A simple bar of soap

Written By Julie Matola

Soap making is an ancient tradition. Some people even remember the old process of using animal fat as the natural lye. At the Yankee Peddler last year, Helga was my booth neighbor. She told me how before she fled from Russia during the war, no one was able to come by soap so they boiled animal fat to make their own. Mind blown. Not that long ago folks were doing this. Using natural materials to create all of their home and food goods. Helga also told me (a few times) to stay fit for my husband.

The age of the super market took over as mass production and ‘convenience’ items came into the scene and exploded. Cheaper, faster items with marketing to make you think you needed whatever it was to make your life better. ahem…the plastic water bottle, sigh.

IMAGE from my Better Home and Gardens Heritage Cookbook

And the General Store of BEFORE. No wonder I like Farm Markets! IMAGE from my Better Home and Gardens Heritage Cookbook

My preteen daughter pulled me into the Bath and Body Works recently. It was her birthday and she wanted to spend her money at the mall. Ohkay fine but just quickly please. I took this opportunity to do some research of course. I looked at how they marketed using all of the senses. You see all the pretty patterned packaging in collections (I understand the appeal as a product designer) though it’s A LOT. The full wall video screen ‘lifestyle’ behind the checkout flashed. You can try products at the sink, smell them with the try-me samples and the music pumped upbeat and slightly manic tunes. After a relatively short period of time, I needed to escape… desperately. And though my daughter knows all the reasons why I don’t want her or our family to use products like this, she still desires them. Maybe it’s the popular thing to do? Maybe it’s the pretty packaging and menagerie of scents? I’m not sure. I do know the store was busy and it made me sad. I looked at the majority of products and the number 1 ingredient in most was water. They are literally selling water with fragrances, chemical sudsing agents and preservatives in pretty plastic bottles for high costs. Not just the price but our health. When we walked out of the store we both had headaches, the sinus kind on your forehead and temples thanks to the ‘undisclosed mixture of chemical scents’ called fragrance.

A BIT OF GREENWASH MARKETING

So I took one of the products, a bath wash, to break down the ingredients list. When I read the ingredients, I don’t even have to know that it’s yucky, but here goes…

OKAY SO NO SULFITES OR PARABENS BUT 42 INGREDIENTS!

42 Ingredients!

  • #1 WATER (sweet, need more of that in the bath or shower for sure!)

  • Cocamidopropyl betaine (synthetic surfactant associated with skin allergies)

  • sodium methyl cocoyl taurate seems okay, it’s a salt derived from coconut fat

  • fragrance (parfum) undisclosed mixture of chemical scents. Scores high for allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress and potential effects on the reproductive system.

  • SODIUM LAUROYL METHYL ISETHIONATE (not much research)

  • SODIUM LAUROYL ISETHIONATE (some kind of salt and not much data)

  • OLETH-10 (synthetic polymer…enough said)

  • ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE (finally, I know this one! thumbs up aloe =good)

  • GLYCERIN (naturally occuring, also good!)

  • PEG-120 METHYL GLUCOSE TRIOLEATE (thickener or emulsifier)

  • PHEDXYETHANOL (preservative can cause skin irritation)

  • HYDROXYACETOPHENONE

  • PROPYLENE GLYCOL (skin conditioning agent associated with allergic contact dermatitis

  • PALTHENOL (B5- could be good)

  • PEG-33 (high contamination concerns)

  • TETRASODIUM EDTA (a chelating agent. ewe.)

  • PEG-8 DIMETHICONE

  • PROPANEDIOL

  • POLYSORBATE 20

  • PEG-14

  • PPS-12-BUTETH-16

  • CITRIC ACID

  • CAPRYLYL GLYCOL

  • DECYLENE GIYCOL BHT

  • PEG-150 PENTAERYTHRITYL TETRASTEARATE

  • PG-26-BUTETH-26

  • PEG-6 CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC GLYCERIDES

  • PEG-40 HYDROGENATED CASTOR OIL

  • ETHYLHEXYL METHOXYCINNAMATE

  • SODIUM HYDROXIDE

  • ETHYLHEXYL SALICYLATE

  • BUTYL METHOXYDIBENZOYLMETHANE

  • ALPHA-ISOMETHYL JONONE

  • BENZYL SALICYLATE

  • BENZYL SALICYLATE

  • HEXYL CINNAMAL 14701

  • TRONELLO

  • RED 38 (CL 17/200

  • RED 4 (CI14700)

  • RED 40 (CI 16035)

  • YELLOW 5 (CI 19140)

  • EXT. VIOLET 2 (CI 60730)

Okay, I got down to the first 15 ingredients searching them up on the EWG Skin Deep site. Check the rest out for yourselves on their site HERE or be scared and just stay away from anything with this many ingredients!

Care to see the ingredient list for my GREEN BAR?

7 INGREDIENTS, that’s right, seven.

7 Ingredients!

  • EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

  • DISTILLED WATER

  • COCONUT OIL

  • SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE)

  • FRENCH GREEN CLAY

  • ORGANIC EUCALYPTUS ESSENTIAL OIL

  • ORGANIC TEA TREE OIL

Julie Matola
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