Soap is not good for your skin

[Druantia]

Hi,

I'm new to soap making and while I really enjoy the whole process and I'm very excited about soap making, I did a lot of research about how effective and healthy soap is. My question was, is it really that good on your skin? Does it worth the money and the time? Because if there are better alternatives, then I'm not able to do it with all of my heart, and now my feelings are a little uncertain about soap making.

This article sums it up well:
Article about skin and soap

What are your thoughts about this?

The result of my research is that soap in fact is really bad for the skin and its balance because of the high PH (even if you have superfat in the soap).

 

[Carly B]

If you are uncertain, don't do it. And don't use it if you're concerned about it. Making soap is fun, as is trying out what you've made. If it won't be fun for you or if it causes you some concern, then I would focus on doing something else.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

is it really that good on your skin?

There is commercial "soap" and there is handmade soap like we make here. Like many members here, I started making soap because I couldn't find a commercially made soap that didn't irritate my skin.

Does it worth the money and the time?

To me it is. I make "plain jane" soaps suitable for my skin with an emphasis on "sensitive skin" that are also good for most skin types. I make specialty bars on request from friends and family with problem skin issues.

The amount of time and money spent are totally under your control.

Example: My first soaps were made from tallow and/or lard with 10% coconut and 5% castor thrown in to boost lather.
Cost to make: Less than $1 a bar.

There was little information availble online in 2003 when I made my first bar of soap at age 60. I was inspired by a little book, "Making Soap and Scents" by Catherine Bardey that I found in the Bargain Bin at Barnes & Noble. In it, I found a recipe to duplicate a Mild Face Soap that I was buying from DHC, a Japanese Mail-Order catalog for $5 a bar. Over the years, the price had gone up to $12 a bar!!!

When I read that recipe, I said to myself, "I can do that!" And I did. The rest is history.

Soapmaking is a wonderful hobby that is not only practical but keeps giving back over time. I still get excited with anticipation when I put a batch to bed and it gives me great joy every time I unmold a batch.

There's more to soapmaking than the time and money involved.

 

[Obsidian]

Hi,

I'm new to soap making and while I really enjoy the whole process and I'm very excited about soap making, I did a lot of research about how effective and healthy soap is. My question was, is it really that good on your skin? Does it worth the money and the time? Because if there are better alternatives, then I'm not able to do it with all of my heart, and now my feelings are a little uncertain about soap making.

This article sums it up well:
Article about skin and soap

What are your thoughts about this?

I'm not in the least bit concerned about the PH of soap and my skin.
The acid mantle corrects itself soon enough and there is a lot more in the world to worry about.
Personally, my skin has improved since I started use lye soap.

I did have to do a fair amount of experimenting to find recipes my skin liked but I don't think PH has anything to do with it.

 

[dibbles]

I like Humblebee and Me very much. I think the maker, Marie, is thoughtful and does her research. That said, I wonder when the article you linked was written, as she does make soap. The most recent I found was from June 2022, so she is still making it - this batch was for her Dad. I wonder if the article was older and she has changed her mind? I didn't see a date with the article.

https://www.humblebeeandme.com/rustic-clay-soap/

 

[earlene]

Well at the age of 73, I can tell you that I've been using lye-based soap for most of my life. I don't really know if my mom used it before I can remember, but she probably did because back in the 40's & 50's I don't think pediatricians had a problem with lye soap for babies. And I seem to recall plain old soap was used for most of my brothers, all born after me.

As a hospital nurse, I started my career using commercially produced bar soap, although I could not tell you if it was syndet or lye soap, but I would hazard a guess that it was whatever was the most cost effective for bulk ordering & therefore varied from time to time, except in the OR & for pre-op prep, where it was Povidine (an iodine containing liquid scrub to prevent contamination of surgical sites. Later in my career liquid soap was introduced throughout hospital settings, but we had the option to use either bar soap or LS at our discretion (except in certain areas of the hospital, such as the OR.) We washed our hands and wrists & sometimes our forearms a lot! Multiple times per shift. Easily more than 6 dozen times per shift, which may very well be more often than I ever washed my hands in a course of a week while in high school. After only the LS was available for staff, the patients/clients were still bathed using bar soap, and sometimes that found its way into at least the break room because some nurses developed reactions to some chemicals added to the liquid soaps or the odor of them was nauseating.

At home I have almost always exclusively used lye-based soap for bathing, showering and hand washing. To be perfectly clear, I don't use soap on my face, and have not done for over 50 years, but for the rest of me, my skin is fine with lye soap. I found that making soap myself has given me the opportunity to develop formulas best suited to my skin's personal needs and like @Obsidian some problems which commercially produced soaps exacerbated or caused, have subsided significantly. For example, my skin does not dry out as much as it did with commercials soaps, so I rarely need to use skin lotions.

Anyway, that's a bit of my history using lye-based soap.

The acid mantle's built-in mechanism to self replenish does replenish certainly seems to be doing quite well for me, so I have to disagree with the view that soap is bad for my skin or my acid mantle.

 

[MelissaG]

Detergent is worse. I started making soap because commercial soap irritated my skin. My soap doesn't. And honestly, considering that I've been reading articles that state carrots, eggs, milk, meat, water, and more are bad for the human body, I don't listen to it anymore. We can't exist on air alone.

 

[Marsi]

The result of my research is that soap in fact is really bad for the skin and its balance because of the high PH (even if you have superfat in the soap).

I picked one of the studies at random (https://www.medicaljournals.se/acta/content_files/files/pdf/93/3/3854.pdf)
They tested commercial soaps and syndets only.

There are distinct differences between our handmade soaps and the commercial soaps used in the studies (glycerin content is one example).
I cannot use the commercial brands used in this study, without my skin becoming tight and flaky ... I have no such issues with CP/HP soap (mine or others).

In my opinion, there is more to it than pH.

 

[artemis]

What are your thoughts about this?

Maybe you would be more interested in making syndet bars instead of actual soap. That would satisfy the desire to create and give you more control over the pH.

Search the forum for "syndet"

 

[Druantia]

Thank you very much for everyone's answers!
I tend to overcomplicate and overthink things, especially at the beginning. Maybe my research was not without bias, when you focus on an assumption (even if it is a false one), you will find articles that will confirm that assumption.
It was comforting to read through your answers - I didn't plan to stop making soap because I really enjoy it, I was just really curious about your opinion and experiences on this topic.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Thank you very much for everyone's answers!

Thank you for asking the question!

As so often happens when Newbies ask interesting questions, we all learn more, veterans and newbies alike!

 

[contrinokathy]

Thank you very much for everyone's answers!
I tend to overcomplicate and overthink things, especially at the beginning. Maybe my research was not without bias, when you focus on an assumption (even if it is a false one), you will find articles that will confirm that assumption.
It was comforting to read through your answers - I didn't plan to stop making soap because I really enjoy it, I was just really curious about your opinion and experiences on this topic.

My skin has been healthier since using my own soap. I’ll never go back to commercial soaps

 

[TheGecko]

Thank you very much for everyone's answers!
I tend to overcomplicate and overthink things, especially at the beginning. Maybe my research was not without bias, when you focus on an assumption (even if it is a false one), you will find articles that will confirm that assumption.
It was comforting to read through your answers - I didn't plan to stop making soap because I really enjoy it, I was just really curious about your opinion and experiences on this topic.

And along with that. this from the article: "Setting aside the fact that these assertions come from people who make their living selling soap, which makes them a touch biased". In other worlds, do as I say, not as I do because clearly the person is making a living selling books and recipes and classes and whatnot.

Do or do not...it's just that simple. But understand that everything must be taken with a grain of salt and that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I remember when eggs were good for you, then eggs where bad, then it was only the yolk was bad and the white was good, but then the white was bad too and now eggs are good again. And they did the same with butter. Any "diet" that requires that you take supplements is not good for you...that's just common sense.

So let's talk about the article itself which is about baking soda and soap (lye-based).

Of course baking soda on the face is bad and it has nothing to do with the pH. You have to understand that the skin on your face is very thin as opposed to the skin on your arm or leg, which is thinner than the skin on the bottom of your feet. Baking Soda is naturally abrasive. Got something burnt in the bottom of your pot, toss a cup of water and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and let it simmer on low for an hour. Go ahead and mix up your bath bomb ingredients without gloves, the baking soda will strip the polish from your nails in no time. Baking soda is also very drying...make a paste of it with some water and slap it on bug bites and poison ivy/oaks...works great.

Then comes "soap". While the author talks about 'traditional soap' (castile, cold processed, hot processed, etc.), it makes no distinction between Commercial and Artisan Soap...they are simply lumping all 'lye' based soap together and you can't do that because you're trying to say it's apples and oranges when in fact, it's apples and onions. And trying to compare a lye-based soap with syndet-based product (you can't legally call it 'soap', at least in the US) is like trying to company apples and...corn.

I grew up using Ivory Soap...Mom liked it because it floated and thus it was easy to find when bathing us kids, and it was easy to find when we started bathing ourselves. Mind you, I'm old enough that I didn't have my first 'shower' until I was 12 (getting sprayed down with a garden hose doesn't count), at which point having a 'floating' soap was moot and so we used a lot of different brands after that...whatever we had coupons for and/or was on sale. And let's not forget Noxzema...I used that from the time I was 14 to about 28 and only quit using it because it was 'bad' for you. By that time I was using Jergens Soap until I was around 45 or so when I discovered Goat Milk Soap and 'natural skin care'. OMG...what a difference! I used GMS for about five years and then Dottie retired and I didn't like the new goat lady's soap so I moved over to body wash since I moved to a place without a tub. And I tried a lot of different ones...Dove, Neutrogena, Caress, Aveeno, Olay, SoftSoap, Dial, Jergens, Sauve, etc and for all their claims, it was all the same...wash, dry, slather on the moisturizer afterwards.

So I started making soap over three years ago. I make it with Olive, Palm, Coconut and Castor Oils, and Cocoa and Shea Butters and a little Kaolin Clay and Sodium Lactate. Hubby likes extra bubbles so I had a little Sorbitol to his soap. I have no freakin' clue what the 'pH' of my soap is, either when it's fresh out of the mold or eight weeks later (my preferred cure time) or three years later and honestly, I don't care. What I do care about is how my skin feels after I bathe or shower, or am just washing my hands. And it feels good. Instead of using a large bottle of body/hand lotion and a bottle of moisturizer every month, said bottles will last a good six months. In fact, I've gone to smaller bottles because 'natural' products will break down faster than synthetic laden products. Sadly, when we moved our office two years ago, we went from a private bathroom to a public bathroom and so now I have to wash my hands with that foaming stuff...and then use hand lotion because it dries my skin out so bad.

Of course I have skin in it by encouraging folks to quit using commercial soaps, because it's a business for me, but I also use Palm Oil in all my soaps and I used Goat Milk and even use Lard and will still recommend using artisan soap.