soap crystals. As time goes on, the crystals in a bar of soap will contain more and more of the less-soluble stearic and palmitic soaps and the liquid phase will contain more of the soluble lauric, myristic, and oleic soaps. This shift in the kinds of soap molecules in the liquid phase usually creates a faster building, more abundant lather for a smaller amount of work. The larger amount of less-soluble soap in the soap crystals has the benefit of making the soap more resistant to wearing away from use. The concentration of stearic and palmitic soaps in the solid crystals begins when enough water evaporates to trigger the salting-out process. But the migration of insoluble soaps into the crystals and the transfer of more-soluble soaps into the liquid phase is not a fast process. It arguably can take months for this migration to stabilize in a handcrafted bar of soap. And that, in not a nutshell, is why curing soap is a complex process that goes beyond water evaporation. The glycerin and other dissolved chemicals must be concentrated enough so soap molecules start to salt-out. Only water evaporation will accomplish that task, so it is a necessary beginning to the curing process. But once sufficient evaporation happens, the slower process of restructuring the soap then begins. There ARE other ways to force this shift in the crystal structure and the liquid phase. If you have the equipment... Commercial soap makers quickly dry their freshly made soap to the desired water content, and then mix the dried soap chips or noodles under pressure using a machine called a "plodder." The soap is then pressed or extruded into finished bars. With careful control of the drying and plodding steps, the soap will form the desired crystal structure. However, the QUALITY of the finished soap often suffers a GREAT deal. For handcrafted soap makers, the most practical solution is to allow time to solve the problem - time to finish saponifying, to evaporate water, and to develop the crystal structure. This process in itself provides for a FAR HIGHER QUALITY of bar, versus the "commercially made" standard. soap bar. There are NO easy shortcuts. Handcrafted soap needs at least 4-8 weeks of cure to perform well and some (many) soap bars will benefit from even more time in the aging process. So... WHEW...!! Questions answered for y'all?? We certainly hope so!

The name ZENSKIN was a natural (in many more ways than one) choice for our tiny little soapery. Based on a form of Buddhism which was originally developed in Japan - "Zen" emphasizes that religious (and/or Spiritual) knowledge is ultimately achieved through emptying the mind of thoughts, and giving attention to only one thing. "Zen" can also be defined as "an evolutionary approach to synthetic biology". As an adjective, "Zen" can be defined as the ability to relax, and to not worry yourself about things that you can not change. Also - "peaceful and calm" "Zen" can also be defined or better understood as "a Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism that aims at enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation." "Zen" can also be defined to some as "a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort. And thus, the logical, practical, fitting and beloved (by us) name of ZENSKIN was "born".