What is Natural?

The expressions below are my own opinions based on my own research and experience, and should not be taken as anything more than such.

I see a lot of posts and advertisements about natural versus unnatural/synthetic/manmade bath and body products. And I’ve seen a lot of elitist cold processed soap makers and crunchy soccer mom bloggers scream about “chemicals” and how everything in the stores is unsafe, and you should only use cold processed soap because “natural”. As someone who makes soap, and does lots of reading and research, I’m going to tell you right now, it’s a lot of marketing. And some of it is bullshit. And some is genuine ignorance. Everything, EVERYTHING is made up of chemicals, every.damn.thing. Every molecule in our bodies is a CHEMICAL.

Now, sure I want you to buy my soap. But I also want you to be informed and understand what you’re buying. And I also want you to understand the buzz words and be able to decipher whether or not they’re even telling you the whole truth. I am not a chemist. But knowledge is power.

Consider it a red flag when you see someone toting their ALL NATURAL/CHEMICAL FREE soap or bath products. The term “natural’ is not standardized by any regulatory body, and is completely arbitrary. People can use it to mean anything, because it means NOTHING.

I could go get some cyanide, which is factually completely natural, but I wouldn’t recommend sprinkling it on your oatmeal in the morning. So it’s better to know where ingredients come from, how they are created, and how they react with our own bodies.

There’s a post I’ve seen going around with 2 pictures, one of a cold processed soap label with ingredients written in common language, and one with a surfactant-based soap with the ingredients listed with the INCI wording (the correct labeling, by the way). The post is incredibly misleading. It’s comparing apples and oranges, and trying to fool the consumer into thinking the cold processed soap is more natural and therefore safer than the surfactant bar. FYI – both bars are safe. And actually, depending on the levels of super-fat, different oils and other additives used, the cold processed bar could be much more drying and harsher to the skin than the surfactant bar. Even with additives like clay, milk and oatmeal, it could still be stripping. Too much coconut oil is very drying. Fact, I have never used a cold processed bar from another maker, famous, local, or in between, that didn't make me dry, itchy and uncomfortable. NOT ONE.

Secondly, cold processed soap is very alkaline, or has a high pH naturally. There’s nothing you can do about that, it’s just the way real soap is. Surfactant bars tend to be much lower pH, 4.5-5.5, which is much closer to the skin’s natural pH. This is why bars like Dove, are so gentle on the skin. I speak from experience with this, having sensitive skin, and Dove was all I could use most of my life. This is also why you may have tried a homemade bar of soap that wasn’t formulated well, and found it drying or irritating. It takes more than slamming together oils and fats with lye from a recipe you found on the internet to make a good bar of soap. And some people may never be able to use a cold processed soap on certain parts of their bodies. And that’s ok. It’s not the fault of the soap or the maker if a naturally high pH soap does not agree with you. It’s just chemistry.

However, there are soap makers out there without the knowledge to formulate a gentler bar of soap, who are selling their soaps. There are thousands of soap makers out there who don’t understand the first thing about math or chemistry. It’s terrifying.

Back to surfactant bars, like Dove, and the synthetic/detergent ingredients. Most are derived from coconuts and other plants. They are not harmful or toxic from my research, they are just different, and have to be processed before they get to people like me to turn them into soaps and shampoos. They have lower pH, and in many cases gentler to the skin’s natural barrier, when formulated correctly.

I’m not here to convince you to use one or the other, and I am not a chemist, I just read a lot. And I want you to make good choices for your body based on unbiased information and based on the science available to us. If you choose not to use an ingredient based on the science you've studied, that's exactly what I want you to do.

At the moment I have about 10 different soaps in my shower. Cold processed bars I’ve made, some from other makers, syndet shampoo bars, conditioner bars, (mine, store bought) and guess what? A bar of Dove. I use them all and like them all for different reasons.