A few days ago an article appeared on Yahoo about whether to use soap or not. The article was totally misleading as it insisted that Syndet or the so called Neutral soaps and Glycerin Soaps were good for our skin and so were the face washes and body washes.
I make natural soap at home. The only chemical used is lye and that too is used to change the oils to soap. My face has never looked better. Its never stretchy and dry. Infact it has a soft feel after i shower. Commercial soaps and syndets are the ones that dry your skin. Infact they are suitable only to wash laundry and your toilet. The body washes are a cancerous concoction of chemicals. Most of these chemicals cause hormonal and other systemic problems in people especially young children.
Commercial soaps are made by a process called Hot process which allows the soap to be sold almost immediately after it sets hard (in a day or two). This is the reason why all commercial soaps are highly alkaline . This alkaliniity is what strips the skin of its natural oils causing it to dry out and become stretchy and scaly. Whereas a natural handmade soap is made using the Cold process which retains all the glycerine. And this soap is cured for about a month before its made available for use.
The skin itself has no PH. Ph is a method of measuring potential hydrogen or alkalinity of liquids not solids. Therefore when someone says that the skin is naturally acidic, he is actually measuring the alkalinity of the the various natural skin oils, sweat and the residue on the skin due to natural bacterial activity(The acid mantle). All this tends to make the skin slightly acidic.
A commercially manufactured soap has an average alkalinity of 10.5. This is worsened by the removal of the Natural Glycerine, which is a by product of soapmaking. The glycerine is then sold seperately to companies manufacturing lotions etc. Its an irony that we have to buy lotions made of the same glycerine that was removed from the soap, to moisturize our skin to counteract the drying effect of that very soap. A Natural soap without the addition of extra chemicals has an alkalinity of around 8 to 10. This level of alkalinity usually doesnt cause harm to the skin. Infact the skin assumes its natural acidic nature (acid mantle) soon after a bath. A soap too acidic or too alkaline can cause harm to the skin.
It is unfortunate that hospitals follow a regimen of scrubbing newborn infants with baby body washes (they say its as mild as pure water!! ). The fact that we apply commercial lotions and baby washes on baby skin is totally crazy. Babies do not need synthetic detergent based body washes to clean their tender skin. Neither does it require artificial petroleum based moisturizers. Clean water and maybe a few drops of rose water for fragrance is more than enough. Squeaky clean is for dishes not human skin.
Basically its not soap but the kind of soap you use that really matters. The synthetic detergents and all artificial colours and fragrances are the main culprits leading to all kinds of skin problems like acne, eczema and pigmentation. Soaps which are handmade by the cold process method and which only contain natural essential oils are according to my opinion better for the skin. Thats my experience after making and using handmade soaps myself.
All body washes first strip the natural oils from your skin then it coats the skin with petroleum based moisturizers and silicones present in the same body wash. So you feel as if the body wash is indeed mild. Its all actually a CHEMICAL ILLUSION !!! Shampoos are advertised and claim to cure hair problems that they themselves cause. WHAT AN IRONY!!!! Detergents in shampoos CAUSE hairfall in the first place.
By the way have you ever gotten a prescription by a doctor which say "safe no side-effects"?
So folks stay safe stay healthy.
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