Have you ever suffered from dry skin?
I want to share with you why you get dry skin and how you can prevent it without ever moisturising.
With millions being spent on misleading advertising, by brand name skincare companies, it’s understandable why we don’t realise that the reason our skin is dry, is because of our soap. There is a drastic difference in quality between buying store bought (commercial) soap and handcrafted soap. The two main differences are: the presence of glycerin and the ingredients used.
Glycerin: When soap is made (oils + lye = soap) glycerin naturally occurs in it. Glycerin is a humectant, it attracts moisture in the air to the skin and maintains moisture throughout the day, it’s also a skin softener. Without it, skin can feel dry. Often commercial soaps have all the glycerin removed, it’s then put into other products such as creams and lotions. It also means that we now need to purchase two products: one to clean and another to moisturise. These big companies are profit driven, caring about filling their deep pockets rather than the health of your skin.
Handcrafted soap has all the amazing glycerin still in it. The healthy oils that went into the soap help to nourish your skin and bring it back to its natural pH level.
Ingredients: Your skin is your largest organ and you don’t want to pollute it with harmful chemicals. Commercial soap often contain harmful ingredients such as: parabens; phthalates; petrochemicals; triclosan; dioxane; sodium laurel sulfate (SLS); diethanolamine (DEA); formaldehyde; PEG-6; synthetic perfume/fragrance; artificial colouring; cheap fillers and other preservatives. These nasty toxic soap ingredients should be avoided as they can be irritating and drying and are capable of causing some serious harm to your body. There is a wealth of information available online, should you wish to explore the toxic soap ingredients further.
Carefully read your labels as some of these can slip into ‘natural’ soap as the term ‘natural’ is unregulated. Sadly some handcrafted soapmakers use artificial colours and fragrance oils, these chemicals can cause skin conditions/aggrevate existing skin conditions, so select wisely.
Natural handmade soap contain oils and butters, enriched or coloured with natural ingredients such as clays, honey, milk, vegetables etc and they might be scented with essential oils. If the soap maker has carefully calculated the recipe and allowed it to cure, it will be mild and gentle, balancing, refreshing and moisturising your skin and improving your overall wellbeing.
It is possible that you have never used soap before. Many products steer away from the term ‘soap’ because they have been made with chemical detergents, synthetic lathering agents and hardeners. Soap by definition has been made with natural oils or fats and lye (an alkali), as mentioned previously: oil + lye=soap. Read more about this process here.
I started making soap when my son (now 5 years old) was a baby, he had eczema which covered his beautiful little body. This disappeared when I started using natural soap. My whole family use it and we never moisturise our bodies. Even after a swimming in highly chlorinated water, where our skin is left feeling tight and itchy, we simply wash using my soap and the symptoms are relieved. I used to be addicted to hand cream and still hate that feeling after washing my hands at public basins. However as soon as I get home, I just need to wash my hands to restore moisture.
So why don’t you try it, wash and moisturise your skin in one go with some truly natural handcrafted soap. I’m sure the experience will be worth it. If you would like to make some, check out my Olive oil and milk soap recipe. I use only natural ingredients and have written about how you can do this too: Jazzing up soap naturally. If you would like to try some out or ask me any questions, please drop me a line on Facebook, here’s a link to my page: Facebook page. Soap making is my passion, you can view (or buy) my creations and maybe get some inspiration to make some yourself.
Simply Natural by Christine 