What Is Superfatted Soap? Why We Superfat Our Soap Bars by 10%

If you’ve ever used a handmade cold process soap bar and noticed that your skin feels soft, comfortable and cared for afterwards, there’s a good chance the soap was “superfatted.”

At The Good Soap, all of our cold process soap and shampoo bars are superfatted by 10% — and it’s one of the reasons our bars feel so different from many commercial soaps and detergent cleansers.

But what exactly does “superfatting” mean?

What Does Superfatting Mean in Soap Making?

Superfatting is a traditional soap making method used in cold process soap.

Soap is made by combining oils and butters with sodium hydroxide (lye). During the soap making process, the lye reacts with the oils in a chemical reaction called saponification, turning them into soap.

If a soap maker used the exact amount of lye needed to convert every oil completely into soap, the finished bar could feel very cleansing — sometimes too cleansing for everyday skin.

So instead, many artisan soap makers deliberately use slightly less lye than the recipe technically requires. This leaves a percentage of nourishing oils and butters unsaponified in the finished soap bar. That leftover percentage is known as the “superfat.”

Why We Superfat Our Soap Bars by 10%

At The Good Soap, we formulate our bars with a generous 10% superfat.

This means that a portion of the skin-loving oils and butters in our recipe remain in the finished soap after saponification is complete.

The result is a soap bar designed to cleanse while still feeling gentle and conditioning on the skin.

Our aim has never been to create a harsh “squeaky clean” feeling. Instead, we want skin to feel comfortable, soft and balanced after washing.

Why Superfatted Soap Feels Different

Many commercial cleansing bars and body washes rely heavily on detergents and synthetic surfactants that can strip away natural oils from the skin.

Traditional cold process soap works differently.

Alongside the natural glycerine that remains in handmade soap, superfatting helps create a milder washing experience that many people find kinder to dry or easily irritated skin.

A well-balanced superfatted soap bar can help skin feel:

• Soft rather than tight
• Clean without feeling stripped
• Comfortable after washing
• Creamy and nourishing during use

The Oils Matter Too

Superfatting is only one part of the picture. The oils and butters used in the recipe also play a huge role in how a soap feels on the skin.

Our soap bars are made with a blend of nourishing oils and butters including:

• Olive Oil
• Coconut Oil
• Rice Bran Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Castor Oil
• Shea Butter
• Cocoa Butter

Each oil brings its own qualities to the finished bar.

For example:

Olive Oil in Soap

Olive oil is known for creating a mild, conditioning soap with a creamy lather.

Coconut Oil in Soap

Coconut oil helps create cleansing power and bubbly lather, although in traditional soap making it’s often balanced carefully with superfatting to avoid the bar feeling overly cleansing.

Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter

These rich butters help contribute to the creamy, nourishing feel of the finished soap.

Rice Bran and Sunflower Oil

These oils are rich in skin-loving fatty acids and help create a gentle, balanced bar.

Superfatting and Natural Glycerine

One of the benefits of cold process soap is that the naturally produced glycerine remains in the finished bar.

Glycerine is a natural humectant, meaning it helps attract moisture.

In many mass-produced soaps, glycerine is removed and sold separately for use in lotions and skincare products. In handmade cold process soap, it stays right where it was created — inside the bar itself.

Combined with our 10% superfat, this helps create the creamy, skin-friendly feel our customers often comment on.

Is Superfatted Soap Good for Dry Skin?

Many people with dry or sensitive-feeling skin prefer superfatted cold process soap because it tends to feel gentler than harsher cleansing products.

While everyone’s skin is different, a well-formulated superfatted soap bar may help reduce that tight, uncomfortable feeling some cleansers can leave behind.

This is one of the reasons our customers often use our soap bars not just on the body, but also on the face and scalp too.

Handmade Soap Made the Traditional Way

At The Good Soap, our bars are made using traditional cold process methods in our North Wales workshop. We make our soaps in small batches using carefully selected oils, butters, botanicals and essential oils — with no palm oil and no SLS.

By superfatting our bars by 10%, we create soap designed to cleanse gently while helping skin feel cared for at the same time. Because soap should leave skin feeling comfortable — not stripped 💚