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Why don't your body balms soak into the skin immediately?

Again, like most moisturisers, most body products contain water, which makes the product absorb more readily.

We don't add water to our skincare products, because it means we can avoid using emulsifiers and other ingredients that can cause irritation.

It will take approximately ten minutes for the body balms to be absorbed into your skin. Once absorbed, they provide an effective barrier for your skin, without the use of harsh chemical additives.

Category: Skincare

Why does my hair need to adjust to using your shampoo?

If you use a regular detergent based shampoo, not only will it strip the natural oils from the hair and scalp, you'll also probably need to use a separate conditioner to replace some of the moisture.

Conditioners seem to deposit a wax like buildup on the hair, and it takes about four or five washes to remove this. Most people who don't use a separate conditioner find they don't need to go through the "adjustment" phase.

If required, you can make up a vinegar rinse by adding a tablespoon of cider vinegar to a litre of water and use this as a final rinse in your hair after washing.

Category: Skincare

Why are your moisturisers in an oil based form, rather than a conventional cream or lotion?

Conventional moisturisers are made by blending water and oils with emulsifiers to make a cream or lotion that won't separate.

For sensitive skin, the more ingredients added to the mix, the more likelihood of skin irritation.

And once water is added to the ingredients mix, it creates a breeding ground for bacteria, and necessitates the use of added preservatives.

Redgum have eliminated water and emulsifiers from the formula.

That means less unnecessary ingredients and a lesser probability of skin irritation. And it also means you are not paying for water.

For maximum effectiveness, simply apply them to moist skin, ideally, immediately after showering. Three to four drops is sufficient for the entire face.

Category: Skincare

Why are Redgum's shampoos solid bars, rather than in liquid form?

It's difficult to make a liquid shampoo without using additional chemicals to prevent the mixture from separating, and without using artificial foaming agents, such as detergents.

It's also difficult to obtain consistency from batch to batch when making liquid soaps, and it requires an energy intensive process (ie cooking) that we believe is detrimental to the quality of the soapmaking oils.

Even if we could come up with a way to make a liquid shampoo easily, we would have to package it in plastic, something that doesn't sit well with our environmental standards.

Category: Skincare

What is the difference between using a Redgum Soaps shampoo bar, and just using ordinary soap to wash my hair?

Redgum Soaps shampoo bars contain castor oil in addition to the extra virgin olive oil we use for our bar soaps.

Castor oil is not only very conditioning for the hair, but also adds lathering qualities.

Different soapmaking oils contribute different qualities to the final soap, and lathering ability is one of the qualities affected by the choice of oils.

Most soapmakers use coconut oil for its quick lathering qualities, however, some soapmakers believe it can be drying to the skin if used in excess.

This is probably due to the the belief that soapmaking oils which lather more readily and therefore have more effective cleansing ability are able to remove the natural oils from the skin more readily.

Olive oil produces a slower and silkier lather, that results in smaller bubbles which dissipate more slowly.

Category: Skincare

What is sodium lauryl sulfate?

Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a surfactant and foaming agent, used mostly for lathering purposes. It is often described as being "derived from coconut". The lauryl part of the chemical name comes from lauric acid, the predominant fatty acid in coconut oil. In reality, the resemblance to coconut is tenous.

SLS is found in many skincare products where a foaming ability is desired; shampoo, bubble bath, foaming facial wash, shower gel, toothpaste, baby wash and "soap free" cleansing bars.

Category: Skincare

What is shea butter?

Shea butter, from the shea nut tree (or sometimes called the African karite tree), is a traditional balm used in Africa to treat rheumatism, muscular aches and pains, burns, and dry, damaged skin.

It is absorbed quickly and has given excellent results in many clinical trials in Europe for treatment of dermatitis, eczema and other skin irritation.

Shea butter has similar properties to cocoa butter, without the likelihood of allergic reactions that can occur when using cocoa butter.  Shea butter is the number one selling exotic butter.

Category: Skincare

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Why do handmade soaps go "gluggy", or seem to melt before my eyes?

Most handmade soaps are made using the cold process method, which retains the naturally formed glycerin in the final soap bars.

Glycerin attracts moisture from the atmosphere, and this makes the soap very soft, if the soap isn't able to dry out between use.

Provided handmade soap is stored on an open rack to allow it to dry out between use, it will significantly outlast mass produced soaps containing very little glycerin.

Category: Soap

What is soap?

Soap is a surfactant, or surface active agent, and works by providing a surface where water can coat the skin. The water simply connects to the dirt and rinses away.

Category: Soap

Why are your soaps so much more expensive than most other soaps on the market?

Redgum Soaps use only extra virgin olive oil as the soapmaking oil, rather than lower grade soapmaking oils, such as palm or coconut oil, or animal fats.

We make our soaps using the traditional cold process method. The process takes longer using olive oil exclusively for soapmaking, so our soaps need to be aged for eight weeks.

We also use pure essential oils for fragrance purposes and believe that higher quality ingredients make a far finer,more luxurious and longer lasting soap.

You will also find that that because our soaps are mild and non drying on the skin, there is less need to use additional skincare products, so overall it is good value for money.

Category: Soap

What is lye?

Sodium hydroxide, commonly known as caustic soda, is made by electrolysis of brine (salt water).

Prior to this, lye was made by leaching water through wood ashes to obtain a lye solution, but it was not a consistent strength, and the quality of the resulting soap varied enormously.

In 1791, a French chemist, Nicholas Leblanc, devised a process to make sodium carbonate from common salt, an advance in soapmaking that enabled soap to be produced in large quantities.

For soapmaking, sodium hydroxide is mixed with water to make a lye solution, and it is used to make solid bar soaps.

Sometimes lye can be in the form of potassium hydroxide, which is usually used to make true liquid or gel soaps (but not liquid soap substitutes).

Category: Soap

What is glycerin?

Glycerin is a by product of the soapmaking process.

Glycerin can be vegetable based (formed during soapmaking when vegetable oils are used), or animal based (derived from animal fats during soapmaking), or it can be made by separating the glycerol component of the triglycerides from the fatty acids.

Glycerin can also be made in a synthetic form.

Category: Soap

What is Castile soap?

Castile soap, made from olive oil, takes its name from the Castilla region in Spain, where olives grew in abundance. It became known as the "Queen of Soap" because it was considered to be superior to the animal based soaps that were mainly available at that time.

It has an undisputed worldwide reputation for its mildness and suitability for sensitive skin; it is also used to launder antique lace and linen.

Category: Soap

What is a "soap free" cleansing bar?

Modern soap free substitutes such as cleansing bars, liquid soap substitutes and foaming shower gels are actually detergents; most are made from petrochemicals.

One of the most common detergent based foaming agents, sodium lauryl sulfate, is found in most shampoos, toothpastes, foaming facial washes and bubble bath.

Category: Soap

What are detergents?

Detergents are synthetic cleaning agents made from petrochemicals (ie by products from the petroleum industry). They were originally developed for industrial use. The first detergents were developed in Germany when soapmaking fats were in scarce supply during World War I.

Detergents for domestic use began in the early 1930's, but didn't become popular until after World War II, when fats and oils needed for soapmaking were short in supply due to war. Early detergents were used mainly for dishwashing and laundry purposes. 

Petroleum was a plentiful source to manufacture surfactants. Today, detergent surfactants are usually made from a variety of petrochemicals (derived from petroleum), but sometimes they are made from oleochemicals (derived from fats and oils). Detergents can be made to perform well under a variety of conditions, they are less sensitive to the hardness of minerals found in water, and do not form a film.

Because they are more effective cleansers, they can sometimes be more harsh on the skin.

Category: Soap

Is it possible to make soap without lye?

Technically, no. Chemically, the definition of soap is a compound of a fatty acid and soda (sodium hydroxide) or potash (potassium hydroxide). If it doesn't contain lye, chemically, it isn't soap.

Sometimes the lye isn't listed as a separate ingredient, depending on what convention is used to list ingredients. Rather, it is listed as the end chemical name for soap eg sodium tallowate (tallow and lye), sodium cocoate (coconut oil and lye) and sodium palmate (palm oil and lye).

Category: Soap

I've been told I should use pH balanced skincare. Are your soaps pH balanced?

Your skin is able to adjust to pH levels of up to 11 without any problem. Most handmade soaps have a pH level of between 9 and 10. It is possible that chemicals used to lower the pH may damage the skin more than just allowing it to adjust to the pH.

Australia's leading consumer magazine, Choice Magazine (published by the Australian Consumer's Association) featured an article on soaps and cleansing  products a few years back. Their findings indicated that the pH of the skin will return to normal within two hours of washing, regardless of the type of soap or liquid wash used.

Category: Soap

How is mass produced soap made?

Modern technology has enabled faster, cheaper soapmaking methods, using lower quality oils, resulting in lower quality soap.

Firstly, the soapmaking oils are heated and treated with high pressure, which destroys any goodness even in high quality oils.

Secondly, the skin softening glycerin that forms during soapmaking is removed during manufacture, and sold as a separate commodity.

The resulting soap is milled (ground into small flakes) and mixed with fragrances, preservatives, colours and other additives, then refined through rolling mills and plodders to ensure thorough blending and a uniform texture.

Finally, the mixture is extruded, cut into bar-size units and stamped into its final shape in a soap press. The majority of soaps made using large scale manufacturing methods are made this way.

Many modern "soaps", or soap free cleansing bars, are known as "syndet (synthetic detergent) bars," and feature surfactants as the main cleansing ingredients.

Category: Soap

Are your soaps gentle enough to use on my face? Many articles on skincare advise against using soap on the face.

For centuries, people have been using soap to clean their skin (including their face) with no detrimental effects. Technology has changed soapmaking methods, and generally lowered the quality of soap available.

Soaps are considered to be drying to the skin because of the removal of the naturally formed glycerin. Artificial fragrances, preservatives, chelating agents and other chemical additives are all likely to irritate sensitive skin, and the facial skin is more susceptible than the rest of our bodies.

Provided your soap is made from high quality ingredients, using traditional methods, without the use of unnecessary additives, a high quality soap will be more gentle to use on your face than many other cleansing alternatives.

Category: Soap

How is soap made?

Soap is formed as a result of a chemical reaction that takes place between a fatty acid and an alkali base.

Any animal fat or vegetable oil can be used in soapmaking; the most common base is a lye solution made by mixing sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and water.

The oils and lye solution are blended together for several hours, and after several weeks curing, the result is a mixture of soap and glycerin. Soaps have essentially been made this way for many centuries and this traditional method is known as cold process soapmaking.

Category: Soap