To soap or not to soap? ...
That is the question
Every week I meet individuals, who have an issue with their skin. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brother, sons, daughters and friends …skin issues have become an everyday concern for millions of people…and that’s just in Australia!
Dry, flaky itchy, red, blistered cracking skin! Scratching all night, suffering all day, it is with us constantly. And if we are not the one affected we are sleeping next to someone who is, they are not sleeping and either are we!
So what can we do? Well let’s first look at what I view as the number one cause of many skin issues…SOAP!
Caustic Soda and Our Skin
Caustic soda is used in ALL bars of soap, whether it is the cheap bar you buy at the supermarket, or a luxurious handmade ‘natural’ one you buy from a boutique store. Caustic soda is an alkaline ingredient which has a high pH level.
Brian Mclean, chemist and co-founder of Tri Nature, tested over 100 different soaps. What he found was that most bars of soap had a pH over 9. The lowest of all 100 was bought at the gift shop at Buckingham Palace with a pH of 8.7! Who would have thought!
Our skins pH is 5.5-6!
So what’s does pH mean? It is a figure expressing the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. A pH of 7 is neutral. Anything above this is alkaline, whilst anything below is acidic. Our skin’s pH is around 6 which means it is slightly acidic. To use a product that is extremely alkaline on our skin such as a bar of soap means we are more likely to see irritation occuring.
We all have a protective layer on our skin called the acid mantel. This helps promote important micro flora as well as protect our skin. Using soap will damage and strip this protective layer leaving it open to bacteria that can cause dry or extremely damaged skin. See Example (Right)
My eldest son Chris has had eczema since he was two. We went to doctors, naturopaths, homeopaths the lot! We changed his diet, crushed tablets for him to eat and nothing seemed to make a difference. That is until I started bathing him in a soap replacement and used a laundry powder with no soap. His skin started to clear up very quickly. And it was obvious that it was the soap that was the major irritant for him. To this day at aged 31, there is still only one type of laundry powder and body wash he can use!
Apart from it being a skin irritant there are other important reasons to rid soap from your life
No More Soap Scum
Who loves cleaning? Not me! Did you know that the mould in your bathroom is caused by soap? And that soap is in most of the products we use in the bathroom?
Shampoos, hand wash, body soaps, it is also in most brands of hand dishwashing liquid and laundry products. Eliminate soap and you not only get rid of many skin issues but also hours of cleaning the shower, basin and kitchen sink!
When we renovated our place over 17 years ago, we used no soap products in the shower or bath after the renovation. Apart from a wipe down every so often, I did not need to clean the shower or bath for six months because there was no build-up of the scum caused by soap!...YES six months!
Anyone with a Septic system or other water treatment systems will know soap scum can cause all sorts of problems: the right products must be used to maintain the integrity of these water systems.
There is also the environmental impact of soap usage to consider. Soap residue does not easily dissolve, therefore contributes heavily to the destruction of the fragile eco systems in our waterways.
What’s the alternative to soap? How can we eradicate soap from our lives without spending a lot of money and lots of time sourcing a substitute?
That’s where I come in. I offer a range of products that are gentle and safe for everyone AND our planet. By using our laundry range, hand wash and body products, in a short time your skin will improve and in some cases the issue will be completely gone.
Footnote...
When it comes to problems with our skin there are a number of things we need to address; Do the products contain?
- Petrochemicals
- Strong fragrances
- austics
Filler