While true, cleanliness is next to godliness, but does godliness require us to harm ourselves in the pursuit of being clean? We need to ask ourselves this question when we study and research the chemical ingredients of major commercial soap brands that many of us, perhaps in our state unconsciousness are using and on a daily basis.
 Commercial soap brands such as Dove, Iris Spring, Caress, Ivory, Dial, Olay, Lever 2000, Zest, Soft Soap, and Kroger contain many deleterious and insalubrious chemicals such as Propylene Glycol and Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) - industrial products.
Commercial brand soaps contain Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS), also known as Sodium Dodecyl and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLFS), for its lathering effect. Oh how we love for soap to lather and foam up. But this chemical called SLS is highly toxic and should be avoided at all costs. It causes eye damage, especially in babies and little children, when it gets into the eyes.
Numerous researchers have known for years that Sodium Laurel Sulfate is a skin irritant. Sodium Laurel Sulfate is used as a laboratory standard for irritating skin and inducing contact dermatitis. Sodium Laurel Sulfate irritates the skin by inflaming it. Many uninformed individuals are exacerbating chronic skin conditions by using soap, harmful soaps.
Again, Sodium Laurel Sulfate (along with Propylene Glycol) is an industrial agent. What are industrial products doing in personal hygiene products? During a bath or shower, we're just washing off dirt, bacteria, and natural oils that the body secretes, not automotive engine oil. So do we really need industrial products like the two named above in our bath and hand soaps?
Most soap brands on the market also contain animal fat. This is important if you are a vegan or one who abstains from consumption and use of animals and animal byproducts. The animal fat used in soap is called tallow.
tallow |ˈtalō|noun. A hard fatty substance made from rendered animal fat, used in making candles and soap.
Commercial brand soaps along with the chemical-laced water we use to shower and bath with, rob our skin of natural body moisture. They remove our natural body oil that our bodies naturally secrete and this is why when we come out of the bath or shower our skin is usually white, dry and ashy, even after we dry ourselves off. This is not a healthy sign at all.
Also, in addition to the harmful soaps we use on our skin during showering and bathing, we are sitting in (during a bath) or gassing ourselves (during a shower) with chemically treated water that contains harmful chemical substances that also enter into our bloodstreams. In some cities, you can smell the chlorine (bleach) in the faucet water.
When I come out of the tub from one of my soaks, my skin is still oily, believe it or not. It literally radiates and that's because I bathe constantly (daily) in oxygenated water and sea salt. You can't go wrong bathing in ozonated water and sea salt, because you're bathing in OXYGEN and ALKALINITY. And it helps to have a shower filter or a bath ball (that removes chlorine and other chemicals in your bath water).
So, alkalinity, oxygen, and purified/filtered water is what my soaks consist off and boy does it make a difference. If you want soft, healthy, and radiant skin, start soaking in sea salt. See our "Sea Salt Soak" article for more information on this soak.
Also, commercial brand soaps like the ones named above contain synthetic chemicals to make them smell a certain way. 'Perfume' as a general word and ingredient means chemically derived fragrance. Commercial brand soaps are using synthetic smells but these synthetic smells are chemically derived from harmful substances and agents.
Any true fragrance will have an origin. Nature's fragrance comes from plants and trees, the blood of these - called essential oils. If your scents of rose, jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, orange, or lavender, for example, does not come from an 'essential' oil, it's derived from a synthetic source which does a disservice to your sense of olfaction. Synthetic smells deaden your sense of olfaction. Anything that gives off a synthetic smell is insalubrious to your health.
Because you are putting soap on your body, you are consuming it. Technically, we are eating whatever we put on our bodies because what we put on our skin enters the bloodstream and circulates throughout our body. However, soap is not food!
"But what about natural brands of soap?" That's a great question. Natural brands of soap are made of or from glycerin, which is plant derived and we can eat plants (and no, I'm not saying we should start eating soap, any kind of soap!).
Glycerin-based soaps are okay to use for bathing and showering purposes. Glycerin is natural, or made from that which is natural (as glycerin is processed).
"How does a natural soap lather and foam, or what makes certain natural soaps really lather and foam up?" Great question! The answer is "Sodium Laurel Sulfate" derived from coconut! That's right! Coconut! If your SLS is organically derived, like from a coconut, you have nothing to worry about.
I used to use a coconut soap that I used to buy from Whole Foods Market about 10 years ago that no longer exists, unfortunately, but it was an awesome soap and produced a great lather and foam. Coconut-based soaps make for some of the best natural soaps, especially if you like foam and lather.
"What are some good or healthy alternative brands of soap we can use since commercial brands of soap are dangerous?"
I'd be remiss if I didn't end this article and give the people knowledge of healthy alternatives of soaps to use, and there are a few from which to choose from and which are available at most local health food stores.
 Good alternative brands of soap include: Kiss My Face, Grandpa, Nubian Heritage, Dr. Bronner's (liquid and bar soaps), Juniper Ridge, Alaffia, EO, Natural Beauty, Mono Tiare Tahiti, South of France, River Soap Company, Organic Grooming, Tom's of Maine, Nature's Gate, and Whole Foods Market (365).
Now while every single ingredient in these brands above may not get a plus from me as being salubrious or even necessary, they are nonetheless far better than what is being used in commercial brand soaps. Believe that!
And by all means, do your research before you make your purchases. Don't rely on me, or others, in the natural health field. Do your homework! Become a conscious consumer! Study up on the things you and/or your family will consume (via the mouth or skin, and if a female, the vagina).
Dherbs.com list these natural soap brand companies above (and a few more not listed above in this article) and their respective website addresses in our must-have "Alternative Diet and Lifestyle Manual" e-book which is a great resource for anyone interested in natural and healthy living.
So, cleanliness is next to godliness, but many soaps are outright made under devilish practices.
Thank you for reading!
This article is compliments of Dherbs.com. |
