Our Story

Our Processes

We make all of our soaps and related products using the traditional cold process method.

This involves combining our oils and butters with sodium hydroxide (lye) to evoke a chemical reaction called Saponification, this process takes up to 48 hours and transforms our unique recipes into our luxurious soap.

There are various staged or phases of this process, each needs to be performed at a specific temperature and it is important to understand the fat and water content of your ingredients to ensure a perfect bar of soap.

As the oils butters fats and lye are combined heat is generated and emulsification takes place. Once a certain consistency has been achieved (trace) other ingredients can be added. We only use natural ingredients, so this is the phase where we add our essential oils botanicals and clays. As the mixture thickens, we pour our “batter” into our prepared moulds.

A further reaction called gel phase now takes place the batter continues to heat up and can reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

After 48 hours the soap is removed from the mould and although solid it now needs to cure. This is the finally process of cold process soap making which means the soap is cut in required sizes and then racked for up to 6 weeks allowing the soap to dry and harden.

Once the soap is cured it is ready to wrap.

Size and Shape

Our full-size soap is made by pouring into long loaf like moulds and then cut into 100gram bars. We pondered long and hard in our early days on how to cut the soap we eventually decided on a shape that fits nicely in your hand is easy to manipulate and doesn’t have “bits & pieces” on the top that
may get in the way (and in your sink!)

PS its plant based cellulose !

We also thought hard about how to package our soap and although naked is good it is only good in the right places and we felt that our pretty soap should be protected from the elements but should be on show . We are dedicated to being eco-friendly so we would not use plastic or shrink wrap so we found a wonderful (and expensive!) alternative, plant based cellulose which can be placed in your own compost bin. We then wrap a recycled paper band around our soap which has all the legal labelling required and the name of the soap for all to see

Sustainability

We keep our processes and products as sustainable as possible at Durham Soap Company, we use plant-based ingredients sourced from a handful of UK suppliers who have carefully chosen for having sustainability at the core of their manufacturing processes.

By choosing natural sustainably sourced ingredients we are keeping our carbon footprint small and our business as environmentally friendly as possible. Less reliance on chemicals and a greater focus on natural ingredients ensures that our products are as kind to the planet as they are to your skin.

Our packaging includes bio-degradable plant-based cellulose, compostable recycled brown paper snd reusable or recyclable aluminium tins. If you’re lucky you might even receive your normal order in an old cardboard box that’s met a postie or three! (That’s because we try and recycle boxes too).
Gift boxes….. well that’s a different story.