Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why should I buy handcrafted soap?
1. Handcrafted/handmade soap contains glycerin which is a natural by-product of the soap making process, an excellent moisturizer/humectant and also one of the reasons that handmade soap is so good and feels so decadent.
Aside: Melt & Pour soap, sometimes called glycerin soap, begins with a prepared soap base designed to melt when heated. Makers can then add fragrance, colour and other ingredients before pouring it into molds.
Cold Process soap is made differently. We combine oils or butters with a sodium hydroxide solution and allow saponification to create the finished soap. The naturally produced glycerin remains in our bars.
Pine & Bedford uses Melt & Pour soap for some of our decorative embeds and embellishments, but the majority of our bar soaps are made using the Cold Process method. Our Sea Life Children’s soaps and some of our glycerin loofa bars are the exception and are made entirely from a glycerin soap base.
Neither method is inherently “good” or “bad” — they’re simply different ways of making soap. For our everyday bars, we prefer the character, formulation flexibility and lather we can create using Cold Process.
2. Handmade vegan Cold Process soap is made of vegetable oils and vegetable butters that are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients.
3. Our Cold Process Bar soap does not required an added preservative.
Properly formulated Cold Process bar soap generally do not required the broad-spectrum preservatives commonly needed in water-containing cosmetic products.
That doesn't mean preservatives are bad. In fact, we use appropriate preservatives in P&B products that required them. Their job is an important one: helping protect susceptible products from microbial contamination during their intended shelf life.
Our Cold Process soap is different. We formulate, cure and store our bars appropriately and do not add a preservative simply where on isn't needed.
For the best fragrance and overall experience, we recommend using our handcrafted soap within the Best Before period shown on the product packaging. Older soap may still be usable, but over time fragrance can fade and oils can oxidize. Orange or rust-coloured spots can be a sign of oxidation (often called DOS - "Dreaded Orange Spots" by soap makers).
What is the difference between Body Wash and Soap?
Body wash is made from detergent which helps you stay clean by attracting and rinsing away dirt and germs.
Let's explore a little deeper: Both Body Wash and Soap are considered 'Surfactants'. A surfactant functions by breaking down the interface between water and oils and/or dirt. Castile (100% Olive Oil) Soaps were the earliest known surfactants.
Body Wash or Shower Gel is a liquid product used for cleaning the body. The purpose of body wash is to rid your skin of things like dirt, excess oil, odour, sweat and makeup. Not to be confused with liquid soaps; body wash/shower gels do not contain saponified oil. Instead, they contain synthetic detergents derived from plant sources.
If the product is soap, the manufacturer will call it soap. If the product is detergent, it is illegal for the manufacturer to call it soap. Instead they will call it a beauty bar or something similar --without the word soap. This is your clue that it contains detergent (non-soap surfactant).
That said, I bet you could find synthetic detergent bars (like Dove), and liquid foaming cleaners on Etsy and Amazon that are labelled as 'soap' because either the maker is mis-informed and/or not up to par with the Canadian Labelling standards.
Is body wash more gentle to skin than soap?
This is the best question — because the answer depends on what is in the body wash and what is in the soap.
Neither soap nor body wash is automatically gentler simply because of the way it is made. The finished formulation matters. The cleansing ingredients, their concentration, added fragrance, and other ingredients can all affect how a product feels and performs on your skin.
Everyone’s skin is different, too. An ingredient that works beautifully for one person may not suit another, particularly if you have known sensitivities or allergies.
This is actually part of how I ended up making soap and eventually starting Pine & Bedford. I began looking more closely at the ingredient lists in some of the soaps and bath products I was using and became fascinated by what each ingredient did and why it was there.
That curiosity eventually became a formulation philosophy: understand the ingredient, understand its purpose, and choose what belongs in the product we’re making.
We encourage you to read ingredient lists, learn what works well for your own skin, and avoid ingredients you know cause you irritation.
Why does handmade soap go gooey?
Handmade soap likes to dry out between uses. If a bar sits in standing water or stays wet for long periods, the surface can soften and eventually turn into that familiar little gob of soap goo.
The good news is that it’s easy to help your handcrafted soap last longer.
Use a well-draining soap dish or a soap saver that raises the bar above any water collecting underneath it. We carry soap savers in the Soap Accessories section of our website.
We also carry sisal soap saver bags. You can place your soap inside the bag and hang it between uses, keeping the bar out of standing water. The sisal also provides some gentle exfoliation while you wash.
Over time, your soap saver or bag may collect softened soap. Don’t waste it! Give the saver a good rinse — or take a tip from one of our customers and use that soapy bag to scrub your sink or the bottoms of your feet.
Bottom line: Let your handcrafted soap drain and dry between uses and you’ll get much more life from your bar.
Can handcrafted soap irritate?
Yes. Even a beautifully formulated handcrafted soap can irritate someone’s skin.
Everyone’s skin is different. Fragrance, essential oils, colourants, botanicals or even an ingredient that most people tolerate very well may cause irritation or an allergic reaction in someone who is sensitive to it.
At Pine & Bedford, we choose our ingredients carefully and formulate our soaps with the finished skin feel in mind, but no soap can be guaranteed to suit every person.
That’s why we provide a complete ingredient list for our products. If you have a known allergy or sensitivity, please read the ingredient list before using a new product. If irritation occurs, discontinue use.
What About Preservatives?
Our Cold Process bar soaps do not require an added broad-spectrum preservative. That isn’t because preservatives are inherently bad — it’s because this particular type of product generally doesn’t need one.
Other Pine & Bedford products are different. Water-containing products, and some products that can easily be exposed to water during use, may require an appropriate preservative system to help protect against microbial contamination.
We use a preservative when the formulation needs one and leave it out when it doesn’t.
That’s part of our formulation philosophy: every ingredient should have a reason for being there.
Does P&B use Rosemary Extract, Vitamin E, and Grapefruit Seed Extract as gentle preservatives?
No — because antioxidants and preservatives do different jobs.
Vitamin E and Rosemary Oleoresin Extract (ROE) are antioxidants. They can help slow the oxidation of oils and fats, which can help delay rancidity and preserve the quality of the oils in a formulation. They are not substitutes for an appropriate broad-spectrum preservative when protection against bacteria, yeast and mold is required.
Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) is also sometimes promoted as a “natural preservative,” but we don’t rely on it as the preservative system for products that require reliable microbial protection.
At Pine & Bedford, products containing water — such as lotions, creams and some cleansing products — are formulated with an appropriate preservative system.
We may also preserve certain waterless products, such as scrubs, when the way the product is normally used creates a reasonable chance that water will be introduced. Think about an open jar sitting beside a shower or bathtub and wet fingers dipping into it. Once water is introduced, the product can become more vulnerable to microbial contamination.
We would love every formulation to be wonderfully simple, but “preservative-free” isn’t automatically better. When a product needs protection from microbial contamination, using an appropriate preservative is the responsible formulation choice.
Antioxidants help protect the oils from oxidation.
Preservatives help protect the product — and the person using it — from microbial contamination.
They aren’t the same job, and sometimes a formulation benefits from both
Does P&B make non-soap surfactants?
Yes. Although soap-making is at the heart of Pine & Bedford, not every cleansing product is best made with soap.
We use non-soap surfactants in products such as our Solid Shampoo Bar, Foaming Bath Whips, Shower Gels and some scrubs.
Our Solid Shampoo Bar for example, uses Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI), Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSa) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine. These are cleansing surfactants rather than saponified soap.
Why Don’t We Use Soap for Shampoo?
True soap naturally has an alkaline pH. Hair — particularly coloured, bleached, heat-styled or otherwise processed hair — often benefits from cleansing products formulated specifically for hair rather than simply using a bar of body soap.
That’s why our Solid Shampoo Bar uses a non-soap surfactant system. It allows us to formulate a concentrated solid cleanser specifically for washing hair.
At Pine & Bedford, we don’t choose an ingredient simply because it is natural or reject one simply because it is synthetic. We look at what the ingredient does, why it is needed, how much is appropriate, and whether it belongs in the product we’re making.
And, of course, everyone’s skin and scalp are different. If a product causes irritation, discontinue use. If irritation persists or is severe, seek advice from a healthcare professional.
What is INCI?
INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. It is a standardized system of ingredient names used on cosmetic labels in Canada and around the world.
In Canada, cosmetic ingredient labelling using INCI isn't something Pine & Bedford choose to do 00 it's a regulatory requirement. What we choose to do is help make those names easier for our customers to understand.
Why does it matter?
INCI gives ingredients consistent names so that consumers, regulators and industry professionals can identify what is in a cosmetic product regardless of the brand making it.
Some INCI names can look intimidating. Botanical ingredients may appear under Latin-based names and other ingredients may have technical names that are very different from the everyday words we use for them.
That doesn’t mean an ingredient is automatically harsh or undesirable simply because its name is difficult to pronounce.
At Pine & Bedford, we want you to understand what is in the products you use. That’s why, wherever practical, we provide the required INCI ingredient information along with familiar English and French descriptions to help make our labels easier to understand.
For example, you may see an ingredient such as:
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter / Beurre de Karité
The INCI name identifies the ingredient consistently, while the familiar description helps you recognize what it actually is.
We believe ingredient transparency is more useful than judging a cosmetic by whether its ingredient names sound familiar.
Bottom line: Don’t be frightened by a long or complicated ingredient name. Learn what the ingredient is, what it does, and why it is in the formulation.
Why does P&B list Fragrance Allergens on labels?
You may have noticed some unfamiliar names appearing on Pine & Bedford ingredient lists — names such as Limonene, Linalool, Citral or Geraniol.
There is a good reason for that. Health Canada now requires certain fragrance allergens to be individually identified on cosmetic labels when they are present above specified levels. The requirements apply whether the allergen comes from a Fragrance Oil Essential Oil, Botanical Extract or another ingredient.
And that’s actually useful information.
If you know that your skin is sensitive or allergic to a particular fragrance component, seeing it identified on the label gives you information you can use when deciding whether a product is appropriate for you.
This is also why the familiar advice “If you can’t pronounce an ingredient, don’t use it” isn’t particularly helpful when choosing soap and cosmetics.
Canadian Cosmetic labels use standardized INCI ingredient names. Some perfectly familiar ingredients can have decidedly unfamiliar-looking names, and naturally occurring fragrance components can sound especially technical.
A difficult-to-pronounce name does not tell you whether an ingredient is safe or unsafe, natural or synthetic, gentle or irritating.
What matters is what the ingredient actually is, why it is in the formulation, how it is being used and whether you personally have a known sensitivity to it.
At Pine & Bedford, we would rather give you more information than less. Listing fragrance allergens helps make our ingredient labels more transparent and gives you another tool for making informed choices about the products you use.
Bottom line: Don’t judge an ingredient by how difficult its name is to pronounce. A complicated name may simply be giving you more precise information about what’s inside the product.
Are essential oils better than fragrance oils?
Not necessarily. Essential Oils and Fragrance Oils are different, and we don’t believe one is automatically better simply because it is more “natural.”
Essential Oils are aromatic materials derived from plants. They can provide beautiful, complex fragrances, but natural does not automatically mean gentle. Essential Oils contain fragrance allergens and some can cause irritation or allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.
Fragrance Oils are formulated aromatic blends that allow us to create scents that aren’t always possible — or practical — using Essential Oils alone. At Pine & Bedford, we choose phthalate-free Fragrance Oils and use them within appropriate fragrance usage guidelines.
So which is better?
We think that’s the wrong question.
The better questions are: Is the fragrance appropriate for the product? Is it being used at an appropriate level? And does it work for your skin and your preferences?
At Pine & Bedford, we follow applicable International Fragrance Association (IFRA) guidance and supplier documentation when determining appropriate fragrance usage levels for our products.
Our own fragrance philosophy is fairly simple: we aim for a moderate level of fragrance. You should be able to enjoy the scent of your soap while you’re using it — but you shouldn’t be able to smell it from another room.
Fragrance naturally changes and may diminish as handcrafted soap ages. Once the outer surface of a bar becomes wet during use, you may notice more of its fragrance again. As a bar gets older, however, its fragrance may continue to fade.
If you find a fragranced product stronger than you prefer, everyone’s tolerance is different, put it away in a cool, dark linen closet or drawer for a while to allow the fragrance to naturally diminish. Check it periodically until the fragrance reaches a level you enjoy. Choose fragrance-free products when fragrance is a concern, and discontinue using any product that causes irritation.
Bottom line: Essential Oils and Fragrance Oils both have a place in cosmetic formulation. We choose between them based on the product we’re making, the fragrance we want to create and how the ingredient will be used.
Can I use a soap beyond the Best Before date?
Yes. A Best Before date is primarily about the quality of the soap — particularly fragrance, appearance and the experience we expect the bar to provide. It does not necessarily mean the soap suddenly becomes unusable after that date.
As handcrafted soap ages, its fragrance may fade and the oils in the bar can eventually begin to oxidize.
One sign of oxidation is the appearance of orange or rust-coloured spots. Soap makers affectionately — or perhaps not so affectionately — call these DOS: Dreaded Orange Spots. The bar may also develop an unpleasant or rancid odour.
A single small orange spot doesn’t necessarily mean the entire bar has deteriorated. You may choose to cut away the affected area. However, if a bar has developed widespread orange spots, an unpleasant odour, unusual texture, or anything else that makes you question its condition, we recommend discarding it.
Bottom line: For the very best Pine & Bedford experience, use your soap within its Best Before period. If you discover an older bar tucked away in a drawer, don’t assume it has suddenly “expired” — inspect it firsT.
Is soap that has been aged more likely to develop orange spots?
It can be — but age is only part of the story.
DOS, or “Dreaded Orange Spots,” is the soap maker’s rather dramatic name for orange or rust-coloured spots that can appear when fats in a finished bar begin to oxidize and become rancid.
As soap gets older, it has naturally had more time for oxidation to occur, so age can increase the opportunity for DOS to develop. But an older bar does not automatically develop DOS, and a relatively young bar can occasionally develop it too.
Several factors can influence oxidation, including the oils used in the formulation, the condition and freshness of those oils when the soap was made, and how the finished bars are stored.
This is particularly relevant for our 100% Olive Oil Castile soap because we intentionally give it a very long cure. While most Pine & Bedford Cold Process soaps cure for weeks, our Castile is aged for many months before we offer it for sale. A young 100% olive oil castile soap has a very different character from a well aged bar, so the extended cure is an important part of how we make it.
Because our Castile spends considerably longer aging than our regular cold process sop bars, we monitor it for signs of oxidation throughout that process. In our soap making experience. we do occasionally encounter DOS in long-aged bars.
Once purchased, store handcrafted soap in a cool, dry place with good air circulation, and away from excessive heat, humidity and direct sunlight.
Bottom line: soap can become even lovelier with a good cure, but it doesn’t need to become an heirloom. Use it. That’s what we made it for.
What is the deal with sulfates/sulphates?
First, a little clarification: sulfate is the American spelling and sulphate is the traditional British spelling. You’ll encounter both. In Canada, you may see either depending on the ingredient or source being discussed.
Pine & Bedford is a sulfate-free and paraben-free company. We do not formulate our products with sulfates or parabens. That is a formulation choice we have made for our products and one we intend to maintain.
When people talk about “sulfates” in shampoos and cleansers, they are usually referring to cleansing surfactants such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES).
My interest in sulfates is also personal. Products containing certain sulfated surfactants irritate my own skin. When I began formulating Pine & Bedford products, that experience influenced my decision to explore other cleansing ingredients.
Where we need a non-soap cleansing system, one of the surfactants we use is SLSa — Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate. Despite its remarkably similar name, SLSa is not SLS. It is a different, sulfate-free anionic surfactant.
Does sulfate-free mean a product can never cause irritation? No. Any cleansing product has the potential to irritate someone’s skin depending on the formulation and individual sensitivities.
For Pine & Bedford, being sulfate-free isn’t a claim that every sulfate-containing cosmetic is unsafe. It is our formulation standard.
We have alternatives that allow us to make the products we want to make without sulfates, so that’s what we choose to do.
The same principle applies to parabens. We recognize that preservatives have an important role in cosmetic formulation, and we use appropriate preservation when a product requires it. We simply choose preservative systems that do not contain parabens.
Bottom line: Pine & Bedford is sulphate-free and paraben-free by choice. It’s one of the standards we’ve established for the products we make.