20/08/2026
🏺 Chiang Mai | Handmade Cold Process Soap vs. Supermarket Soap—What’s the Difference?
“Why make soap yourself? Isn’t it easier to just buy it from the supermarket?”
Of course it is! 😊
But if you care about ingredients, formulation, and your personal cleansing experience, handmade cold process soap becomes a very different kind of craft.
Especially the soap we love most—Babylonian Soap. 🌿
Let’s take a closer look:
🫒 1. The Oils | You Choose What Goes In
Commercial soaps are made to a standardized formula.
With cold process soap, you can choose your oils—
olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, shea butter, and more.
Different oils give your soap different characteristics, so you get to create the kind of bar you want.
🌿 2. Botanicals | More Than Just Fragrance
At Amara, you can explore:
🌿 20+ botanicals & herbs
🍃 11 botanical extracts
🌸 9 selected essential oils
You can mix and match ingredients to create a soap that feels truly personal.
💧 3. Naturally Created Glycerin
During saponification, oils and lye naturally create soap and glycerin.
In cold process soap, the naturally formed glycerin remains in the finished bar, which is one reason many people enjoy its comfortable cleansing feel.
🧼 4. Formulation | Where the Real Craft Begins
Making soap isn't simply “oil + lye.”
Oil ratios, superfat, botanicals, essential oils, and formulation choices all influence the finished bar.
Knowing how to make soap isn't the same as knowing how to formulate soap.
🏺 5. The Story Behind the Craft
Ancient Babylonians were among the earliest people known to make soap using fats or oils and alkaline materials.
Today, cold process soap allows us to explore this ancient craft through modern ingredients, knowledge, and creativity.
At Amara, you're not simply making a bar of soap.
You're experiencing a piece of soap-making heritage with your own hands.
🌿 Let's Craft Babylonian Soap.
If you're visiting Chiang Mai, why simply buy another souvenir when you can make one yourself?
📅 Amara Soap Making Class is available every day, with different classes