Your skin
is the largest organ of your body, and chemicals are absorbed through the
skin. The skin does such an excellent job of absorbing things,
that medicinal “patches” use this same principle. These patches are
placed on the skin instead of the medicine taken orally or some other
way. So whatever you put on your skin and scalp affects your entire body!
Soap is one of the most often
used products in our lives. It can be easily called an essential item in any household.
You can see soap in all kinds of varieties. And all of those varieties serve
different but the same purpose - soap is there to clean. Doesn’t matter what it
is - your hands, your body, your dishes, and your car. We think of all those
cleaning agents that help us remove dirt as basically soap.
The truth is of course that all that soap is
not the same. It’s not the same on a surface, has different smells, different
shapes, comes in liquid, powder and hard form. But the main difference of
course is inside. All those “soaps” have different chemical formula and
different properties. They are manufactured differently and different
ingredients are used. You wouldn't be surprised to find out that detergent to
wash your clothes is different than your hand soap bar. So the question is how
natural soap bar is different from a regular commercially made bar of soap.
Soap that we buy now in supermarkets is closer to powdered detergent than to traditional soap. With technological advances modern cleaning agents surpassed traditional soap in ability to remove oil and dirt. They are also less expensive to produce in large amounts. It may sound like new commercial soap being better, less expensive, more colorful and smelling better is just an improvement overall compared to traditional soap that your grandmother used to use. But it is not true. Driven by profits in mass markets commercial soap industry reduces the cost of soap disregarding some of the essential aspects and effects of using soap on your skin everyday.
Soap is the product of a chemical reaction that occurs when mixing oils
and lye, along with some water. The process is called “saponification,” in
which the lye has been processed to help form the soap itself – there is no lye
after this chemical reaction.
Natural handmade soap bars keep all the good stuff including
glycerin and nonsaponified oils to moisturize your skin naturally. There are
also no other harsh chemicals or chemical preservatives added to create colors,
smell and longevity. You wouldn't find such things as parabens (linked to
Breast cancer), sodium lauryl sulfate (skin irritant) in natural soap. But you
would find them in almost all soap bars commercially produced.
The
power of the billion dollar marketing industry is unbelievable. Millions and
millions of people fall prey to catchy slogans, hidden messages, vivid imagery,
and well-thought out wording. I mean, if we didn’t, the big conglomerates of
today wouldn’t exist. The world of skin care is cut-throat. Everyone is out to
make a buck and have you think that you are getting the most “natural” product
available. This simply isn’t so. Especially in the skin cleanser business.
Handmade
soaps cost more to produce than commercial soaps mainly the cost of material
and the time and labor involved in producing a handmade soap. Naturally,
natural ingredients used in handmade soap are more expensive than synthetic
ingredients used in mass-produced commercial soaps. Furthermore, the labor-intensive cold-pour process
coupled with the lengthy air-curing process to deliver a long lasting bar of
soap contributes to the higher cost.
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Commercial
detergents
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Natural
Soap
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The
soap Making process
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Detergents
are manufactured by combining chemicals (including petroleum) in a slurry
mixer. The mixture heats up on its own as a result of two chemical reactions.
Once the mixture heats to a certain temperature it is dried using a vacuum
chamber and an atomiser. The resulting powder is then mixed with various
other ingredients to form the final product. Imaging, you use all this on your skin everyday!!
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Natural
soap is made from a chemical reaction between water, lye (also known as
sodium hydroxide), and fats and oils. These fats and oil are turned into soap
and glycerin by a chemical process called Saponification. This process, when
completed properly, leaves you with pure soap, glycerin, and some residue
from the natural ingredients in the individual recipe. Handmade soap is almost always made in
small batches. You won’t find huge “handmade soap” factories out there.
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Ingredients
STORE-BOUGHT
“SOAPS” CONTAIN HARMFUL INGREDIENTS
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Here
is the ingredient list from a popular “natural beauty bar”: Sodium tallowate,
sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium cocoate, sodium laurel sulfate, water,
sodium isethionate, stearic acid, coconut fatty acid, fragrance, titanium
dioxide, sodium chloride, disodium phosphate, tetrasodium EDTA, trisodium
etidronate, BHT, FD&C blue no. 1, D&C red no. 33. These chemicals
that make up the “beauty bar” are doing more harm than good. They are incredibly drying to start and can often
slow down the body’s ability to fight off bacteria or heal from cuts and
scrapes. More alarmingly, some of these ingredients are known to harm the nervous system, interfere
with human development, and disrupt hormones. the above example is one of the
“better” commercial beauty bars. It has a rather short ingredient list
compared to most commercial detergents. There are all kinds of other super
scary ingredients thrown into skin cleaners including anti-bacterial agents like Triclosan. It is classified as a
pesticide by the EPA and as a drug by the FDA. The EPA considers it a
possible risk to human health and to the environment. Triclosan can pass
through skin and is suspected of interfering with hormone function (endocrine disruption). The extensive
use of triclosan in consumer products may contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Let’s not forget about petroleum
which makes its way into almost every skin detergent. Petroleums are added in
under the auspices of being “moisturizing.” After all, it would appear to act
as a barrier, locking in moisture. In reality, pretroleum is incredibly
drying as it acts like a de-greaser
removing the skin’s natural moisture and oils. Petroleum can be contaminated
with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Studies suggest that exposure
to PAHs is associated with cancer. PAHs can also cause skin irritation and
allergies.
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A
natural handmade soap is well, completely natural. It may or may not be
organic but it definitely will not have a single synthetic ingredient in it!
Essential oils, natural butters, and other natural oils can be added in to
change the benefits of the soap as well as the natural scent. There is
nothing else in there. No preservatives, no synthetic fragrances, no chemical
compounds, nothing! Just pure, natural ingredients from Mother Earth. They
all come from the earth. And they are all incredibly nourishing for your
skin. Most importantly, they lock moisture in, help keep the skin’s protective
barrier intact, and offer healing benefits.
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Glycerin
And pH Confusion
- It is a common
misconception that commercial cleansing bars contain glycerin. Not true.
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The
commercial detergent manufacturers usually extract glycerin to use it for
lotions and other such skin care products. Glycerin is expensive and
commercial detergent manufactures would rather include it in the more
expensive products. Think about that dry and cracked bar of soap that stood
there in your bathroom for too long. That’s because all the glycerin has been
stripped from it to make more expensive products such as moisturizing creams
and lotions. If that’s what it looks like after a few weeks, just imagine
what it will do to your skin!
Detergent
bars usually have Free Alkali in them, a means of lowering the pH level. This
is also what makes them harsh and drying. Basically, the manufacturers are
allowing there to be some left over alkali in the soap. This is good for
shelf life and increases lather, but is too drying for skin. Free alkali will
find every last bit of natural oils in your skin and saponify them (turn them
into soap), leaving you dry and “squeaky clean”.
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A
high quality organic handmade soap will always have glycerin in it. This is a
compound that soothes and moisturizes the skin. Since glycerin can draw
moisture out from the air and into the skin, it helps the skin to remain soft
and moist for a long period of time, which generally doesn’t occur when using
detergent based, mass-produced cleansers.
Natural
soaps contain a pH level around 9-10. It is a complete fallacy that soaps and
cleansers must have a pH level that matches with that of the human skin.
Healthy skin, cared for with products free of chemicals, will rebalance
itself within an hour or two of cleansing.
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Here
at EarthBabyNatural our
mission is to keep the best that soap has to offer and give you an option to
use a better and healthier product that is natural, simple and honest. All
Natural soap bars displayed here are made from highest quality natural
ingredients to make sure that your skin is getting the best care possible. Our
collection of natural soap with various flavors and scents will gently clean
and moisturize your skin without any harm from chemicals and harsh ingredients.
6 Benefits of using natural soap:
• Helps to
hydrate and soften dry skin.
• Allow
your skin to ‘breathe’ more freely.
• Rich in
vitamins and anti-oxidants that helps nourish the skin.
• The
natural glycerin present in organic soaps moisturizes and nourishes the skin
and is suitable for all skin types.
• Helps to
reduce blemishes and scars.
• Helps
reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
• Your skin
will feel healthier and firmer after just a few weeks
Snap
preview of our product:
