is it true that soap is made out of animal fat?

Answer 1

Some are but a majority are not. If you look hard enough on the web, you can probably see what the ingredient would be classified as on the box, so when you read the back you can see if it does.

Answer 2

All soaps are made of two things: lye and a fat. The fat can be from many different sources, including olive oil or glycerin. Soaps made with animal fats aren't too common anymore as far as I know.

Answer 3

Well some all natural organic soaps are but a lot of the soaps you see in the drug store are mostly artificial products that have a similar structure to the animal fat

Answer 4

Not ALL soaps!!!

Many soaps are mixtures of sodium (soda) or potassium (potash) salts of fatty acids which can be derived from oils or fats by reacting them with an alkali (such as sodium or potassium hydroxide) at 80°–100 °C in a process known as saponification. The fats are hydrolyzed by the base, yielding glycerol and crude soap. Historically, the alkali used was potassium hydroxide made from the deliberate burning of vegetation such as bracken, or from wood ashes.

Soap is derived from either oils or fats. Sodium tallowate, a common ingredient in many soaps, is in fact derived from rendered beef fat. Soap can also be made of vegetable oils, such as olive oil. Soap made entirely from such oils, or nearly so, is called castile soap. The use of the word "soap" has become such a household name that even cleaning solutions for the body that don't have soap in the ingredients are referred to as soap.

Answer 5

Some soap. That's what soap was first made of... well the really first soap was human fat but that's a long story.

Answer 6

No, it isn't.
"
Records mentioning the use of soapy materials date from ancient times. Soap making was common in Italy and Spain during the 8th century. By the 13th century, the soap industry had traveled into France. Most soap was produced by using the tallow of goats with beech ash (furnishing the alkali). The French devised a method of making soap from olive oil. In 1783, a Swedish chemist accidentally simulated the reaction that occurs in the present-day boiling process of soap making. He produced a sweet-tasting substance that is now known as glycerin. In 1823, a French chemist discovered the chemical nature of the ingredients used in soap.

Ingredients

Oils and fats for soap are compounds of glycerin and a fatty acid. When oils are mixed with an alkali, they form glycerin and the sodium salt of the fatty acid. The fatty acids required for soap making are supplied by tallow, grease, fish oils, and vegetable oils. The hardness, lathering qualities, and transparency of soap vary according to the combinations of fats and alkalis used as ingredients. An experienced soap crafter uses many combinations of oils. "

Answer 7

Yes. Lots of other fun chemicals too... you can find some brands that are animal product free, such as Physique, but I'm not sure they make soap. Dial for men liquid soap (and many other liquid soaps use Glycerine instead of Glycole, which is a petrolium distillate, and is a byproduct of biofuel production.

Answer 8

Some soaps are, but I don't know exactly which ones...But if it bothers you that you're rubbing your hands in animal guts when you wash your hands, then you should use foam soap or gel soap, not the regular bar soap.

Answer 9

In 1850 this was true. Today most are a petroleum byproduct. Glycerin, fish oils, vegetable oils plus an ash or lye to provide an alkali base to cut through grease.

Answer 10

some soap is but most company's have stopped it