Soap Making as an Act of Resistance and Reclamation

            I have been making my own soap for about four years now, as well as my own deodorant, toothpaste and laundry detergent.  My goal was to weed out endocrine disruptors in my life and improve my health.  The art of soap making has allowed me to have agency on my own health by using what is accessible to me.  This art form has also allowed me to reclaim my ancestral knowledge of Curanderismo, which is healing through natural herbs and oils and other practices.  

I began making laundry detergent to repurpose the soap shavings from sculptures my students were working on.  I found a recipe from the documentary, Chemerical (2009) and began making my own detergent.  As I learned about endocrine disruptors, I began weeding out as many products as I could from my routine. So that is where my reclamation to ancestral knowledge becomes an act of resistance, reclamation, and agency.

Curanderismo is part of my cultural heritage, even without realizing it like: drinking lemon and honey for a cold, using aloe vera to heal cuts, or even using marijuana infused alcohol for arthritis (my dad would always have a bottle of this).  This is health care for minor chronic illnesses.  This indigenous practice comes from various locations that have an abundance of curative plants.  My ancestors come from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and in the southern regions there are villages that don’t have access to health care that rely primarily on this ancient knowledge to be passed on generation to generation.  My great grandmother, Teofila Puente, was said to be a curandera, a healer, as well as a spiritual healer, a Guadalupana. Reclaiming this the practice of curanderimso has given me agency by making products that have healing properties in my soap.  This knowledge gives me control over my own health. 

My soap is old fashioned lye based soap.  For the materials in these three batches I am using coconut, cottonseed (because of West Texas), olive, and vegetable oils for my base.  Typically, I use tallow, but I went vegan for this soap.  

  

The first batch is Oatmeal Cinnamon soap.  Cinnamon oil can be used for soothing rheumatism and for regulating menstruation, and also an aphrodisiac, (Editorial Época, 35)(Torres, 126).  Oatmeal is soothing for the skin especially for tumors and abscesses, (Editorial Época, 28).  Vanilla is also known to be a stimulant, aphrodisiac and to stimulate menstrual flow, (Torres, 156). This soap smells like an oatmeal cookie, and is I love how the bits of oatmeal act as an exfoliant. 

My second batch is a Jasmine Rosemary soap.  I collected and dried jasmine flowers from my shrub a year ago.  I also added eucalyptus oil which is good for inflammation, (Adrian, 12).  Rosemary stimulates the scalp, although this is primarily body soap, (Adrian, 25).  It also regulates menstruation, soothes rheumatism and headaches, (Torres, 150)(Editorial Época, 86).  Rosemary is also good on the skin to prevent wrinkles and to eliminate blemishes and freckles, (Torres, 150). I added absolut rose essential oil to give it a more floral aroma and complement the rosemary.  The rosemary leaf bits and jasmine petals give this soap a nice exfoliant. 

The third batch is Lemon Lime Oregano soap.  Oregano as a tea regulates menstruation, is an expectorant and kills intestinal parasites, (Editorial Época, 78)(Torres, 146).  Mexican Oregano is used as an antiseptic, (Torres, 146).  Lemon juice is used externally to beautify skin and remove blemishes, (Editorial Época, 68). The oregano flakes turned black in the soap, and some of the zest turned read, so it made for a slightly more beige yellow color soap.  

The process of soap making is a ritual and is for the most part all consuming.  It requires concentration while measuring the ingredients.  It is also requires months of preparation to acquire necessary supplies.  Silicone molds are the best vessel.  I would like to one day make my own molds, but I cannot incur the additional cost of that right now.  Soap making is a messy process that requires a lot of space and good ventilation.  Some of the healing properties of the herbs, teas, and spices I use for my soap have much more beneficial healing properties when they are taken as a tea, but some of those healing properties will be absorbed by the skin in lesser amounts.  When I add ingredients to soap, I never really know how they will effect the soap, or what color it will change to.  I like to keep my soap natural, not adding any artificial ingredients.  

 Before this course, I did not think of soap making as an art form, and I also had a skewed view between art and craft.  After seeing the emergence of craft from the nineteenth century flourish into the twentieth century, I have a completely different perspective.  After watching a few series of Craft in America, and seeing each artist talk about their work, their heritage, and their craft.  I can say that I see through a new lens.  I have even seen my own practices through a new lens and have learned to appreciate soap making as art.  

Bibliography

Adrian, Ann & Judith Dennis. Herbal Tea Book. San Francisco: Health Publishing Co., 1967. 

Editorial Época. Recetario Medicinal Azteca. D.F., México: Editorial Época, 2003. 

Torres, Eliseo “Cheo.” Healing with Herbs and Rituals: A Mexican Tradition. Ed. Timothy L.          Sawyer, Jr. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2006.