Our Handmade Soap
All of the soap bars we sell at Luisa are individually hand crafted. Our soaps are rich in moisture, and have a smooth unique silky feeling. A treat for yourself or for someone special! We make three different kinds of soap: Olive Oil Soap, Glycerin Soap, and Goats Milk Soap.
Some of our soap bars may also include natural oils such as coconut oil, palm oil, grape seed oil, soybean oil, and cotton seed oil. We enrich our handmade soap with pure essential oils and our own designed fragrance blends. Different bars have different benefits and properties depending on their specific ingredients, as we describe for each product individually.
Your Skin and Olive Oil Olive oil (Olea europaea) is a great moisturizer that nourishes the skin with vitamins and minerals. Many moisturizing soaps contain a high percent of moisture that is released onto the skin when applied. Olive oil soap works differently. The fine layer of olive oil attracts external moisture and holds it on the skin. This very thin layer allows the skin to "breathe" and sweat normally without clogging the skin pores. Products that will not clog pores are sometimes referred to as "non comedogenic" and can be used on the face. This is an important property because pore-clogging may aggravate the skin and cause acne (accumulate sebum). We use only Italian high grade olive oil in our soap bars. A typical Luisa olive-oil soap bar contains about 30% pure olive oil.
Glycerin Soap - Clear Pleasure Glycerin is a clear liquid with hygroscopic qualities, meaning that it absorbs humidity from the air. Glycerin softens and moisturizes the skin by continuously drawing moisture that is present in the air. This is a great property because it means that your skin gets continuous moisture, not limited to what is in the soap. Glycerin soap also allows the skin to breathe freely. Recent studies have also found that Glycerin may have therapeutic properties. Glycerin soap is especially good for sensitive and delicate skin, and for children. Glycerin is one of the natural products of a soap making process. However, since it is a high quality by-product, large scale soap manufacturers typically extract it from the soap by adding salts and distilling the resulting phase. They then use it in more expensive skin care products. We buy it from them, enrich it with pure essential oils and fragrance blends, and create beautiful handmade aromatherapy bars. Our Glycerin soap bars are vegetarian. They are extra clear, a treat to your eyes and your skin.
Creamy Goats Milk Soap Bars Milk based skin care has been around for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, Cleopatra was famous for indulging herself in milk baths. Milk is rich in vitamin A. It is gentle on the skin and rejuvenates it. Milk contains Beta Hydroxyl Acids (BHA) that exfoliate the skin gently to remove dead skin cells from the outer skin and help promote healthy and soft skin by making room for new skin cells to grow. Milk also contains lactic acid, an Alpha-Hydroxyl-Acid (AHA) that can soften the skin and promote the new skin cell growth. Goats milk in particular is rich in Capric-Capryllic Triglyceride that helps keep skin moisture. It has a pH level close to the natural skin pH level making it neutral and mild.