Going to natural soaps?

[anoop]

anoop, you know the weight of one of those?

Alas, there is no weight printed on it.

To give you an idea of size, it measures about 2.875" in diameter and 0.875" in thickness.

By contrast, the travel size which is listed at 0.9 oz on the website measures 2.25" in diameter and about 0.31" in thickness.

Further, doing the math using volume calculations (pi x r^2 x h), it looks like the weight of the regular soap would be ~4.15 oz.

 

[DougK]

Was doing a little research on "Natural" soap and came across this company and site info. I'm not affiliated with the company nor have I even ordered any of their products, but merely found this info interesting...
The Myths we will debunk:
10. Body oils need to be removed in order to have clean skin.
9. The best soaps are pH balanced.
8. Antibacterial soap is better than regular soap.
7. Soap made with chemicals is bad for your skin.
6. If you can’t pronounce it, it shouldn't go on your skin.
5. Lye soap is harsh.
4. Soap can be made without lye.
3. Castile soap is 100% olive oil.
2. Soap making is difficult and expensive.
1. Soap can’t be “all-natural” since it doesn't exist in nature.

Very informative, thanks for linking to that article.

 

[lloydrm]

Thanks anoop.

 

[Javelin]

This is inaccurate and misleading. There are plenty of "natural" essential oils that are irritants and harmful and synthetic fragrance molecules that are nature identical and innocuous.

You have a point in that some folks may be sensitive even to natural scents.

But I disagree that synthetics are safe.

Additionally, some products that claim to be natural might not be, because there is no regulation for being allowed to use the word "natural" to describe a product. So really, the only way to go about this is to buy from a reputable manufacturer.

The whole natural vs. synthetic debate is debating the wrong thing. Arsenic is natural. Does that mean it's good? Does it mean it's bad? The truth is its both. There are many ways to fabricate a scent, and the set of ways likely differs with the scent you're trying to duplicate. As eyebright said, there are plenty of natural oils that are irritant and plenty of synthetically fabricated oils which aren't.

Most quality artisan soap makers need to use both essential oils and fragrance oils depending on what they're trying to accomplish. The key is understanding which ones to use and why. I don't have that knowledge, and most of us don't. It's just easier for us to throw things into identifying buckets (like essential oil vs fragrance oil) and label them good or bad; because actually understanding it is difficult.

Buy from soap makers you trust, and don't be afraid to let them know if some product does cause you irritation. The more shared knowledge we have the better for everyone!

 

[anoop]

Buy from soap makers you trust, and don't be afraid to let them know if some product does cause you irritation. The more shared knowledge we have the better for everyone!

How do you find someone you trust? The only thing we have to go by are marketing materials and maybe some independent reviews.

 

[Javelin]

How do you find someone you trust? The only thing we have to go by are marketing materials and maybe some independent reviews.

There's a number of vendors who actively post here or have facebook pages. Most artisan soap makers would be happy to spend a little time explaining what they use in their soap, and might help steer sensitive skin folks to the products their skin might like the most. As another bonus, many of them have samples you can try.

 

[TheDude82]

KMF olive oil soap is really good and really cheap. I picked up a 3 pack on amazon for $5. I also like NaturOli soap. Check out Soap Nuts, you can use them for everything.

 

[eyebright]

How do you find someone you trust? The only thing we have to go by are marketing materials and maybe some independent reviews.

You have to be skeptical of exaggerated marketing material claims for the efficacy of products (and a serious soapmaker will not make medical claims for their products). If you are into artisan product, try different ones and see what works best for you.

 

[anoop]

KMF olive oil soap is really good and really cheap. I picked up a 3 pack on amazon for $5. I also like NaturOli soap. Check out Soap Nuts, you can use them for everything.

I've heard a lot about soap nuts but have never tried them. How well do they work in the laundry compared to seventh generation laundry detergent?

 

[mretzloff]

I love the term "natural".

 

[eyebright]

I've heard a lot about soap nuts but have never tried them. How well do they work in the laundry compared to seventh generation laundry detergent?

If you make a boiled decoction of the soap nut hulls, and then put it in a jar and shake it, you'll see the foaming effect (that's how it's prepared to use as a shampoo, btw). But the way they're usually used in the washer is just to put a few of the nuts in a little cloth bag and add it to the wash. They don't really make many suds in the washer (so they're perfect for front loaders). You have to wash fewer clothes at a time because they need to have room and enough water to work well. I used to sell them at my market and still use a decoction of them in one of my shampoo bars. Customers who bought them usually had a medical reason for wanting to get away from using detergents or soap, or were just curious. I used them for a while, they worked pretty well and leave your clothes feeling incredibly soft. But if you're used to thinking of suds = clean, you might wonder if they're working. It's cheap to get a sample and try them, see what you think. In the end, they weren't a big enough seller for me to continue to stock them and it took too much time to explain them to curious customers.

 

[anoop]

I love the term "natural".

Funny and sad at the same time. This is nice post about the state of the organic industry.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30703.cfm

 

[MilfordNJGuy]

There's a number of vendors who actively post here or have facebook pages. Most artisan soap makers would be happy to spend a little time explaining what they use in their soap, and might help steer sensitive skin folks to the products their skin might like the most. As another bonus, many of them have samples you can try.

Yes, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have about soapmaking! The one thing I learned very early on is that there is a lot of information about handcrafted soapmaking out there on the Internet but not all of it is correct and much of it is unsupported opinion not based on fact. As you may knows, soap is a product not covered by the FDA so one needs to use caution in purchasing handmade soap. Reading the ingredients list is essential and paying attention to claims made by the soapmaker is another crucial thing to do when selecting a handcrafted soap for your use. If you have any questions feel free to ask either here or on my forum here and I will be happy to answer your questions!

 

[Tripnastic]

I've been using soap from a company called The Mod Cabin for a while now. I use it as a shower soap and a shaving soap. I had some dry skin issues that it's helped with too. Pretty good stuff and the vendors have been great to deal with -

http://themodcabin.com/product-category/soap/