Natural Soaps are Best

Everyone is just going the herbal way so why should you stick to the harmful synthetic ways of skin care? Have you ever thought of freeing yourself form the trap of chemical loaded product? If not, think now. Just give it a thought that when natural products are easily available and are beneficial then why to go in for the synthetic ones? Natural products are made from various herbs, fruits and vegetables that provide nourishment to skin and help to get rid from blemishes and acne. These products include natural facial masks, face gels, moisturizers, body lotions, natural soaps and many more. The natural soaps are bars made from extracts of different organic materials. These soap bars are free from chemical preservatives and have no side effects or ill effects on skin.

There is nothing we can like more than a bar of natural soap while taking bath. Natural soaps prevent parched feeling your skin gets when you use a synthetic soap rather they hydrate and moisturize your skin. A natural soap contains several ingredients like coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil and aloe Vera gel. Some natural soap bars even contain almonds, tea tree oil, flower extracts and leaves of essential herbs. These soaps not only clean the skin but also make the skin silky, smooth, moisturized and fresh. These soaps are mostly handcrafted and are used for both face and body.

Some natural soap even contain rice bran oil, soy oil and palm kernel oils, exfoliating oatmeal, seaweed and various emollients like jojoba oil and hemp seed oil. Organic soap bars have amazing natural scents of lavender, patchouli, tea tree, eucalyptus, peppermint, citrus, chocolate, orange, strawberry, sandalwood, exotic species and other herbal treasures. These natural soaps help to prevent acne, psoriasis, eczema and other skin problems. Don’t delay. Just choose and grab the one that would suit you best.

Natural Beauty and Organic Castile Soap

If you’ve been following the latest “going green” trends, you might have come across CASTILE SOAP.

What is castile soap?

Castile soap isn’t a brand but a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil rather than animal fat or synthetic substances. The purists feel it should be made from olive oil but there’s a wide variety of castile variants that use oil from plants such as coconut and jojoba. The simple nature of the soap means a lesser environmental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and faster biodegradability.

While castile soaps can have additional synthetic ingredients, usually you will find if it is marketed under that name, it’s a natural sort of product.

This soap is made from vegetable oil and enriched with the addition of coconut oil, oilve oil, almond and jojoba. Doubtless the Vitamin E and UV spectrum present in this soap not only makes it a moisturizer base for bubble bath but also a rejuvenator. An article points out further addition of coconut oil and hemp. But it is not required as this homemade soap has all the natural ingredients in form of emollients required for dry skin.

Castile soap can be flaked and then added to the bubble bath. You can follow this natural bubble bath with a shielding lotion to moisturize dry skin in the most natural way.

Bubble baths are well known to be therapeutic for relieving stress and relaxing. Though the addition of certain ingredients can be harmful for the skin, yet with the addition of essential oils and natural moisturizers it can turn into one of the most functional therapies for individuals with dry skin. The latest and most effective addition to the natural bubble bath is castile soap.

Castile soap - so versatile

Castile soap has many uses aside from washing your skin - it is also known as seafarer’s soap due to its versatility.

You can use an olive oil-based Castile in place of shampoo and skip the conditioner according to some.

It can also be a bonus to skip sorting through the dozens of shampoo brands at the local supermarket trying to translate all the darned. Castile soap can be found in a simple paper based box that also saves on packaging. Another benefit is that castile soap is far cheaper than other fancy label soaps and shampoos!

If you’ve ever tried using normal soap to wash your hair, you might have likely found your hair very dry afterwards, but for some have claimed they do not experience that with castile soap - it’s likely because the glycerin content is retained, whereas in normal soaps much of the glycerin is removed and sold separately in moisturizers.

Liquid castile soap uses

While bar castile soap is amazing stuff, in a liquid form it’s even more versatile.

- Liquid castile soap can be used for a shaving lather

- It can be used as a pet shampoo

- Great for washing clothes and diapers

- General cleaning, diluted and used in a spray bottle

- Heavy duty degreasing

- I’ve heard that pure liquid castile soap can even be used for brushing your teeth! But of course, don’t swallow the stuff. I don’t think it would kill you in small doses but I’m sure it would taste pretty yuk.

- It can also be used in place of dishwashing detergent and even in your automatic dishwasher! “Green” automatic dishwasher detergents are hard to come by, but a Green Living Tips reader, Kathy Stevens, contributed this recipe (Thanks Kathy!):

Ingredients:

1/2 cup liquid castile soap

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

3 drops tea tree oil

1/2 cup white vinegar

Method:

Stir all ingredients together until blended. Store in a squirt top bottle. Use 2 tablespoons per load of dishes, shake well before use.

The Bottom Line on Soap and Cleansers

The Bottom Line on Soap and Cleansers

Soap is the simplest type of surface-active agent - surfactant - and works by making fat and oil water-soluble and easily removed by wiping or washing. Made from fatty acid salts, soaps clean by reducing the surface tension of your skin with anionic agents such as carboxylate, sulfonate and sulfate ions which are potenial irritants.

At one time, it was thought soaps caused irritation by removing only fat from the outermost layer of the skin, but research indicates that soaps damage affects both the fat and protein structures of this top layer. This can cause unpleasant skin reactions and lead to a rougher skin texture. More bad news: the soap salts that emulsify dirt and oil are by nature alkaline and will raise the skin’s acidic pH as well as provoke swelling of the skin surface. Some studies have shown long-term use of a neutral or alkaline surfactant, such as soap, can increase the amount of bacteria on the skin, while swelling can lead to cellular damage or even breakage. Soap salts can also remove natural moisturizing factors and disrupt the skin’s protective barrier. The fatty acids in soap can have harmful effects too, by plugging follicles (pores) and causing acne.

Soaps may also contain fragrance (often to mask the strong odors of surfactants) and sometimes dyes or pigments. These ingredients can be irritating for people with sensitive skin.

Superfatted Soap/Beauty Bars

* Reduce dryness with lanolin, tallow fat, coconut oil, sweet almond oil or glycerin
* Can plug hair follicles
* Disturb the skin’s natural pH
* Can cause dryness and irritation due to anionic surfactants
* May leave a residue on skin

Dermatological Bars/Cakes

* Chemically different from soaps
* May contain additives to minimize the effect on skin’s pH
* May include emollients to reduce dryness
* May contain anti-acne ingredients such as benzoyl peroxide

Liquid Cleansers

* Generally mild and less irritating
* Often contains glycerin, cetyl alcohol or propylene glycol
* Not considered soap, as they have no fatty acids or alkalis
* Have a pH similar to normal skin
* Rinse off well, decreasing potential for skin reactions
* May contain anionic, non-ionic or silicone surfactants
* May leave a fine moisturizing film on the skin
* Effective in removing cosmetics
Anti-Bacterial/Septic Washes

* Similar to liquid cleansers
* Used to treat acne
* May contain alcohol, antiseptic or antibacterial agents such as benzoyl peroxide
* May reduce the presence of bacteria on the skin
* Active ingredients can dry and irritate

Emulsions

* Milky liquid cleansers, cold creams and cleansing creams
* May contain a mixture of mineral oil, petroleum, water, and some waxes
* Often gentle on skin
* May plug follicles
* Do not usually affect the skin’s pH
* Wash and moisturize the skin