R Magazine, Ex-TeenArt_Issue 1_Authenticity Ap. 2014 | Page 21

Fleur en bulle
Homemade Soap

interwiew Louise Trencia

Where does this soap making come What are soap making basic techniques?
Handmade soap is a completely different world! It
from?
When I was really young, my mother would
take us in the woods, to gather tea leaves. When
chewing the leaf, the plant’s perfume could enter
our mouth. This was the very first spark that
lit up my desire to transform raw material and
incorporate it in my daily life. When I was 27, I
found a handmade soap recipe in a book, called
“countryside soap”. My curiosity rose and I began
to make soap!
Little by little I realized I could put all sorts of
ingredients into my soaps- in order to colour
or enrich them. After thousands of hours of
research and many mistakes, my art gained
maturity. However, I continue researching due to
my curiosity which allows me to discover all sorts
of things!

What do you think
of industrial soap?

is the result of a base (sodium hydroxide) reaction
to a fatty substance (oils and butters). At the end
of this reaction, we get a soap that must respect
the skin’s pH, nourish it, help it regenerate and
soften it.

What are
features?

your

soaps’

distinctive

When I make my soaps, I use coconut, olive,
avocado, castor, camellia, jojoba, oat and argan
oils, as well as shea, cacao, mango and coffee
butters. I mix camomile, roses, comfrey and
other plants, and make them macerate in ewe
milk yogurts, green coconut water, aloe juice or
goat milk. I then add honey, argils, coal, bamboo
extracts, silk protein, oat,
mud, Dead Sea salts - and
even real chocolate.
So as you can see, a soap
can be full of resources,
colours, features and
smells.

We are constantly
told to eat healthy, to
exercise, and to take
care of our hair and
faces… but what about
the health of the rest
of our skin? Industrial
soaps are usually skin
detergents full of fatty
verbena and palmarosa soaps
substances, lathering
agents, colorants, perfumes and other chemicals
that often harm the skin.

TEEN’ART Magazine - Roots