WHAT IS SOAP MADE OF?
Soap is derived from either vegetable or animal fats. Sodium tallowate, a common ingredient in many soaps, is derived from rendered beef fat. Soap can also be made of vegetable oils, such as palm oil, and the product is typically softer. If soap is made from pure olive oil it may be called Castile soap or Marseille soap. Castile is also sometimes applied to soaps with a mix of oils, but a high percentage of olive oil. An array of saponifiable oils and fats are used in the process such as olive, coconut, palm, cocoa butter, hemp oil and shea butter to provide different qualities. For example, olive oil provides mildness in soap; coconut oil provides lots of lather; while coconut and palm oils provide hardness. Sometimes castor oil can also be used as an ebullient. Most common, though, is a combination of coconut, palm, and olive oils. Smaller amounts of unsaponifiable oils and fats that do not yield soap are sometimes added for further benefits.
A common soap is made of: sodium hydroxide+palm oil = sodium palmitate (soap) + glycerin. Oh and the thing u heard about pigs is right soap can be made out of any animal or vegetable fat. When the fat is contacted with the alkali which is also known as base such as sodium hydroxide, the fat is broken down (hydrolyzed) to glycerin and alkali salts of the fatty acids. Hope that helped!
Using animal fats is not as common now days. Soap is basically made of Fatty Acids and sodium hydroxide (lye). The fatty acids can be made from most types of oil actually, from animal fats to things like olive or even hemp oil. So if you are using a common massed produced soap then it probably won’t be from animal fats. But if it’s a handmade soap using old Cold process methods then it possibly could be.
