Soap – Not so black and white
Plus 50% of a century on planet earth, experience tells when a notion quite simply will not work….……….. but why let a little worldly knowledge get in the way of a folly choice?
The offer was a free bar of Charcoal and Kaolin soap. Yes, the cleaning bar started off as, well, a coal grey tablet of solid, unscented, cleaning stuff.
Now this may have worked in a Welsh valley outhouse but in a brilliant white contemporary bathroom the challenge was definitely on.
Why on earth could anyone think this was going to end well?
As the rubbing began to create a lather the evidence on my mitts firmly suggested that this choice was an error. A few bubbles and lots of grey slime on my palms clearly showed that things were going to get dirtier. Undeterred by the evidence the showering continued.
All those innocent flecks and splashes of plastic bottled clear gel were invisible save for the watermarks on a glass shower door. Not so for this bar of soap currently on trial.
Right now it looked like Norman Bates had slaughtered Satan in my Bathtub!
Now here’s the rub. Apart from finding this adventure childishly silly and amusing, there was something new to discover …… the unscented soap actually smelt of soap.
According to Beth Terry, My Plastic Free Life, in her article on the subject Solid Plastic Free Shower Gel and Body Wash, her sister’s olfactory sensory neurons are extremely sensitive and she does not like the smell of soap.
I totally agree with her. I have been using shower gel for so many years that I had forgotten that soap was so smelly.
At this point, Beth gives us a chemistry lesson under the tutelage of Carmen Drahl, senior correspondent for Chemical & Engineering News.
“Soaps, shower gels, and body washes contain surfactants, compounds that lower the surface tension between substances, helping to emulsify and wash away oily dirt.
In soaps, the surfactants come from saponification, i.e. reacting some type of fat (e.g. olive oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, animal tallow) with lye (sodium hydroxide for solid soaps and potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps.)
In shower gels and body washes, the surfactants come from synthetic detergents (e.g. sodium laureth sulphate), which can be derived from either petroleum or plant sources.”
It is the old soap smell, sometimes near rancid, which causes the dilemma in those who want to go green but not at the cost of being covered in soap smelly suds.
Now we understand that soap and liquid soap are chemically different from gels and body washes this helps us move forward in making environmentally responsible decisions as to which product to use.
So, now we need to unpack the issue of synthetic detergents such as laureth sulphate which can be petroleum derived or made from vegetables.
Obviously, as a person on a mission to ditch fossil fuels and the 6001 crude oil by-products, I would not choose the petroleum synthetic. However, I would actively walk away from Sodium Laureth Sulphate derived from palm kernel oil.
After much trawling in the company of my ubiquitous friend Mr Google, a potential plastic free, palm oil free, alternative may have been discovered. The Friendly Turtle website offers a comprehensive range of plastic free products including the Milly & Sissy shower gel refill which is a reasonable price at £5.50 for 500 ml and states that it is free from palm oil, parabens & SLS.
I have ordered a variety of products from the Friendly Turtle website and will report my findings presently.
In the meantime, do you smell a Rat?
Many of us prefer unscented products in our bathroom. However, if you like to layer your products with fragrances, do you really know what is going up your nose?
Beth highlights that “there are nearly 4,000 different ingredients reportedly used in fragrances, according to the International Fragrance Association, and some of them are ‘Chemicals of Concern’. For example, phthalates — endocrine-disrupting chemicals used to soften plastics and to help scents last longer — are often used in fragrances without disclosure to consumers”.
Nothing is as innocent as it may seem and yet again we need to look deeper through our Rose Tinted glasses to reveal the toxic truth. You may wish to read WVE’s report Unpacking the Fragrance Industry for more information.
Claudia Bow 