The Dirt on Clean: A Brief History of Cold Process Soap Making
What Is Cold Process Soap?
Before synthetic detergents, before body wash in plastic bottles, there was cold process soap — a simple, time-honored method passed down through generations.
Cold process soap is made by combining natural oils with lye (sodium hydroxide), then allowing the mixture to saponify and cure over several weeks. No artificial foaming agents. No filler. Just a chemical reaction born from earth, fire, and patience.
A History of Soap Making — Where It All Began
The story of soap goes way back — over 5,000 years. The earliest soap recipe comes from ancient Babylon, around 2800 BCE, where fats were boiled with ashes and water to create a crude soap used for washing and medical purposes.
Over time, the technique spread:
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Romans combined animal fats and wood ash, using soap for laundering and (eventually) bathing.
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In Syria, artisans created Aleppo soap, blending olive oil and laurel oil with ash-derived lye — a method still used today.
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Spain's Castile soap used only plant-based oils, setting the stage for modern vegan soapmaking.
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Across West Africa, traditional black soap was (and still is) made using plant ashes, shea butter, and palm oil, with deep cultural and healing significance.
Wood Ash and the Birth of Lye
Before we had lab-made sodium hydroxide, people used what they had: hardwood ash.
When water is poured over ashes, it produces potash (potassium carbonate), an alkaline solution that acts just like lye. When mixed with fats, it triggers saponification — the essential chemical reaction that creates real soap.
That’s the foundation of cold process soap, and it hasn’t changed much since.
The Industrial Soap Shift — and Why We Said No
In the 19th and 20th centuries, soap took a turn. Mass production introduced synthetic detergents, preservatives, and cheap foaming agents — stripping the soul out of soap and turning it into a sterile product made for shelves, not skin.
Big brands stopped using traditional ingredients. They stopped curing their soap. And they started calling things “soap” that weren’t even technically soap anymore.
At Cruel Bloom Soap Company, we wanted no part of that.
Why We Still Make Soap the Traditional Way
Here’s what we do — and what real handmade cold process soap should always involve:
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🌿 Natural oils and butters
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🧪 Real lye (sodium hydroxide)
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🕯️ No pre-made bases, ever
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🕰️ Cured for 4–6 weeks, minimum
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✂️ Cut by hand
We don’t melt and pour. We don’t add preservatives you can’t pronounce. We don’t rush. And we sure as hell don’t apologize for it.
Because this isn’t just soap.
It’s a return to how soap is made — the real way.
Try Cold Process Soap That Has a Backbone
Want to feel the difference?
You don’t need fancy packaging or buzzwords to get clean. You need real soap, made with real ingredients, by people who still give a damn.
