This article is not intended to scare people, but most shower gels from the supermarket consist of chemical junk. Harsh sulfates like SLS, which create a "delicious" foam and are also very aggressive to the skin, are found in almost all products.

There are indeed cosmetic manufacturers that do not add all these chemical ingredients. Producers who think about the quality of their product first, and then about the financial side.

For example, we once visited the Patounis soap factory in Greece on the island of Corfu. They have been making the same soap in exactly the same way for 150 years. Entirely by hand, truly beautiful to see! The soaps are all a real treat for the skin.

However, such producers rarely reach the general public. They particularly lose out on price to the big players in the market. Chemical ingredients are wonderfully cheap to add. So there is much more money to be made from them.

We at Pure Health Store do not participate in this. We just want to deliver the best product to our customers. And if not, then not. Chemical care products are sold everywhere, but not by us.

Making handmade soap

The advantage of handmade soap is often that a lot of thought goes into its composition. The soap often consists of natural ingredients. Roughly speaking, there are two ways to make soap.

Making soap with the cold process

Making soap using the cold process only requires three ingredients: water, sodium hydroxide, and vegetable oil. Because the ingredients are not heated further, the active substances are retained as much as possible.

Of course, heat is involved. The whole reaches a temperature of at most 50 degrees. When the sodium hydroxide comes into contact with the water and oil, the saponification process takes place. This is a chemical reaction that causes the whole to become warm.

Then the liquid mixture is poured over a special table. After a few days, the soap can be cut. The last step is to let the soap dry, which takes about six weeks.

Evergetikon soaps are made using the cold method.

Making soap with the hot process

At the Patounis factory, they use the hot process to make soap.

In terms of quality, the soap does not differ much from soap made using the cold process. It is a matter of the manufacturer's preference.

The difference with the hot process is that the mixture is additionally heated during the saponification process. This is boiled for a few hours and then poured over the same table.

No artificial additives

Such handmade bars of soap often do not contain chemical ingredients. At least not the soaps we sell.

Because there is no water in a bar of soap (in liquid form), no preservatives are needed. And yet, a bar of soap lasts for years.