Greetings from a little town no one seems to know exists

[earlene]

It sounds like you're under the impression my information is outdated? It's only recently that I've taken any health sciences in college, and my interest in skin issues started just a couple of years ago.

No, I am pointing out MY education maybe outdated. But I made no assumptions about anyone else's education, only pointing out scientific knowledge continues to evolve. I am sorry that you read my post in a negative way. That was not my intent.

 

[dixiedragon]

Welcome to the forum! To me, the best natural colorants are clays. I particularly love rose clay. Brambleberry and Nurture Soap both carry clays. And FYI, Nurture has free shipping on colorants if you buy $30. I think it's $30, anyway. You may be able to pick up French Green Clay in a healthfood store, but it seems to really very in greenness from green-gray to gray-green to just gray.

Rose Clay paired with activated charcoal is gorgeous!

In my experience, botanical colorants are a pain, are very unreliable, and tend to fade.

 

[lenarenee]

No, I am pointing out MY education maybe outdated. But I made no assumptions about anyone else's education, only pointing out scientific knowledge continues to evolve. I am sorry that you read my post in a negative way. That was not my intent.

No I didn't read it in a negative way at all!! I was confused by it, so asked for the clarification. (These typed words have no personality sometimes so I need help deciphering the "tone"!)

 

[dixiedragon]

Here are Nurture's clays:
https://nurturesoap.com/collections/clays

And here is a look I love:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/melt-and-pour-soap/charcoal-rose-clay-spa-bar/

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Howdy from a Burb you've never heard of in Colorado! LOL

 

[elurah]

Hi and Welcome to the forum!

I am also drawn to soapmaking and skincare because it allows me to have control over what I put on me. I am more open to using things like ethyl alcohol topically or clorox for home sanitation because I work in healthcare and I am legally obligated to use them there so it's not a huge stretch to use them at home. There is a lot of cool research on iatrogenic microbiota stripping in the gut causing health issues and I can see that applying to other organ microbiomes like the skin too, which is food for thought when it comes to quotidien sanitation in general. Still, I haven't found anything better than clorox for sterilizing my bathroom from all the parasites foster kittens bring with them, and a lot of people use a "light" clorox bath for MRSA decolonization. There is a constant tension reconciling between my physician lens and a "natural" soapmaker lens on these issues, so I am always looking for new research to influence my practice of both.

If you ever want more info on skincare, Swiftcraftmonkey's blog has a great breakdown of the chemistry and utility behind ingredients, and I love her analyses of the ingredients used in popular labels (http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/)

 

[HLN80]

Because I don't share a lot of information I won't tell you where but I will say I'm from GA. I'm from a little town nobody seems to know about if I do tell you. I make my own soap because I don't like garbage going on my family's skin. Skin is the largest organ we have and it takes in what we put on it. I don't like to use poisons and chemicals although I do use essential oils after doing a lot of reading and researching and diluting. I want to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide to keep from barging in on other people's opinions when they start talking about ingesting EOs and even using them neat. My soaps are ugly because I rarely color them and when I do I usually just have a single color because of the ingredients. I would like to color my soaps and make them pretty but I haven't taken the time to learn how to color them using natural ingredients without having adverse reactions somewhere else. I often sound opinionated because I am but I have room to hear your opinions too. My opinions change when they need to and I learn from other people who are smarter than I am all of the time. That is the great thing about reading posts from soapers who have been doing this for any length of time, everyone knows something that I don't.

That's about everything worth knowing. This is a great forum. I've been lurking a while.

You are right about the skin and it's very important to me to use natural ingredients in soaps because we use soap where? In a hot or warm shower, and I think hot water causes the pores to open up and therefore the skin might absorb more of what you put on it during that time. Same as when we are in the sunshine, using chemical filled sunscreen.

 

[Donee']

Actually, I have not read that on the internet. I am not as uneducated as I try to come across online. I have my share of education behind me and your skin is not only an organ, it absorbs quite a bit more than you think it does. On the other hand, you are correct in stating that it protects us. That is the function of our skin. It is our covering or put another way, our skin is our earth suit that we walk around in.

i like you a lot - and i dont care where you live - welcome!!!!!!

Tinlee this (hi and welcome to SMF!) is a topic I'm trying to thoroughly understand. Would you mind sharing the sources of info you have learned from? Especially if you have something on the cell's protein doorways and the molecular size of individual constituents in common soap products. (Those proteins only let in the exact molecular size and polarity.....which is one big factor in why things don't gain cell entry)

Many things aren't aborsbed by the skin, and those that are aren't necessarily a hazard because of the wonderful work of the liver and kidneys. But I'm a long way from knowing what is stored in the body (except for heavy metals). I need to make some new friends in the science field!

I just want to say that the skin has three layers all with different absorbent levels - am I correct in reading that your version of "absorbed" means into the blood stream?

 

[Clarice]

Hey @Tinlee - i live in Alpharetta, not Atlanta - but nobody knows it! I grew up in WI in a town of 1232 people. Everybody knew everybody and chances are were somebody's cousin - increasing chances if you decided to diss said third party in casual conversation! LOL

Welcome - I am in the "skin is a precious organ" camp! I am coloring my soap with things like annatto seed, calendula flowers, kaolin clay, etc. etc. etc. as that is how I tend to prefer my soaps - kinda crunchy.

My nieces would not be caught dead with one of my "plain jane" soaps - they love the bling! Different strokes! It's what keeps every day sod-side-up interesting!

@Donee' three layers......

Epdermis
Dermis
and ??

DANGGIT - should have paid more attention :LOL

 

[Steve85569]

Tinlee was last seen:
Apr 23, 2018

 

[Clarice]

hahahahah! tempest in a teapot then?

Oh well - we got some lively discussion going nonetheless!

It's all good! Or I like to think it is!

 

[Donee']

@Donee' three layers......

Epdermis
Dermis
and ??

DANGGIT - should have paid more attention :LOL

the OTHER dermis dangit

Tinlee was last seen:
Apr 23, 2018

well i hope she has notifications to tell her that her thread has come back to life.

 

[earlene]

sub-cautiousness or hypo-dermis is the lower layer, if you are talking 3 layers. If you are talking 5 layers, there are some who say there are 5 layers and other who say 7 layers. Some fold those additional layers into the the 'original' 3.

 

[msunnerstood]

Welcome! from a town with 7 houses and a Bar that has to borrow a zip code.

 

[lenarenee]

Pulling out my anatomy class notes:

Epidermis: outermost layer, has 4 layers, but no blood supply so the cells of this stratified squamous (epiethelial) tissue obtain nutrients and oxygen through diffusion. the stratum basale, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum and stratum corneum. The part that fascinates me the most is the purpose of the cells to die off through differentiation, ketatinization, and even end up without a nucleus in their cell and can't reproduce. Those dying and dead layers still serve a purpose - protecting from invasion.

Dermis: deepest layer

There's another layer of skin found on your palms and sole of your feet - it has no hair follicles but an extra layer of epithelium called the stratum lucidum that is sandwiched between the stratum granulosum and stratum corneum. This extra layer makes the epithelium of these regions ‘thicker’ than those in other parts of the body.