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Tampa Soap Co.
Soap 101

What’s in a bar,
and how to choose one.

How we make soap, what each oil brings to the bar, how to tell exfoliant grits apart, and a quick way to find the bar that suits you.

How soap is made

Oils, lye and water, cooked into soap.

Every true soap starts the same way. The oils you choose decide how the bar feels, and the method decides when it’s ready.

  1. Step 1

    Oils & butters

    Weighed to the gram. The blend decides firmness, lather and feel. Meet the oils ↓

  2. Step 2

    Lye + pure water

    Sodium hydroxide dissolved in our 0 TDS filtered water. About our water ↓

  3. Step 3

    Hot process cook

    We cook the batch until saponification is complete, so the lye is used up in the pot.

  4. Step 4

    Soap + glycerin

    Molded, cut and stamped. The glycerin the reaction makes stays in the bar.

Cold process

  • Poured right after mixing; the reaction finishes in the mold
  • Needs a 4–6 week cure before it’s used
  • Smooth, glossy look

Hot processHow we make ours

  • Cooked until the reaction is done, before it goes in the mold
  • Ready soon, and firms up further as it dries
  • A rustic, textured top that’s one of a kind for each batch
Find your bar

How do you like a bar to feel?

Every recipe behaves a little differently in the shower. Pick what matters most and we’ll point you to the bar that fits.

What matters most to you? Choose one or two
4oz bar
Your best match

Shea Velvet

A quarter-shea blend

  • The firmest of our six bars
  • Made with Olive Oil (Pomace), Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, and Palm Oil
Explore Shea Velvet →From $7.00
How Shea Velvet feels
Firmness
Bubbly lather
Creamy lather
Wash feel
Squeaky-cleanConditioning
All six bars, best match first

Ratings compare our bars with each other. What do firmness, lather and wash feel mean? ↓

Reading a bar

Five ways soap makers describe a bar.

Each oil adds its own mix of these five qualities, and a recipe is a balance of them. The bar finder above uses where each of our bars lands.

Hardness

How firm the bar is, and how long it lasts in the shower.

Mostly from Babassu Oil, Coconut Oil, and Cocoa ButterTypical bar: 29–54

Cleansing

How strongly the lather lifts oil. Higher feels squeaky-clean; lower feels milder.

Mostly from Babassu Oil and Coconut OilTypical bar: 12–22

Conditioning

How soft and smooth skin feels after rinsing. It pulls the other way from cleansing.

Mostly from Castor Oil, Sunflower Oil, and Hazelnut OilTypical bar: 44–69

Bubbly

Big, airy bubbles that build quickly.

Mostly from Castor Oil, Babassu Oil, and Coconut OilTypical bar: 14–46

Creamy

Small, dense, lotion-like lather that holds its shape.

Mostly from Castor Oil, Cocoa Butter, and Kokum ButterTypical bar: 16–48
The oils & butters

What each one brings to the bar.

Every oil and butter we use, what it adds, and which bars it’s in. The columns show the oil’s own numbers on the standard 0–100 soap-making scale.

Lather oil

Babassu Oil

Behaves much like coconut (a firm bar and bubbly lather), which is why our coconut-free bars use it.

In 2 barsHazelnut SilkAmazon Bloom
Shop bars with Babassu Oil →
Lather oil

Coconut Oil

The big-bubble oil. A hard bar with quick, fluffy lather and a strong clean, so we keep it in balance.

In 13 barsGrove & CoastOlive ReserveShea VelvetRice & Hazelnut VeilAvenaCoastVolcanicEspressoNoceTerra NoirGARAGEOfficinaBasalto
Shop bars with Coconut Oil →
Lather booster

Castor Oil

Used in small amounts. It doesn’t harden the bar, but it makes the lather thicker and longer-lasting.

In 14 barsGrove & CoastOlive ReserveRice & Hazelnut VeilHazelnut SilkAmazon BloomAvenaCoastVolcanicEspressoNoceTerra NoirGARAGEOfficinaBasalto
Shop bars with Castor Oil →
Butter

Kokum Butter

A brittle, snow-white butter for a hard, long-lasting bar. The backbone of our hand scrubs.

In 3 barsGARAGEOfficinaBasalto
Shop exfoliant bars with Kokum Butter →
Butter

Palm Oil

Firmness and a stable, creamy lather. Solid at room temperature, like a butter.

In 4 barsShea VelvetEspressoNoceTerra Noir
Shop bars with Palm Oil →
Butter

Shea Butter

Adds firmness and a dense, creamy lather with a smooth, cushioned feel.

In 10 barsShea VelvetRice & Hazelnut VeilHazelnut SilkAmazon BloomAvenaCoastVolcanicGARAGEOfficinaBasalto
Shop bars with Shea Butter →
Conditioning oil

Hazelnut Oil

Light and conditioning, without a heavy feel.

Contains hazelnut
In 2 barsRice & Hazelnut VeilHazelnut Silk
Shop bars with Hazelnut Oil →
Conditioning oil

Olive Oil (Pomace)

The workhorse olive: the same gentle feel as extra virgin, and the base of many of our bars.

In 9 barsGrove & CoastOlive ReserveShea VelvetAvenaCoastVolcanicEspressoNoceTerra Noir
Shop bars with Olive Oil (Pomace) →
Conditioning oil

Olive Oil Extra Virgin

A mild, low-bubble lather and a conditioning feel. Soft on its own, so it’s paired with firmer oils.

In 1 barOlive Reserve
Shop bars with Olive Oil Extra Virgin →
Conditioning oil

Rice Bran Oil

A light oil that adds a silky, conditioning feel to the lather.

In 9 barsRice & Hazelnut VeilHazelnut SilkAmazon BloomAvenaCoastVolcanicGARAGEOfficinaBasalto
Shop bars with Rice Bran Oil →
Exfoliants & grit

Fine, medium or coarse.

Each exfoliant collection starts from its own base recipe, and the base sets the grit. Fine and medium are body bars; coarse is a hand scrub for after the garage, garden or kitchen.

Fine

Body barOlive & Shea base · An olive-led blend with shea butter, rice bran, coconut and castor. Paired with finely milled exfoliants for a light scrub.
AvenaCoastVolcanic

Medium

Body barOlive & Cocoa base · Olive oil and cocoa butter form the heart of this blend, alongside palm, coconut and castor. Coffee, oatmeal and pumice give these bars their distinct textures.
EspressoNoceTerra Noir

Coarse

Hand scrubShea & Kokum base · Our original recipe combines coconut oil with shea and kokum butters. Pumice-led scrubs for washing up after work in the garage, garden or kitchen.
GARAGEOfficinaBasalto
What gives the texture

Colloidal Oatmeal

Oats milled to a silky powder. Barely there, more softness than scrub.

In Avena and Coast

Oatmeal

Finely milled, screened oats for an even, gentle texture.

In Noce

Coffee

Ground roasted coffee: a medium polish and a warm brown speckle.

In Espresso, Noce, and Officina

Pumice

Volcanic stone ground fine. The strongest scrub: used lightly in body bars, generously in hand bars.

In Avena, Coast, Volcanic, Terra Noir, GARAGE, Officina, and Basalto
Shop the exfoliant collection →
Our water

Nothing in it but water.

0TDS (total dissolved solids)

Tampa Bay tap water runs through a 6-stage reverse-osmosis and deionization filter before it touches a batch. Minerals and chlorine stay out of the soap, so nothing gets in the way of the lather.

Caring for your bar

Make it last.

  • Let it drainA dish with ridges or slats lets air under the bar. Standing water is what melts soap away.
  • Keep it out of the sprayA shelf away from the shower stream can double a bar’s life.
  • Cut it in halfUse one half and let the other sit dry. It hardens further while it waits.
  • Store extras drySpare bars keep in a drawer or linen closet, away from humidity.
Reading our labels

Everything in the bar, listed.

Each product page lists every ingredient, and if a bar contains a common allergen, we say so.

Rice & Hazelnut Veil
Handmade bar soap
Ingredients: Rice Bran Oil, Hazelnut Oil, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Water
Contains hazelnut
Every ingredient, by name. Every oil and butter in the bar is listed on its product page, with nothing hidden behind “fragrance”.
Allergens called out. Tree nuts like hazelnut, or a walnut-shell scrub, are flagged on every product they’re in.
Unscented means unscented. No fragrance or essential oil, just the oils listed.
Questions about an ingredient? Ask us →

Still deciding? Try them side by side.

The sampler is a set of small bars, so you can find your favorite before committing to a full bar.

Build a sampler →