Ayuri Body Handcrafted Soap is 100% natural, palm oil free, SLS/SLES (foaming agent) free, and contains no preservatives and fillers of any kind. Our products use the highest quality essential oils for subtle scent, and plant extracts and clay for coloring. There are no artificial fragrances, mineral pigments or dyes added.
Our soaps are cold process soaps which means it uses the exothermic heat reaction that is created from the acid and base reaction of the fatty acids (soap making oils) and the lye solution.
When making cold process soaps, we initially melt the solid oil down to a liquid form so that we can adequately mix the lye solution with the soap recipe’s fatty acids. No additional heat is used to actually facilitate the saponification process. Saponification takes about 18 to 24 hours to complete. Curing time is roughly 4 to 6 weeks.
At Ayuri Body, we create soaps that are 100% Vegan, and we also pay homage to the world of honeybees and to the craft of tallow soap making that is thousands of years old. Preceding the era of mass production and the assembly line, people made soap at home on the farm using the leftover fat trimmings from butchering and cooking. Due to the decreased demand for beef suet and lard, many local butchers literally throw them away as a waste product. The tallow ends up in a local land fill when it could have been put to use in soap making or candle making. By using tallow for soap making, we can do our part to be little less wasteful.
Tallow is also an important alternative to palm oil. There is a huge, heated debate in the soap and cosmetics community about palm oil and its devastating effects on wildlife due to deforestation. Large swaths of natural habitats are being destroyed and planted with palm kernel trees because of the high demand in both processed food and cosmetic industries. Palm oil may be contributing to the deaths of endangered species by considerably reducing their habitats.
Compared to oils, which need to be substantially processed, (grown in monocultures, harvested, pressed, filtered, bottled and transported to you from faraway places) requiring tremendous energy inputs, beef tallow can usually be produced locally, and it can easily processed at home. For all these reasons, we strive to create highest quality skin care products that are good for our body & soul, and for our precious environment.
Our balms and salves contain organic oils & dried herbs, medical grade essential oils from Wisdom of the Earth in Cornville, AZ and locally harvested honey bee products in Yarnell, AZ. Skin is our largest organ and an important barrier against the external environment. It performs a multitude of functions incredibly well and we encourage you to take good care of our skin through nourishment and touch sensation.