I Should Have Known Better! Or, are you even using soap?
Says Dr. Robert McDaniel in the July/Aug issue of the Saponifier, (the soapmakers newsletter).
Dr. McDaniel tried “to compare market share and composition of commercial bar soaps.”
I guess it wasn’t easy…he says this info is as classified as the Manhatten Project! (I think they developed the nuclear bomb!)
He talks about syndets, which I’ve been talking about for years; meaning synthetic detergent bar. Looks like a soap, smells like a soap, squeaks like a soap, but is nasty chemicals.
I did NOT know until now, about “combars”, which “combines soap with a synthetic (usually anionic) detergent.
WOW! Things are getting even trickier in the soap bar biz.
Here’s the ingredient listing he finally dug up for one of the biggest selling bars in North America!! I won’t mention any names, although Dr. McDaniel did. Hope you are not using it! Here goes:
“Another superfatted combar: anionic surfactants (potassium lauryl sulfate, sodium cocoglyceryl ether sulfonate,) magnesium cocoate and magnesium tallowate, sodium cocoate, sodium tallowate, superfatted with lauric acid, coconut fatty acids, palm kernel acids and an unspecified palm kernelate. In additon there are stabilizers, salts, fragrance, pigments/colorants and the active deodorant triclorcarban. I assume that the included sodium silicate is present to minimize the formation of insoluble soap residues, though it could also function to adjust the pH.”
Gulp.
Compare our bar of Seaweed Soap:
Saponified Oils of Palm, Coconut and Olive, Spring Water, Irish Moss Seaweed, Oat Bran, Chlorophyll, Essential Oils of Lavender, Rosemary & Lemon.
What’s saponified? Means that we mixed the base oils with H2O and Sodium Hydroxide…until the mixture thickens and turns into soap; basically the triglycerides in the oils turn into soap and glycerine. When thick, we add the extra ingredients like essential oils and scrubby things like the oat bran.
Use our soap! It will be good for you, for our staff, for our family, for our island, and for the planet.
Linda Quiring, Founder
Saltspring Soapworks
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