Learn About Our Ingredients
The Foundation of Our Soap
Beef Tallow
Traditional & Time-Tested
Beef tallow has a long history in traditional soap making and forms the foundation of many of our recipes.
In cold-process soap, tallow contributes to a firm, long-lasting bar and helps create the dense, creamy lather we want from an everyday soap.
We value it for its simplicity, performance, and connection to traditional soap making.
Why we use it:
Firm bars • Creamy lather • Long-lasting soap
Coconut Oil
Cleansing & Bubbly
Coconut oil plays an important role in many of our formulations.
It contributes cleansing properties while helping produce the larger, bubbly lather people often associate with handmade soap.
Because soap making is about balance, we formulate coconut oil alongside other oils and fats rather than relying on it alone.
Why we use it:
Cleansing • Bubbly lather • Bar hardness
Olive Oil
Balanced & Conditioning
Olive oil is a classic soap making oil valued for the qualities it contributes to a well-balanced bar.
When combined with our other oils and fats, it contributes to a smooth, conditioning soap while complementing the harder fats in the recipe.
Why we use it:
Conditioning qualities • Balanced formulation • Smooth lather
Castor Oil
Lather Support
A little castor oil can make a meaningful difference in a soap recipe.
We use it in carefully measured amounts because of the way it supports and stabilizes lather, helping the bubbles created by the other oils feel fuller and more persistent.
Why we use it:
Supports lather • Helps stabilize bubbles • Complements other oils
Shea Butter
Rich & Refined
In select recipes, shea butter brings another layer of richness to the formulation.
Its fatty-acid composition makes it useful in handcrafted soap, where it can contribute to bar hardness and the overall character of the finished lather.
We use it when it adds something meaningful to a particular recipe rather than adding it simply for the name.
Why we use it:
Richness • Bar structure • Recipe balance
Colloidal Oatmeal
Soft & Comforting
Finely milled colloidal oatmeal gives certain Oak & Lantern bars their understated, comforting character.
Unlike coarse whole oats, colloidal oatmeal is extremely fine and disperses throughout the soap, contributing a silky texture and subtle natural appearance.
You'll find it in several of our bars designed around simple, familiar ingredients.
Why we use it:
Fine texture • Silky feel • Natural character
Activated Charcoal
Bold & Earthy
Activated charcoal gives some of our soaps their unmistakable deep charcoal appearance.
We use it both as a visual ingredient and as a way to create dramatic contrast in swirls and designs.
You'll often see it paired with warm woods, earthy scents, and neutral soap bases throughout our collections.
Why we use it:
Deep natural-looking color • Visual contrast • Distinctive character
Pumice
A Little More Scrub
Some jobs call for more than a smooth bar.
Fine pumice provides physical exfoliation and gives selected soaps a noticeable scrubby texture, making it especially appropriate for hardworking hand and body bars.
We use a fine grade so it can provide texture without turning the bar into something excessively rough.
Why we use it:
Physical exfoliation • Textured feel • Hardworking bars
Honey
Warm & Familiar
Honey brings a little farmhouse familiarity to handcrafted soap.
Its natural sugars can contribute to lather while also influencing the appearance and character of the finished bar.
We especially like pairing honey with ingredients such as oatmeal and warm, comforting scent profiles.
Why we use it:
Supports lather • Warm character • Complements oatmeal and traditional recipes
Clays
Earthy Color & Texture
Clays allow us to bring beautiful, muted earth tones into soap while also contributing a distinctive feel to the finished bar.
Depending on the recipe, we may use different cosmetic clays to create shades ranging from soft cream and tan to muted green, rose, or deeper earthy tones.
Why we use them:
Earth-inspired color • Texture • Natural visual variation
Scented with Intention
Essential Oils
Botanical Aroma
Essential oils are aromatic materials derived from botanical sources.
We use selected essential oils when their natural aromatic profile complements the character we want from a particular bar—from lavender and citrus to cedarwood, eucalyptus, and other botanical notes.
Essential oils are not automatically appropriate for every scent concept, which is why you'll find them in some Oak & Lantern soaps and not others.
Why we use them:
Botanical aroma • Familiar scent profiles • Natural fragrance variety
Fragrance Oils
More Creative Possibilities
Some scent experiences simply can't be created using essential oils alone.
Fragrance oils allow us to develop more complex profiles such as aged bourbon, warm vanilla, apple, florals, holiday spices, woods, and other layered combinations.
When we use fragrance oils, we choose varieties intended and approved by their supplier for use in cold-process soap and follow the applicable usage guidance.
We believe transparency is more important than pretending every scent comes directly from a plant.
Why we use them:
Complex scent profiles • Seasonal creativity • Greater fragrance variety
Colorants
Color is part of the personality of many Oak & Lantern bars, but we prefer it to complement the soap rather than overpower it.
Depending on the recipe, our colors may come from cosmetic micas, clays, activated charcoal, botanicals, or other colorants appropriate for soap making.
From the blush tones of a floral bar to the charcoal swirl of a woodsy bar or the warm orange of a seasonal recipe, color helps visually tell the story of the soap.
Every Bar Tells You What's Inside
A Note About Lye
All true soap begins with a chemical reaction between fats or oils and an alkali—typically sodium hydroxide for solid bar soap.
That process is called saponification.
During properly formulated soap making, sodium hydroxide reacts with the oils and fats to form soap and naturally occurring glycerin. The ingredient is essential to making real soap, even though the finished, properly formulated and fully saponified bar is very different from the ingredients that went into the original soap batter.
It's chemistry, tradition, and craft working together.