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Different soaps work well or badly for different people, depending on skin type and various preferences (cleansing vs moisturizing, hard bar vs lather, scent or no scent, etc.)
Sorry to be a soap nerd/snob, but, besides being a soapmaker, my background is in clinical research and I am a restless researcher/investigator/experimenter. So here are some facts:
Dr. Bronner's is not a Castile soap, no matter what the label says. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but this bugs me. Castile soap, by definition uses 100% olive oil (or some say at least 80%). Castile soap was developed long ago because they had a hard time getting laurel berry oil in Europe in the old days, so the Spanish came up with Castile soap.
Olive oil isn't even the main ingredient in Dr. Bronner's soap. It also contains palm oil, that contributes to the clear-cutting of rain forest, endangering species like rhinos and orangutans. No question it smells and feels great, especially the peppermint. None of this may be practical information for the user, but I'm just sayin'.
Ivory soap is not "pure," "natural," "gentle," or "simple." It's not even really a soap (check out the label, which doesn't even call it a soap). The original version was so harsh on the skin, they had to even add a bunch of ingredients to counter-act that. Ivory soap is a detergent.
NOT to say that Dr. Bronners and Ivory don't work well for a lot of people... they obviously do, according to some accounts here.
Re. bar soap as shampoo:
Real soap is made with sodium hydroxide (lye). The lye dissipates after saponifying the oils, but the resulting pH of bar soaps, while fine for skin, is generally incompatible with hair. It is way too alkaline, which is why many recommend a vinegar wash afterwards to counteract that (vinegar is acidic). Some of what may seem to be increased volume, etc. in hair washed with soap may be because of roughing up the hair cuticle which can result in long-term damage to hair. This is true no matter how many natural, nourishing oils the soap is made with. This being said, bar soap does seem to work for some people just fine as a shampoo. It depends on the hair type. But for many people, it won't.
But this is why many prefer Lush and other bar shampoos called "syndet shampoo bars." Yes, they are made with more processed ingredients, but have the advantages of being better for your hair, not requiring a vinegar rinse, and all the practicality of bar soap: lightweight, easy to carry, no liquid. BTW, Lush soap - like most liquid shampoos - contains sodium laurel sulfate, which many people avoid because of skin irritation and possible links to cancer. A better ingredient to look for is sodium laurel sulfoacetate. I know it sounds just as bad, but it is milder for the skin and not linked to health problems. Here's some more info. on that. http://slsfree.net/sodium-lauryl-sulfoacetate/
A great supplier of bar shampoo and bar conditioner online I found is GetLathered on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GetLathered
Yes, besides making bar soaps with natural (non-animal products) oils, I have also started making bar shampoos and conditioners. They work great for me. I sell em too, but the bar shampoos/conditioners from GetLathered are more advanced and prettier than mine. The point of this post is not to promote my own products.
Sorry to be a soap nerd/snob, but, besides being a soapmaker, my background is in clinical research and I am a restless researcher/investigator/experimenter. So here are some facts:
Dr. Bronner's is not a Castile soap, no matter what the label says. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but this bugs me. Castile soap, by definition uses 100% olive oil (or some say at least 80%). Castile soap was developed long ago because they had a hard time getting laurel berry oil in Europe in the old days, so the Spanish came up with Castile soap.
Olive oil isn't even the main ingredient in Dr. Bronner's soap. It also contains palm oil, that contributes to the clear-cutting of rain forest, endangering species like rhinos and orangutans. No question it smells and feels great, especially the peppermint. None of this may be practical information for the user, but I'm just sayin'.
Ivory soap is not "pure," "natural," "gentle," or "simple." It's not even really a soap (check out the label, which doesn't even call it a soap). The original version was so harsh on the skin, they had to even add a bunch of ingredients to counter-act that. Ivory soap is a detergent.
NOT to say that Dr. Bronners and Ivory don't work well for a lot of people... they obviously do, according to some accounts here.
Re. bar soap as shampoo:
Real soap is made with sodium hydroxide (lye). The lye dissipates after saponifying the oils, but the resulting pH of bar soaps, while fine for skin, is generally incompatible with hair. It is way too alkaline, which is why many recommend a vinegar wash afterwards to counteract that (vinegar is acidic). Some of what may seem to be increased volume, etc. in hair washed with soap may be because of roughing up the hair cuticle which can result in long-term damage to hair. This is true no matter how many natural, nourishing oils the soap is made with. This being said, bar soap does seem to work for some people just fine as a shampoo. It depends on the hair type. But for many people, it won't.
But this is why many prefer Lush and other bar shampoos called "syndet shampoo bars." Yes, they are made with more processed ingredients, but have the advantages of being better for your hair, not requiring a vinegar rinse, and all the practicality of bar soap: lightweight, easy to carry, no liquid. BTW, Lush soap - like most liquid shampoos - contains sodium laurel sulfate, which many people avoid because of skin irritation and possible links to cancer. A better ingredient to look for is sodium laurel sulfoacetate. I know it sounds just as bad, but it is milder for the skin and not linked to health problems. Here's some more info. on that. http://slsfree.net/sodium-lauryl-sulfoacetate/
A great supplier of bar shampoo and bar conditioner online I found is GetLathered on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GetLathered
Yes, besides making bar soaps with natural (non-animal products) oils, I have also started making bar shampoos and conditioners. They work great for me. I sell em too, but the bar shampoos/conditioners from GetLathered are more advanced and prettier than mine. The point of this post is not to promote my own products.
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