Local Entrepreneur: Orsoap – “To Do My Small Part”

It is obvious that environmental pollution is rising, and the coronavirus has made it more severe by increasing plastic take-out container waste and waste from soap, handwash, and detergents. Although it is inevitable, it is important for each of us to play our part in reducing the amount of waste created. One example of someone in our community who is doing this is our entrepreneurial focus this month.

As we entered the small yet cozy room, we were greeted with the pleasant aroma of oils. Orsoap is still new – it was founded in November 2021 – but Lee Yeon-jin, the owner, has been interested in contributing to a healthier environment for a while. She has shown her concern while also taking her hobby to a higher level by opening Orsoap, a natural soap workshop, to help spread awareness and to satisfy her yearning for learning and teaching others what she knows.

Lee is from Gwangju, a graduate of the Chemistry Department at Chonnam National University. She loves handcrafting and learning, and she chose to make soap. When I asked her “Why soap?” she said that she once saw beautiful soap landscapes from Jeju that depicted Jeju tangerines or Jeju’s natural landscapes and thought they were beautiful. The interest started from there and, combined with knowledge she gained from school, she decided to make soap. In my conversation with Lee, she said, “I studied soap-making for three months and got my license from Mori Soap in Seoul. However, after that I keep learning and studying to find the perfect recipe for my soap. The name Orsoap itself has no special meaning. I just want the name to be easy to remember and easy to pronounce for Koreans.”

Currently, there are five products being made by Orsoap: CP Soap, MP Soap, Kitchen Soap, Laundry Soap, Shampoo Bar, and Rinse Bar.

CP Soap stands for “cold process soap.” It is made by mixing vegetable oil, caustic soda, purified water, and essential oils, but there is also an important phenomenon called “trace” that occurs

▲ Various soap designs made at Orsoap.

during the soap-making process. Traces are affected by oil type, temperature, blender strength, and/ or time. At this point, depending on the degree of strength of the trace, Lee can make various designs on the soap. When the mold is filled with the soapy mixture containing the design, it is kept at 30 degrees Celsius in the warm soap storage area to harden for 24 to 72 hours, and after taking it out of the mold and drying it at the proper temperature and humidity for four weeks, the process is complete. Unlike ordinary soap, CP Soap contains natural glycerin that is released during the reaction, making the soap moist. This particular soap product can be used over the entire body, including as a face wash, and for all skin types, making it Orsoap’s best-selling product to date.

MP Soap is short for “melt and pour soap,” and like the name suggests, it is literally a soap made by melting and pouring. Unlike CP Soap, caustic soda is not used in the process, so it is safe to be made by anyone, including children. MP Soap takes only a short time to make: only about four hours before it hardens, so it can be taken home on the same day. Kitchen Soap is an eco-friendly (Type 1) dishwashing detergent that uses natural oil, no preservatives, and is degradable. This kind of soap has good cleaning properties and can produce lots of foam even when used in small amounts.

Laundry Soap is a solid laundry detergent that also contains no preservatives, artificial fragrances, artificial colors, or surfactants.

Lee also develops a Shampoo Bar and a Rinse Bar to help reduce the amount of liquid shampoo and conditioner that we use in daily life. It is a product that allows the natural active qualities of the ingredients to be used on people’s hair.

All products offered at Orsoap are part of Lee’s zerowaste movement. For example, by using a solid or powdered detergent, the amount used is reduced compared to using liquid detergent. The products that can be made in the workshop comprise seven types of detergents, including two types of powder detergents, solid laundry soap, solid kitchen soap, shampoo bars,

conditioner bars, and solid toothpaste. People can make soap in 1-kilogram or 500-gram quantities. Her class is designed to be taught one to one, but she can also teach three students at one time. People can leave the soap at her workshop until it is ready, as she keeps all the soap at a special temperature and humidity.

Lee stated, “We tend to choose convenience, but now that we are being affected by serious environmental pollution, the practice of preventing this is growing. In Korea, large corporations are participating in reducing the unnecessary use of plastic bags and removing plastic labelling. If we only pursue convenience, the change will not only affect us but also all living things on our planet. So, I started zero-waste soap production because I wanted to do my small part [to help protect the environment].” She also recommended that we use a citric acid and water solution for general disinfection and cleaning at home.

Lee said that instead of having new products, she prefers to develop better recipes for her soap. She does not want to be too ambitious with her workshop either. “My workshop is small, so not many people know of it. But I hope that in the future, Orsoap will be known whenever people think about soap workshops in Gwangju.” She added that since her products are no longer just soap, she plans to start branding her products as “Osarop,” an anagram of “Orsoap.”

As I left that cozy Orsoap room and Lee, the sweet fragrance of the soap lingered. I returned home having gained more knowledge of not just chemistry but also of how I can do my small part in making a contribution to saving our planet.

Photographs by Kim Hillel Yunkyoung. Special thanks to Ki Hyunsoo for translation assistance.

The Author

Karina Prananto is from Jakarta, Indonesia, and has been involved with the Gwangju News since 2007. She is a special-needs mother and loves Harry Potter, dinosaurs, watching true crime documentaries, and traveling with her family.

Orsoap (오아솝)

Address: 2F, Yuanchodeungbuk-gil 7-16, Nam-gu, Gwangju 광주 남구 유안초등북길 7-16 (2층) Open Hours: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. (Class consultation hours: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.) Telephone: 010-6838-2465 Kakao Channel: Orsoap(오아솝) Instagram: @orsoap_official Website: https://blog.naver.com/orsoap_official