Soap Ingredients
Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia Chinensis)
Although jojoba is generally categorized into vegetable oil, it is actually a liquid wax. Jojoba offers the traits of both oil and wax to make it an ideal ingredient within soap, cream, lotion, balm and massage oil formulations. It is highly penetrating and closely resembles the natural sebum of our skin. Use jojoba in facial blends to remove excess oil and to help balance the natural oil of the skin. Jojoba contains a natural anti-inflammatory, called myristic acid, and is useful in formulations for arthritis and rheumatism.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Olea Europea)
Extra virgin olive oil is an excellent base oil ingredient of Merlin soaps. It is well known for its antimicrobial properties and famous for promoting health. Olive oil prevents the loss of the natural skin moisture, softens and attracts external moisture to your skin. It helps preserving your skin soft, supple and younger looking. Olive oil permits the skin to properly release sweat, shed dead skin and release sebum.
Avocado Oil (Persea Americana)
Avocado oil is a great moisturizer. It is valued for its supposed regenerative and moisturizing properties. Avocado oil contains vitamins A, D, and E, which make it healing as well as moisturizing. Merlin’s soaps use avocado oil as a useful, penetrating nutrient for dry skin and eczema. Avocado oil is said to have healing and regenerating qualities, and it confers medication properties to Merlin soaps.
Castor Oil (Ricinus Communis)
Castor oil is often used to superfat. It is being used for thousands of years to help fight off skin infections and for healthy hair. It is also known to have strong antimicrobial properties. Merlin soaps use castor oil as an ingredient, because it is known to attract and hold skin moisture. It is used along with other vegetable oils to produce a nice hard bar of soap.
Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera)
Merlin soaps use superior quality organic coconut oil, extracted from dried coconuts, also known as copra. The coconuts are cut and dried until the moisture content of the meat is minimized. The dried copra is then grated and expeller pressed to remove the oil. The oil is further refined to produce oil suitable for consumption. Coconut oil is exceptional oil for dry, itchy or sensitive skin. It does not clog pores and it is absorbed readily into the skin. Coconut oil is a gift to the soap making industry because of its resistance to rancidity and its ability to make a hard bar of soap with fluffy lather. It is added to our soaps to enhance their foaming and cleaning properties.
Palm Oil (Elaieis Oleifera)
Palm oil makes a hard bar that cleans well and is also mild. The quality of palm oil is far superior to other vegetable oil that is filler oil, and is a key ingredient in most luxury soaps. Like coconut oil, palm oil possesses a high percentage of lauric acid. This results in a hard soap that lathers well and gives firmness soft soap formulations of Merlin’s soaps. Palm oil lends a smooth texture to soaps, thus making them suitable to be used in showers.
Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Cacao)
Cocoa butter used in Merlin’s soaps is a pure, crushed butter obtained from the cacao bean. It has got a beautiful, rich aroma of dark chocolate. This edible fat from the cocoa pod is a stable fat containing natural anitoxidants that prolongs its life for over three years. Cocoa butter is a soothing emollient that has been used worldwide for centuries for skin care. It has been traditionally used to heal and soften skin that has been exposed to the elements.
Shea (Karite) Butter (Vitellaria Paradoxa)
Shea butter is a wonderful superfatting agent and contains a large percentage of ingredients that do not react with the lye, thus remaining in the soap to nourish your skin. It is widely used as an effective treatment for dry and aging skin. Its high content of non-saponifiables and unique fatty acid profile gives it the ability to moisturize and retain the elasticity of the skin. It protects skin from ultraviolet damaging effects of the sun, while repairing cellular degeneration.
Mango Butter (Magnifera Indica)
Mango butter used in Merlin’s soaps is extracted from the seeds of mango fruit. Its natural ingredients act as emollients to add moisture and soothe dry skin and hair. It is yellowish oil and has got almost no scent. It is a great moisturizer. Mango butter is obtained from the kernels of the mango tree. It has got a high content of stearic acid, which makes it similar to cocoa butter. Mango butter has good emolliency and lends protection against the sun. It is said to prevent drying of the skin and formation of wrinkles. Mango butter also reduces degeneration of skin cells and restores elasticity.
Beeswax (natural wax)
Beeswax has the sweet smell of honey. It is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees. Beeswax makes a harder bar of soap and forms a protective layer for skin moisture. Merlin’s Beeswax is a natural secretion of honey bees who feed from organic botanicals. Beeswax has the beautiful, sweet aroma of honey and a rich, golden color, and makes your soap lasting longer.
Sodium Stearate (Sodium Octadecanoate)
Combined with other oil in Merlin soaps, it makes a nice lathery, white bar of soap. When added to or combined with vegetable oil (such as coconut or palm oil), it solidifies them at lower temperature. It is a known surfactant and is used as a cleansing and emulsifying agent. It increases aqueous viscosity and drags the oil and dirt off human body.
