When I went back to work and started making lots of money, I didn't have enough time at home to continue making every thing from scratch. I started using Body Wash and a pouffie nylon thing. In fact, quite a lot of things changed because I was just too tired or didn't have time. After graduating with my AAS Paramedic and staying at home to volunteer in my community, I had much more time to again make things from scratch. 
Me, at an accident scene. (I certainly needed a shower after this!)
I started making homemade soaps. YUMMY! Out went the nylon pouffy thing and in came my hand-crocheted soft cloths and lovely soaps made from natural oils and botanical ingredients.
All natural Oatmeal & Honey soap
So... lets have the great debate! In one corner, we have the fashionable bottle of body wash. In the other, the rustic, handcrafted bar of soap. Opening the plastic bottle cap, I can smell delightful scents wafting upward from the plastic bottle of body wash. Hmm... "plastic bottle"... wonder how many of these things end up in land fills? How long does it take to recycle, and at what cost? A major concern, lately, is that plastic bottles may also leach chemicals into the product they carry, causing us to be exposed unnecessarily to toxic carcinogens. Looking at the ingredients of my previously favorite way to get clean, I notice that water is the main ingredient. This causes weight and volume meaning more energy and cost involved in transporting body wash to the consumer. The more transportation, the more pollution to our environment.
The average person goes through more than 200 bottles of liquid soap in their lifetime.
Now, in the other corner, we have the traditional bar of soap, but not just ANY bar of soap. This is a handcrafted, natural, artisan bar of soap made with ingredients such as coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, palm oil, lard, sodium hydroxide (lye), essential oils, and earth mica (coloring). It smells deliciously fresh! My favorite is scented with Lilac. This bar of soap weighs 4.5 oz as opposed to the 24 oz bottle of body wash. The packaging for the soap is a simple, handmade, paper cigar band with the soap-maker's logo. If allowed to dry properly between uses, the bar of soap lasts as long or longer than the 24 oz bottle of body wash. The handcrafted bar of soap does not impact the landfills at all. It's lighter so it's much cheaper to transport. It's ecologically sound and healthy for our bodies and the world we live in. It makes your skin feel delightfully refreshed and clean without that dry itchy feeling that so often occurs after using a body wash containing unnatural, synthetic, petroleum-based ingredients.
As for the ingredients on the bottle of body wash, here is a list on the back of the last body wash product I used: Water, sodium hydroxypropl starch phosphate, sodium laureth sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine, lauric acid, petroleum, sodium cocoyl glycinate, glycerin, sodium lauroyl isethionate, fragrance, hydrogenated soybean oil, cocos nucifera (coconut fruit extract), nonfat dry milk, gycine soja (soybean) oil or helianthus annuss (sunflower) seed oil, sodium chloride, steric acid, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, DMDM hydantoin, tallow acid or palmitic acid, sodium isethionate, BHT, tetrasodium EDTA, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, etidronic acid, methylsothiazolinome, Red 33, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5.
Phew!! I had to put on my bi-focals to be able to read all the tiny print! Let's do some further research. When I google some of the above ingredients to see what they're all about, I found some pretty disturbing information. To be honest, some of the ingredients can be identified as healthy ingredients such as a couple of the oils but it's the super long words that give me pause, and there are a lot of them!
Just of few of the strange-sounding ingredients in the body wash I used to use ...
DMDM hydantoin - a preservative that releases formaldehyde which may cause joint pain, cancer, skin reactions, allergies, depression, headaches, chest pains, ear infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, dizziness, and insomnia
Sodium laureth sulfate - Used in car washes, garage floor cleaners, engine degreasers and 90% of personal-care products that foam. Eye damage, depression, labored breathing, diarrhea, skin irritation, and death.
Need I go further? I would a whole lot rather be sudsing up with something that will nourish my skin, protect it, and attract moisture naturally with a fragrant, handcrafted artisan bar of soap than to apply a pretty-smelling carcinogenic cocktail to my skin!
An informed consumer is a intelligent consumer. Thanks for the great blog.
ReplyDeleteI have had many requests over the years " Do you make body wash or Liquid soap / it is so much more convenient than a bar. " So far the ONLY person I create liquid soap for is my future daughter in law. I will continue my allegiance to the BAR.
I make both body wash and liquid soap, but sell much more of the handcrafted bar soaps. I, also, really enjoy a good, wholesome bar of sudsy, natural soap in the shower.
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