Making Homemade Soap with Beeswax

Have you considered making homemade soap with beeswax? If you’ve looked at a package of soap lately and read the ingredients in soap, you just might be inspired to make your own soap.

What’s in Soap?

Pick up a package of soap and read the ingredients.

You’ll likely find that it contains chemicals such as pentasodium pentatate, pentaerythrityl tetra-di-t-butyl hydroxyhydrocinnamate, titanium dioxide, D&C Green No. 8, and FD&C Green No. 3.

Those are just some of the ingredients listed on the soap that’s in my bathroom cabinet.

I don’t know what all of those ingredients are. In fact, I can’t even pronounce some of them. And I don’t know what those ingredients do, either. They are probably perfectly safe.

But the “I don’t know” part bothers me a bit. And I don’t think I’m alone in that.

More and more people are looking for simpler, more natural alternatives in the items that we use everyday and in the foods that we consume.

More and more people are interested in making their own ________ or growing their own ________ (fill in the blanks) because the “I don’t know” part bothers them, too.

If you’re in that group, then learning to make your own soap with beeswax (or even without) might interest you.

What’s In Your Soap Could End Up In You…

There’s certainly good reason to be concerned about whether the ingredients in soap are safe. After all, soap is a product that we are exposed to multiple times every day (well, most of us, anyway!).

Many chemicals are readily absorbed by the skin. I once read an article about the dangers of water-borne chemicals (chlorine, fluoride, etc.). One expert was quoted as saying that if he were forced to make a choice between drinking a mild poison or bathing in it, he’d choose to drink it. He believed that his body would absorb more of the poison by bathing in it than by drinking it.

I don’t know how accurate that is (and I think I’d have trouble making the same choice!), but undoubtedly the skin is a poor barrier to certain chemicals. Dermal patches for nicotine and other drugs would not work, obviously, if it were not possible for chemicals to be absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream.

If you choose to make your own soap, at least you’ll have control over the chemicals that come in contact with your skin multiple times every day through the process of bathing and washing.

The Advantages of Making Homemade Soap With Beeswax

You don’t have to use beeswax when making homemade soap, of course. But it does offer several benefits.

Beeswax helps to make bar soap harder and less crumbly. Beeswax is also particularly good for dry skin, since it helps to hold in moisture.

And beeswax lends a natural, delicate floral scent to the soap without relying on artificial fragrances.

Want to Try Making Homemade Soap?

Making homemade soap is a bit more complicated than just tossing a few ingredients together. When you make your own soap you’ll be using lye as an ingredient, which can be dangerous if not handled properly.

Here’s an article that does an excellent job of thoroughly explaining the process of making soap at home.

And here’s a bunch of soap making recipes. Not all of these homemade soap recipes use beeswax, but many of them do.

Good luck!

Ought to be good, clean fun. (Sorry…couldn’t resist!)

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