So why should you care about soap???

Okay, here's the straight dirt on commercial soap...it's not good for you or the environment in so many ways.  I'm going to have to break this down in multiple posts to help create a full picture here so stay with me.  In order to provide some context, we first have to understand our skin, it's function, proper care, etc...so let me start here.  Once you have an improved understanding of the skin your in you can then develop an appreciation for natural and organic body products.  We all know skin is an organ - just like our heart, liver, etc. - and it performs a number of functions for us.  Some include maintaining homeostatis (maintaining constant temperature via sweating/shivering); it provides a layer of protection from abrasions, against pathogens, radiation from the sun, metabolism of vitamin D, and much more.  Bottom line, it keeps us safe and is a critical layer of protection.  Plus, healthy skin just looks and feels good!

Despite all of this great protection, skin is highly absorbent.  It will absorb whatever it comes in contact with which then goes directly into the blood stream (hence all the patch programs now - nicotine, birth control, etc.).   Our skin is inundated with chemicals, preservatives, and all sort of toxic substances.  Our bodies are certainly designed to combat what gets in but why not safeguard our health with better choices.  Why does everyone get cancer now?  It's out of control.  As we begin to take more care regarding the food we put in our bodies (go organic, no pesticides, no cloned food, no gmo's, etc), the same amount of care should be taken with what we put ON it.  One of the best things you can do is shower/bath using a filtering and oxygenated shower head.   Or, you could get your water treated via a whole house water treatment system.  I can't afford the later just yet but I do plan on getting one of these showerheads from gaiam.com one of these days.  Okay, I guess I should get off my soapbox now  (love all the puns); sorry if I got preachy but it's something I believe in.  With that being said, many of the ingredients in or favorite commercially made soaps are just not good for skin despite all the marketing.  They are fairly cheap to produce and they make a hard/lasting bar; the low price comes with a cost and that's in the quality of the ingredients  used and the chemicals used to preserve shelf life.  In my next post I'll talk about some of the common ingredients found in commercially made soaps.