A Little Bit About The Soap Itself (The Science and Stuff)
Ludic Soap is a lye soap, which is one of the oldest forms of soap known. Before lye could be bought, people used to drip wood ash through rain water to make a lye solution, and before that, there are rumors that people in Ancient Rome would urinate in a big vat of fat, using the strong alkalinity to set off the chemical reaction needed t
o create soap. This natural chemical reaction, called saponification, between a fat and an alkali creates a substance made up of unique molecules. The head attracts water while the tail attracts and traps dirt and grease. After the dirt and grease is trapped, it can be easily rinsed away by the molecule’s “head”. These unique molecules are what make up a real soap. Most commercial soaps on the market today are not soaps at all, but compact detergent “beauty bars”. Their molecules do not work the same as soap. Even among real soaps, the quality and properties vary depending on the fats and oils used. Ludic Soap is made with local lard, organic coconut oil, and olive oil. Lard gives lye soap creaminess and stability, coconut oil lends a rich and fluffy lather, and olive oil makes soap luxurious and conditioning. Ludic is also committed to using pure cold-pressed or steam-distilled essential oils, and only natural colorants such as local honey, black walnut hull, and nettle leaf to enhance each soap differently. I obtain my plants and herbs from local growers when I can. More About Local Ingredients (And Ethical Counterparts)
Many of our imported products and ingredients are obtained through slave labor and perpetuate human trafficking, and while Fair Trade and Fair for Life practices are starting to take hold in some places, a really great way to ensure ethical consumerism is to source products directly from the farmer, which is why I get my lard from Landes Meats in Clayton, Ohio. For the things I can't get locally, I try to source direct from farmers that are paid and treated fairly. My coconut oil and some essential oils are Fair Trade, and my non-local herbs come from Mountain Rose Herbs, an organic bulk herbs company with a mind and goal for ethical fair trade sourcing.
