Wiener Seife

Wiener Seife soaps are completely handmade using a labour-intensive cold-stirring method. The foundation of every Wiener Seife bar is a purely vegetable base made of high quality, well-foaming coconut oil. The oil is carefully measured and then prepared as the starting fat for the soap. Next, the coconut oil is mixed with a lye solution and stirred gently by hand. Unlike mass-produced industrial soaps, no external heat is added during this stage — instead, the natural chemical reaction between the lye and the oils (known as saponification) generates its own thermal energy to bind the ingredients. This gentle process ensures that all valuable ingredients in the soap are preserved — especially the glycerin (a humectant), which is naturally formed during saponification.

The mass is then refined by stirring in organic care oils, plant extracts, botanicals and fragrant essences such as healing clay, salt, or essential oils in order to give each variety its specific benefits. The soap then undergoes a 72 hour process that alternates between slow stirring and long resting phases to fully mature and thicken. The smooth batter is poured into large block moulds of 50kg to solidify naturally, then hand-sliced into 125g pieces using century-old mechanical soap-cutting machinery preserved from the original workshop.

The bars are then left to air-cure in a well-ventilated space for several weeks, allowing excess moisture to evaporate so the soap becomes hard, gentle, and long lasting. The final step is inspection, before each soap is wrapped in paper.