My Adventures With Soapmaking: Is It Necessary To Put Drugs In Soaps?

It's important to our health and well-being to keep ourselves clean. About a hundred years ago, cleanliness was a large tub filled with hot water which was heated over a wood-burning stove. Father washed first with a bar of lye soap, then each member of the family, successively. Can you imagine the color/temperature of the water by the time the youngest of a large family plunged in for their bath? Women had very long hair and washed it once, maybe twice a month.

Things have improved so much over the years! How delightful to run clean water from a shower at whatever temperature you desire! We have every kind of body wash or soap in every style, scent, color, design, or substance! We have hand dispensers of soap at every sink in the house. There are antibiotic gels to keep in your purse in case you touch something germie. Even when you go to the department store, there are antibiotic wipes to keep everything nice and sanitary.

I'm sure everyone remembers when we realized that too many antibiotics may not be a good thing. Doctors realized that prescribing antibiotics or injecting antibiotics for viruses or colds over and over again was producing "Super Bugs" ... diseases which were resistant to antibiotics.

Is the same thing becoming true of antibiotic soaps? A very common antibiotic, Triclosan, is added to hand soaps, toothpastes, lipsticks, deodorants, mouth washes, toothbrushes, body wash, etc. Meant to kill off the bad germs which can cause serious skin infections, Scientists are discovering more serious implications to frequent use. Some dangerous bacteria on skin have adapted to the antibiotics in the product and have become antibiotic-resistant. In studies with animals, Triclosan has shown problems with hormonal balances, sperm production, and most alarming ... causing muscle impairment, including heart problems!

Do we even need antibiotics in our soaps at all? The whole objective of cleansing is to remove the grime/bacteria from our skin ... not to kill it. When we apply something dangerous enough to kill the nasties on our skin, we are also killing the very beneficial good, protective bacteria in the natural flora of our skin.

The best option is to totally avoid any skin product containing antibiotics (unless prescribed by your doctor). Natural, handcrafted soaps are the healthiest way possible to gently cleanse your skin and build up the skin's defenses with the rich nutrients we soap-makers include in our recipes. Coconut oil, Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil, and such makes for the best possible skin-loving cleansers to be found!