Published on August 17th, 2011 | by Guest Contributor

Why Choose Natural Soap?

Soap is soap, right? Absolutely not.

Just like any other product, what’s in it or not makes all the difference. In fact, most commercial soap is not really soap at all, it’s closer to a detergent.

A common byproduct of the soap making process, glycerin, is one of the major benefits of soap. It aids your skin in maintaining moisture. Commercial companies remove it as it reduces the shelf life of their product. To replace the loss, they add back in synthetics and chemicals that may not be the best thing for our bodies.

So, what should we do?

How is a consumer to know?

First and foremost, read the ingredients of anything you consider buying. It shouldn’t be rocket science to understand what is in the products you are using on your skin. Found an unfamiliar ingredient? Do what I did above and look it up. A fantastic source that was used in this post is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database. Just type in an ingredient and it will give you basic information and lists any potential concerns as well as a safety rating. If what you’re purchasing doesn’t list the detailed ingredients, I would skip it.

Let’s look at an example:

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Tags: bath and beauty, detergent, natural shampoo, natural soap, soap

About the Author

Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. :D