What’s in your Soap?

My dreams of making my own soap started over 14 years ago, but life as it would be, never allowed it. Two years ago I finally became a soaper.

Scenes from a Soap Class

I recently had the privilege to teach a class on how to make cold process soap. It was an awesome class and I was very grateful for everyone who came. The ladies took home almost three pounds of soap each that they made with their own hands. Seeing them all having a good time and learning the basics was such a rewarding experience. When you make natural soap yourself or support people who do, you know that what you get is real, natural soap with no preservatives or chemicals that you cannot pronounce. No funky perfumes, dyes or harmful stuff period!

Think about it for a minute, your skin is porous and absorbs what you put on it. If you have harmful chemicals in your soap, you have harmful chemicals in your body. Maybe once won’t hurt you but day after day and year after year these toxins can build up in your system and can make you sick. Doing a little research I learned that the active ingredient in antibacterial soap, triclosan, was not proven to stop the transmission of respiratory or gastrointestinal germs and infections.

Cutting homemade soap

A study published by the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy found that it doesn’t do a better job than regular soap. It’s a billion-dollar business that makes money off of society’s fear of germs. When I think about it, I am pretty healthy. Last year I spent time in the hospital with a family member and I used the antibacterial foam they have hanging all over the place. It didn’t help, I had the worst stomach flu ever. Those dispensers are just a false sense of security.

It wasn’t too long ago that Dove soap came under fire because of its advertising as a natural beauty bar. According to its website, Dove contains the following ingredients:

Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate Or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate Or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium Edta, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891)

Do the research yourself, it is the best way to learn. I’m not a judge but to buy any soap that contains tons of chemicals that I cannot pronounce let alone put it on my skin is no longer my way. While I give classes, you can learn about yourself. There are tons of videos on YouTube showing you how. I started with a starter kit from Brambleberry and lots of research. It doesn’t take a long time to make and 4 pound batch of soap gives you about 9? 5 oz bars of soap. One of my biggest thoughts on this is how we, as a society make products so complicated and how many now have the mindset of going back in time to when you made your own stuff. Holistically speaking, making soap with natural ingredients, like olive oil and lavender, now that’s? a step in the right direction.

The Light Ray Center sells homemade natural soap and teaches basic soap making classes in the local area.