Wait! Do You Know What’s in that Pretty Bar of Soap?
It’s difficult to tell by just looking at a bar of soap why one might be a better choice than another. On the outside, many soaps look the same. In fact, some store-bought soaps, with their bright colors and strong perfumes, may seem more enticing than the more demure looking, handmade bars. And that’s why it’s important to know who made that bar of soap and what ingredients they put into it.
A typical store-bought soap contains many of the same ingredients as a hand-crafted bar of soap: oils, fragrances, and colorants (although we never add colorants to our soaps), but that’s where the similarities end.
In order to make their soaps less expensive to make, easier to manufacture in large batches, and able to remain stable for long periods of time in storage or shipping, many soap manufacturers add a variety of ingredients that are either questionable or downright unhealthy to use on your skin.
- Many store-bought soaps contain synthetic preservatives, such as tetrasodium EDTA and trisodium etidronate, which irritate eyes and mucous membranes. Butylhydroxytoluene (BHT), another commonly used preservative, is controversial and has been suspected of causing asthma and cancer.
- Store-bought soaps often contain synthetic detergents and lathering agents, such as sodium isethionate. While synthetic detergents help generate more suds, they are often harsh and irritating to your skin.
- Surfactants, which help lower the surface tension between water and dirt, are useful in helping soap make you cleaner, but synthetic surfactants are often manufactured from petroleum and a variety of petrochemicals, which are harsh and irritating for skin, and have many environmental concerns.
- Many commercially produced soaps also contain synthetic hardeners. These help make the soap easier to store and ship, but have no benefits for you or your skin and may also be irritants.
- Many commercially produced soaps contain unsustainable or unethical ingredients like palm oil, or synthetic fragrances or colorants that have been tested on animals.
By contrast, hand-crafted soap like our goat milk soap contains just the minimal, pure ingredients that you want, like ethically sourced oils, pure essential oils, and untreated milk from our own pasture-grazed goats. it’s everything you want in a bar of soap and nothing more.
