Premium, Natural Artisan Soaps

Welcome to Gold Coast Soapworks located in Lighthouse Point in sunny South Florida. Come visit us at the Pompano Beach Green Market every Saturday morning from 8am to 1pm, through April 28, 2012. The Green Market is located at the NE corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Dixie Highway.

I have been asked why take the time to make soap when it is cheap and plentiful in stores. The answer is natural soap is not cheap and you actually have to read a lot of labels to find it. Most of what people think of as soap are detergent bars, which is why they are called bath bars or beauty bars. Real soap is defined as saponified animal fats or vegetable oils. If the product is real soap, it will say so on the label.

While there are still a few companies who make real soap, commercial soap makers remove the glycerine and sell it for use in other cosmetics. Natural, handmade soaps retain their glycerine, a humectant that attacts moisture to the skin.
Soap has been used for cleaning for thousands of years. Detergents have been used for less than 100 years and contain ingredients that may be suitable to wash my car with but are not something I would use on my skin. Allergies to one or more of the ingredients in detergent bars are increasingly common. Consumers are savvy and more people are questioning the safety of ingredients in personal care products.

Old Fashioned, Handmade Soaps

At Gold Coast Soapworks we make soap the old fashioned way, much like Grandma did years ago. The highest quality ingredients are carefully weighed and mixed together. The mixture is then cooked while stirring constantly until the soap has finished saponifying. Then we add botanicals, fragrances, essential oils and any other ingredients the recipe calls for. Next the soap is poured into wooden trays to cool. After it cools and hardens, it is hand cut into bars and allowed to dry. While Grandma did not have the benefit of a digital scale and modern appliances, we think she would approve of the final results.

Real soap is not required to have a label unlike detergent bars which are classified as cosmetics. Gold Coast Soapworks lists all the ingredients in our soaps and lets you decide whether you prefer soaps made with vegetable oils or animal fats, scented soaps with either high quality fragrances or essential oils, or soaps that are fragrance free and contain no scent other than that of the natural ingredients.