Do any of the therapeutic qualities of essential oils make it into the final finished soap?
• This subject has been debated for years, and it is quite hard to postulate whether the therapeutic qualities of essential oils make it through to the final soaps. The saponification process is an exothermic reaction, meaning it gives off quite a bit of heat. Heat denatures, or breaks down molecules and changes their chemical composition and properties. No large scale studies have been conducted on this subject to date, but it is most definitely an implication of needed research. I postulate that much of the chemical therapeutic properties that are in raw essential oils may get cooked off during the saponification process, however the therapeutic qualities derived from the scent of the essential oils acting on our olfactory nerve, and hence the brain and body as a whole are still preserved and last into the finished soap; (the olfactory nerve controls scent recognition and is a direct path of sense integration into our brain). Many have experienced this as a wonderful relaxing feeling
