All About Soap

Hi all,

So today I wanted to discuss different types of personal bar soaps as well as their potential benefits to people of all skin types.

The past few years I've been trying different types of soaps nearly every time I buy it. I was raised with the typical Dove unscented soap (that isn't actually soap) and had shied away from the more traditional soaps that left a residue on my skin (that squeaky clean feeling? Yeah, not a joke.) However as I developed more severe allergies I began looking into different soaps that would work well with my skin and perhaps alleviate some of my symptoms.

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To be called a 'soap' you need to have specific ingredients and go through a specific process. It must be made with fats or natural oils as well as a strong alkali such as sodium hydroxide. Things can also be added to this basic formula such as perfumes, dyes, antibacterial and antimicrobial compounds. The most typical fats used in making soap are olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, tallow, and lard. However nut butters an other food grade additives can be added depending on the needs of the user.

I've been finding my soaps in the natural food section of my local grocery store as well as in online boutiques that specialize in soap. By buying products made by a specialist, I feel I am getting a superior product, one made with care an love. These soaps tend to be cold processed soaps, meaning that they use no additional heat sources when making the soap. Cold process soaps are made with the ingredients listed above, but can be made with any mixture to vary the lather and bubbles. For example, adding more coconut oil into the soap will lead to large fluffy bubbles while adding pure olive oil will lead to small, slippery bubbles.
Hot process soaps are similar in recipe to cold process soaps except for the fact that the chemical reactions tend to occur faster than in cold process soaps an the soap ends up smoother to the touch. Many prefer hot process soaps due to the smooth feeling, but in reality it doesn't matter much.

As for ingredients, I would suggest looking for a soap with a fat base you know you have no issues with. For example, I know I have no issues with coconut oil and most other vegetable oils so I tend to look for soaps with those as a base.

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I also suggest avoiding certain ingredients when looking for a daily use soap. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate works as a detergent and while it does a wonderful job of breaking up oils, it sometimes does too good of a job and breaks up the oil barrier of your body, leaving your skin susceptible to other potential allergens and drying it out. Paraben allergies are quite rare, but because they are so common and used so often, it wouldn't be uncommon to have a reaction to one type or another. It should also be noted that a 2004 study in the UK linked parabens to breast cancer after finding trace amounts of the chemicals in tumor biopsies. (source) No other study has confirmed this fact, but I always advise a 'better safe than sorry'  approach to skin care. Finally, the most common fragrance allergy is one to Balsam of Peru, a very common additive due to its properties as a fixative and it's main ingredient being Cinnamein, a largely documented potential allergen. 

On general principal I also advise against using soaps that have antibacterial additives. Bacteria is good for you, and by killing everything on our body we are just encouraging 'super bug' generation and bacteria growth that is resistant to antibiotics. According to the NIH  "Superbugs are strains of bacteria that are resistant to several types of antibiotics. Each year these drug-resistant bacteria infect more than 2 million people nationwide and kill at least 23,000" Also, don't worry about if your soap is pH balanced or not. Our skin by itself doesn't have a typical pH and the pH of our sweat can depend on our gender, temperature, time of day, activity level, and more. Labeling something as pH balanced is just a marketing term. 

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Right now I'm on a goat milk soap kick, I really love how moisturized it makes my skin feel after using it, and I love supporting local farmers and craftspeople by buying these soaps local. I get mine though Sister's Soap and truly love their Lilac scented soap. Lilac is one of my favorite scents and they really hit the nail on the head with their mix of oils. 

So all in all, be mindful of what you're putting on your body and try to branch out to try new things you've never tried  before! You just might love it. 

Until next time.

Megan