regular soap…

(excerpted from the Wikipedia) Today, fat-based soaps have mostly been superseded by modern detergents.(Read this as chemicals folks! not natural and not good for you!) Washing agents do not contain soap for cleaning fabric, but for reducing foam. The disadvantages of commercial soaps are: Most commercial soaps have had their glycerine removed for use in other industries, which deprives the skin of the natural, moisturizing glycerine and generally leaves the skin feeling dry. (That way the big companies can then sell you their moisturizers! unbelievable!) Some antibacterial soaps have antiseptic chemicals that can kill healthy bacteria that live symbiotically on the skin’s surface and contribute to skin health. There is a theoretical risk of antibacterial additives (specifically Triclosan) in soaps contributing to antibiotic resistant bacteria, however, controlled studies have not borne out that conclusion (Aiello AE et al. Antibacterial cleaning products and drug resistance. Emerg Infect Dis 2005 Oct; 11:1565-70). Some antibacterial soaps contain Triclosan which, when discharged into the environment and exposed to sunlight, breaks down into dioxins (“Occurrence and Environmental Behavior of the Bactericide Triclosan and Its Methyl Derivative in Surface Waters and in Wastewater” Anton Lindström, Ignaz J. Buerge, Thomas Poiger, Per-Anders Bergqvist, Markus D. Müller, and Hans-Rudolf Buser Environ. Sci. Technol.; 2002; 36(11) pp 2322–2329). (Oh yeah, go ahead and wait for the scientists to prove this and in the mean time, keep on buying the soap made by the scientists!) Soap-based products often contain the additive sodium laureth sulfate, which research has found to be harsh on skin. This product is also present in many non-soap cleaners for personal hygiene (shampoos, bathfoams, toothpaste, etc.). (This stuff is in practically every cleaner! when exactly did we all go to sleep to allow these chemists to hijack natural soap and turn it into an experiment on us! no thanks, we’ll stick to our all pure, all natural, grandma’s lye soap and avoid this, thankyouverymuch! in general… not a good idea!)“