Ingredients

We make our soap with natural ingredients using traditional, cold process methods, for the highest quality bar possible.

We use:

  • Only natural colorants from plants, clays, or oxides
  • Pure, sustainably sourced oils (organic whenever possible)
  • 100% pure essential oils or a select few carefully chosen fragrance oils

So, how is soap made?
In simple terms: oils meet lye, and the magic of chemistry happens. This process is called saponification:

Triglycerides (fatty acids) + Sodium hydroxide → Soap + Glycerine

Once poured, the soap rests and cures for at least a month. This curing time lets excess water evaporate, creating a harder, longer-lasting bar with a gentler feel. Some recipes — like pure olive oil Castile soap — benefit from an even longer cure. A full year of patience rewards you with a rock-solid bar, stable creamy lather, and a silky, non-slippery feel on the skin.

At Dirty Dandelion, ingredients are the center of everything. We choose pure plant oils, natural colorants, skin-loving clays, and the highest quality essential oils & fragrance oils, then add a splash of whimsy, and skip the stuff we wouldn’t want on our own skin. Every bar is a little different, because nature is like that — and so are we.

Base Oils

  • Organic extra virgin olive oil – gentle, moisturizing base
  • Organic coconut oil – bubbly, cleansing lather
  • Organic shea butter – rich and conditioning
  • Cocoa butter – creamy hardness
  • Castor oil – boosts and stabilizes lather
  • Organic High Oleic Sunflower oil – often infused with dandelion, chamomile, or other botanicals for extra skin love

Liquids and Additives

  • Goat milk – vitamins & creamy texture
  • Coconut milk – silky feel
  • Vegetable & fruit juices - add skin-loving properties and boost bubbles
  • Aloe vera – soothing
  • Tussah silk – luxurious slip
  • Egg yolk (from our backyard hens) – natural vitamins A, B2, B3, and zinc
  • Botanical powders & seeds– from rose hips to lemon peel for gentle exfoliation
  • Salts & clays – for texture, cleansing, and slip

100% Pure Essential Oils (and a Few Carefully Chosen Fragrances)

When we started, it was all about purity—100% essential oils from reputable sources, and absolutely no fragrance oils.

Then we realized: some essential oils are fleeting, especially citrus and those other bright top notes we all love. Soap, on the other hand, gets better with age—harder, bubblier, longer lasting. The catch? By the time your bar is at peak performance, the scent may have mellowed or nearly vanished.

In the end we have found peace in balance, adding a few carefully chosen fragrance oils to our scent profiles to help certain scents stick around. We still believe that nothing compares to the true aroma of herbs and flowers distilled or pressed into their purest form, but fragrances have helped us add to the complexity of nature so each bar of soap holds its character to the very last sliver.

Colorants

The magic of mixing plants, clays, minerals, and oxides with oils and lye is nothing short of addictive. Colors may shift with light and time, and no two batches are ever exactly alike.

Clays (stable & reliable): Kaolin, rose clay, French green, French red, Cambrian blue, Moroccan clay, rhassoul, Egyptian pink, yellow Brazilian, purple Brazilian, marine clay, illite clay.

Plant-based colorants (may shift): annatto seed, Himalayan rhubarb, alkanet, madder root, woad powder, turmeric, safflower, spirulina, chlorella, nettle leaf, chamomile, calendula, comfrey, moringa, mugwort, parsley, wheatgrass, barley grass, oatstraw, yarrow, carrot juice, pumpkin puree, tomato paste, bamboo charcoal, cocoa powder.

Minerals oxides (long-lasting): titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, ultramarines, chromium oxide green, iron oxides (red, yellow, black).

What We Leave Out

  • No synthetic dyes
  • No parabens or phthalates
  • No SLS/SLES
  • No untraceable palm oil (we use only RSPO-certified palm when we use it)