Why the Same Oil Behaves Completely Differently in Soap vs Other Skincare

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Why soap making is different than other skincare products. Today we're going to talk about what makes soap making so unique and why you need to treat it completely differently than other skincare products like hand creams, shampoo bars, deodorants, lip balms, and so on. And if you're new here, my name is Perry. I have a background in chemical engineering and a masters in biotechnology. And for the past 5 years, I've been working in the biotech industry focusing on skincare molecules.

[00:00:25]And there's one thing I'm obsessed with.

[00:00:27]I'm obsessed with understanding formulation and the why behind things.

[00:00:31]I've transformed my soap making from this to this. And I tackled problems like dreaded orange spots, trace acceleration, scent that fades after 3 weeks, and oil selection overwhelm. And I've also helped transform the soap making of hundreds of other soap makers.

[00:00:48]So today we are breaking down exactly why you should treat soap making differently than other skincare products which will help you actually save money, time and energy. And if you want to join a private community of amazing soap makers, video courses and amazing soap making tools, then make sure to scan the QR code here. Also, if you want a free PDF that contains how you can make six completely new skincare products with only seven ingredients, then comment I want the formulation and I will send to you as soon as I see your comment. This is to prove to you that you don't need a 100 different ingredients to make skincare. You basically need understanding of formulation and very few ingredients and you're good to go.

[00:01:28]Before we start, we need to understand what soap is. Soap is basically a salt that is produced by the saponification reaction. The saponification reaction is basically when you have oils and butters like olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, beef tallow, castor oil and so on and you have sodium hydroxide or lie which is basically an alkaline solution that converts oils into soap. There is no lie left in the final product because it's all reacted if you do of course everything correctly. So lie is just a processing aid that helps oils convert into soap and there is no lie left in the final product. Back in the day they didn't have pure lie. So they used to use wood ash because wood ash contains potassium hydroxide which is another type of lie that converts oils into soap. So that's how they used to make soap thousands of years ago. Sodium hydroxide or lie is very alkaline. So what happens is that you have to dissolve the sodium hydroxide or lie in some water and then mix it with your melted oils and butters. But this lie solution is very alkaline, meaning that it has a very high pH and that it's very costic. That's why you should always make sure you wear protective gear and that you work in a well ventilated area when you're handling lie and that you always add the lie in the water and never the other way around. So when you mix your oils and lie solution together, you have a very alkaline solution that has a very high pH. And when saponification starts, meaning when your oils and life solutions start emulsifying, they start becoming one and creating what we call the soap butter, then saponification is exothermic, meaning it starts releasing heat. So you have both high pH and high temperature.

[00:03:17]And what does that mean for your ingredients? It means that all of your ingredients, they are subjected to this harsh environment, to a harsh environment of high temperature and high pH. Your essential oils that you paid so much money for, they tend to degrade.

[00:03:33]They tend to evaporate really, really fast because they're subjecting in a very high pH that basically degrades compounds and a very high temperature that basically makes essential oils evaporate faster. your oils that contain all these fancy nutrients like vitamin E, antioxidants, they are completely degraded in a soap making environment because of the harsh conditions. That's why I tell people there is no reason for choosing expensive oils like avocado oil or macadmia oil because those are no different than olive oil which is much cheaper. And those oils, macadmia oil, avocado oil and so on, they tend to have nutrients, very important nutrients like antioxidants and vitamins. But all of these nutrients, they get degraded in a soap making environment. So in the end, you pay more money for no extra value.

[00:04:22]While in other skincare products like shampoo bars, conditioner bars, hand creams, face creams, lip balms, deodorants, you do not have a chemical reaction. You will not have you do not have lie that reacts with oils to create a complete unique product. You have the original products in their original form. So you have shea butter as she butter not as sodium steroid which is what lie converts shea butter to or you have olive oil as olive oil not as sodium oate which is what lie converts olive oil to. So you have all these nutrients and all these oils in their original form and all the antioxidants they are still there they are not degraded. That's why for example you will see hand creams and face creams and lip balms and deodorants they contain vitamin E which is an antioxidant and it works perfectly fine in these products.

[00:05:18]But there is one rule when you add vitamin E that you should always add it below 50 to 45° C because if you add it in a high temperature it will completely degrade. So you always make sure you add it at low temperature. And the same thing with avocado oil. Avocado oil is an amazing oil with a lot of nutrients and it could add a lot of great properties if you add it in a shampoo bar, if you add it in a conditioner bar, if you add it in a hand cream. But when it comes to soap making, it basically doesn't make any difference compared to olive oil. Also in hand creams, face creams, uh shampoo bars, deodorants, lip balms, we usually add vitamin E. So vitamin E is an amazing antioxidant and when we add it in those products it actually helps preserve the oils too. It extends the shelf life of your product.

[00:06:07]Some oils tend to go rancid. For example, if you add grape seed oil or rose hip oil, those oils they have a very high concentration of leninoleic acid which is a polyunsaturated acid and leninoleic acid tends to oxidize and go rancid really really fast. So oils with a high concentration of leninoleic acid, they are a terrible idea. They are really bad idea to add them in a soap making environment because then they get oxidized really really fast. But in other products like hand creams, face creams and so on, you can add them because you also have vitamin E that helps extend the shelf life of these oils. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope I could add some value to you today and I hope you like this new basically filming studio that I have. The weather is getting better, so I'm planning to do more outdoor filming.

[00:06:56]Thank you so much for watching all the way to the end, and I'm looking forward to seeing you next time.