Skin Care Q & A: What Kinds of Soap are Safe and Effective?

• Core Facts

The vast majority of soaps available in supermarkets and pharmacies contain ingredients that can cause or exacerbate skin conditions – and that even goes for the products made specifically to combat the conditions they cause. Without a doubt, natural soaps and other natural skin care products are best for the skin. But there is such a wide variety of natural soaps it’s hard to figure out which is best. Here are a few of the best options.

African black soap – made by several different manufacturers, this soap is said to cure most skin ills. Dry skin becomes moist and supple, oily skin turns to normal, and normal skin gets even softer and more radiant. African black soap is also used to help eliminate blemishes, acne, eczema and rashes. And it may even reduce wrinkles.

African black soap is made by combining oils such as shea butter, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter with the ashes from burned banana tree leaves, plantain skins, leaves and bark, palm tree leaves, cocoa pods or shea tree bark. Made primarily in western African, the exact preparations vary from region to region, depending on the local availability of ingredients. There are several products available on the natural skin care shelves of health food stores and on the Internet. Make sure you get an organic preparation from Africa, not something that’s manufactured in the U.S.

Also, try to buy through a company that is part of the Fair Trade Federation. That way you’ll know that the people who make these wonderful products are paid fairly for their work and are not exploited.

There is also a wide variety of natural soaps from Mexico. They have some pretty wild ingredients – mother of pearl powder and donkey milk, for example – but also contain staples like oatmeal and chamomile, or sulfur (for blemishes). One company even makes a bar soap for the hair. The main ingredient is tomato juice.

America also has wonderful natural soap manufacturers. Go for the mom and pop shops and search around for natural, organic soaps that are free of the nasty things we shouldn’t have in any of our skin care products - synthetic fragrance oils, preservatives, petroleum products, FD&C colorants or dyes, phthalates, sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates, or antibacterial triclosan, for example. Instead, they’re loaded with fruit, vegetables, herbs and other plant life known as skin care remedies and, often, their overall health benefits. And they’re environmentally friendly, as are the natural soaps from Africa and Mexico.

Cleansing your face and body with chemical-free natural skin care soaps makes quite a difference in how your skin looks and feels. For added protection, follow up your cleansing routine with a shielding lotion. A good shielding lotion bonds with the outer layer of the skin to form a new layer that keeps out chemicals and helps lock in natural moisture. With a good shielding lotion, the benefits of cleansing with natural skin care treatment products will last much longer.

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