Soaps in different colors are confusing but here we are going to find out what is what!
Soap can be made from pretty much any fat. The principle is that fat is saponified with potassium hydroxide and then the soap is boiled until it is ready. The glycerol that is released is not removed, unlike when making soap, which helps give the soap a smooth texture.
In the past, it was common to saponify animal fat - it produced a very useful soap. In addition, in this way they made use of all the surplus, nothing went to waste. A sustainable method of self-catering. The soap turned out a little milky, animal fats never give completely transparent soap.
Yellow soap has also for a long time been made from pine oil, the pine oil being a by-product from the pulp industry. The brown mass that smells like "paper mill" is cleaned and saponified. It makes a yellow, effective and slightly "sharp" soap. This soap is perfect for regular cleaning in, for example, the bathroom. It is also a reuse that provides an environmentally friendly cleaning agent. What you should think about is not choosing pine soap to regrease wood, because it does not have the caring properties that, for example, a linseed oil soap has. This is because it lacks excess fat. For those who are allergic to pine, you should also think about using gloves as residues of resin may remain in the product.
Linseed oil soap is a yellow soap, usually a little more expensive, but very good for all wood products. The linseed oil soap cares for and regreases wood very well. Produced by saponification of linseed oil.
Photo: wikipedia
Green soap was made from oil from hemp (hemp seeds - by-product of rope making) which gives green soap. When hemp cultivation was banned in Sweden in the years 1970–2005, it was a natural consequence that the green soap disappeared. There was simply no oil to saponify. Since the market still existed for green soap, yellow soap has since been colored green. It has the green color but lacks the nurturing properties that real green soap had.
So if you buy green soap today, the chances are good that you are buying colored pine soap, so you might as well choose the yellow pine soap and avoid the dye. Colored green soap is also perfumed differently than the yellow soap to create the illusion of real green soap. Today it is legal for farmers to grow certain varieties of so-called industrial hemp with a THC content lower than 0.2 percent, I can't find any information today that there is anyone who manufactures real green soap in Sweden, but maybe it will real green soap back one day.
Västerbottens soap is yellow. Västerbottens soap is produced from corn/rapeseed oil - cooking oil that is purified and saponified. Rapeseed and corn are very similar to linseed oil, so Västerbottenssoap has the nurturing properties that a linseed oil soap also has. There is therefore an excess of grease, which makes it easy to dissolve greasy dirt with greasy soap and so it regreases and cares for wooden floors, furniture and all other wood.
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Questions and Answers
1. Is there a difference between green and yellow soap?
Answer: Genuine green soap is not the same as gil soap, but pine oil soap is often dyed green. Then it's the same thing but with green color.
2. Can soaps have different properties?
Answer: Yes, they get different properties depending on the oil/fat they are basted with.
3. Are all yellow soaps made from the same oil?
Answer: No, there are many oils that can turn the soap yellow.
Order natural cleaning products here: Västerbottenssoap