Benefits of Natural Soap

Why choose natural, handmade soap over its commercial counterpart? Listed below are some common chemicals in everyday soaps and detergents:

Sodium Laurel/Laureth Sulfate (SLS and SLES) - Chemical compounds found in virtually every commercial soap, shampoo, detergent, toothpaste, and other products we expect to "foam up".  Both chemicals are esters of sulphuric acid and are incredibly effective foamers known as surfactants.  So effective, in fact, that SLS is the same substance you would find in a car wash or auto garage where it is used to degrease car engines!  It's a known skin irritant that can cause a dry, itchy scalp, dandruff, and even corrosion of hair follicles, which can lead to hair loss.  In the same manner that it can dissolve oil on a car engine, SLS can dissolve the oil on your skin, which causes a drying effect and even denatures proteins of the skin. 

DEA/MEA/Parabens - These are ammonia derivatives which have known hormone disrupting effects:  diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamine (TEA) and monoethanolamine (MEA).  DEA is a surfactant, corrosion inhibitor, and known skin irritant.  TEA has been directly linked to tumor growth in mice and is considered to be toxic to multiple aquatic species.  MEA is documented to cause eye and skin burns and can cause irritation to the respiratory tract.  If accidentally ingested, it can cause chemical burns of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach.  Parabens fall under a class of chemicals that are commonly used as preservatives in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.  They have been found to weakly mimic estrogen and are known to cause skin irritation, contact dermatitis, and rosacea in those with paraben allergies.  In recent years, questions have been raised as to the possible link between parabens and certains cancers. 


Petroleum-Based Additives (including mineral oil) - Commonly found in personal care products marketed toward dry skin, petroleum-based products actually trick the body into thinking that the skin is moisturized, causing it to stop the production of natural body oils. In reality, these additives do not effectively nourish the skin, rather cover it in a relative moisture barrier that does not permit the skin to adequately breathe and creates a false feeling of hydration. The result is skin that becomes dependent upon external products to maintain moisture and keep it hydrated due to a lack of production of its own nourishing oils.