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Why I'm Switching to Homemade Soaps


I spent the last weekend visiting a friend in Whispering Pines, North Carolina. I had always heard her talk about the natural soaps that she made as gifts and I was very interested in seeing how the process worked. She eagerly whipped out all of her supplies and turned the kitchen of her home into an all-natural soap production line. 

I really enjoyed the process and spending time with her whole family as we made each soapy loaf. Assessing the quality of each product that we used got me thinking about the quality of the products that we use everyday. We all want to do what is best for ourselves personally. But how often do we stop to think, what are the ingredients in this product I'm putting on my body? Are they natural? Are they organic? Does it contain anything that could be harmful?

 Admittedly, I was someone who had just that morning washed their face with an over the counter Neutrogena type gel of which I had no idea the ingredients.  I noticed myself selecting the essential oils labeled organic and the higher quality soap bases as I decided what my soaps would contain. 

 So why are we so quick to trust commercial soap manufacturers to make the right decisions about high quality ingredients? I have always had very sensitive skin, and usually stick to what i know works. A quick search of the Dove website revealed whats really inside the soap "Natural Pink Beauty Bar" I use everyday:

 
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate and/or Sodium Palmate, Sodium Isethionate, Lauric Acid, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Propylene Glycol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Red 4, Red 33, Titanium Dioxide.


To be fair, Dove is one of the better products that is commercially available on the market today.  There is a great app available called "Think Dirty" if you are interested in knowing exactly why specific ingredients are harmful to your health, but i won't go into detail at length on that here. Suffice it to say, you don't really know what is in the products that you are using everyday and you can't just trust that the company's making these products have the best interests of your health in mind. 


This even had me questioning some of the ingredients that i used in my own homemade soaps. While the color that we added was food grade, not even the FDA has banned many known or suspected carcinogenic food dyes. The fragrance of our soaps came from essential oils, but we had both organic and non-organic oils to choose from. Why do i care if my essential oil is organic you may ask... Non-organic essential oils are extracted from plants that may have been grown with pesticides. You are, in turn, washing yourself in pesticides by choosing a fragrance that is not organic. 


Is the color and smell of your soap important enough to you that you are willing to take the risk?
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