We all know what charcoal is. For barbeques. However, activated charcoal has been used by physicians for a long time to help with digestive issues. Even to this day, doctors still prescribe charcoal tablets for  diarrhoea, indigestion, and flatulence. Why? Because it absorbs bad stuff. Our body cannot digest it, and it passes out. In World War II, granular activated charcoal was used in gas masks to absorb harmful gasses. Today, charcoal is still used in water filters to help clean up water.

Now, we are not asking you to run out to your nearest shop and buy a load of charcoal. The charcoal that has therapeutic properties is called activated charcoal. Activated charcoal (or activated carbon) is charcoal that has micro pores that increase the surface area for absorption.

Making activated charcoal involves heating carbon-rich materials, such as wood, peat, coconut shells, or sawdust, to very high temperatures, between 800°C to 1200°C.

This ‘activation’ process strips the charcoal of previously absorbed substances and frees up bonding sites again. This process also reduces the size of the pores therefore, increasing its overall surface area. Due to its high degree of micro-porosity, one gram of activated charcoal has a surface area of 500 m² to 3000m².

Activated charcoal helps draw out toxins and bacteria from the skin. Thus, Shea decided to add activated charcoal to our already amazing Shea Butter soaps to make them even better and improve the skin care properties of these amazing soaps.

Researchers have reported that activated charcoal can help draw microparticles, such as dirt, dust, chemicals, toxins, and bacteria, to the surface of the skin, to make removing them easier. Charcoal also absorbs smells and harmful gases, making it ideal in helping control body odours. Around the world, many different traditional medicine practitioners use activated charcoal powder made from coconut shells to treat soft tissue conditions, such as skin infections by absorbing harmful microbes from wounds.

So, there you have it, we have taken something very good, and made it even better. Just for you.

Link to : Activated Charcoal Soaps

Uses of black soap:

• Acne control
• Reduce blemishes
•  Best for oily skin
• Shampoo for oily scalp

Is black soap worth all the hype?  Yes. While the recipe varies, ABS is handmade from the ashes of cocoa pods, shea tree bark and plantain leaves and mixed with various soothing and healing oils such as shea butter, cocoa butter, palm oil and coconut oil, creating its deliciously distinct aroma and amazing properties.  And don’t let it’s appearance fool you — although dark brown and crumbly in texture, this soap will become a staple in your cleansing routine. And remember, African Black Soap is NOT BLACK. It looks like fruit cake. SHEA has a special liquid version with Tea Tree essential oil for that added anti-bacterial benefit.

Here’s why ABS is so amazing: It’s suitable for all skin types, especially oily skin. (if you have dry skin, lightly moisturise after using ABS for cleansing) If  you have oily skin, regular use will help remove additional oils from the skin thus preventing the formation of pimples. Absolutely brilliant for teens. It is a super cleanser.  The charcoal in ABS can help absorb body odours, and it great for makeup removal.

Link to : African Black Soap

Soap is formed from a chemical reaction between oils and lye. The reaction is called saponification. (This is how our soaps are made anyway). It’s then left to set for about a few weeks. Our soaps are made such that the lye mostly exhausted. This is good.

HOWEVER…Commercial soap is usually produced from tallow (beef fat) and other fats (waste fat), waste cooking oil etc plus a variety of synthetic chemicals which are added to produce the desired lather, texture and hardness of the finished bar. The mixture is boiled at high temperatures with the caustic solution until the process of saponification takes place. The soap base is then extruded into noodles. Colour and synthetic smells are then added to the soap noodles, mixed and then compressed into a nice shiny bar that looks so nice and uniform in a nice wrapper. Of course, in the squishing process, more additives are needed to prevent the soap from sticking to the rollers of the milling machine. And VOILA! Your have nice cheap rubbish soap. Of course, this soap costs next to nothing to make but, with all the marketing and beautiful models to brainwash you into thinking it’s the best of the best, the cost goes up.

A side product of the saponification process is glycerine. During the manufacture of commercial soaps, glycerine is either washed away with the other waste products, or it is separated out(by a process called salting) and sold on to the cosmetics, food or explosives industries. This is an enormous loss to the user of the soap – glycerine is a natural moisturiser for the skin, and the removal of glycerine during the commercial production of soap is one of the reasons why commercial soaps can often be so drying to the skin… besides the fact that it’s loaded with chemicals you DO NOT want on your skin.

In our cold-process soap making method, (a painfully slow but, the right way to do it) the basic mixture of vegetable butters, oils, milk, lye, water, natural nutrients, essential or phthalate free certified fragrance oils are used. Only gentle warming is used to melt the butters and oils at the start of the process and glycerine is left in the soap as the saponification reaction takes place. This means that our handmade soaps retain all the glycerine, making for a superior and gentle bar of soap.