Soap Myths

Here’s your reminder that soap has O N E purpose: to cleanse the skin. 

Some folks out there love to spin some fairy tales about their soaps, some of which are medical claims — now it’s no longer soap but a drug [and needs FDA approval for said medical claims by the way]. There isn’t a single soap that will cure or prevent any medical condition, like acne, or eczema, or psoriasis, or any other condition/disease. Soap is not medicine. I've yet to see a soap get approved by the FDA as a drug.

Soap will not cure or prevent ANY cancers. Or affect your fertility or menstrual cycle or hormones. Or relieve muscle and joint pain. This is unethical, misleading, and infuriating on so many levels. Giving consumers false hope is downright cruel.

If you snagged a bar of soap and found relief for a skin woe you’ve been experiencing, that’s amazing [and anecdotal]! But a company making medical claims about their soaps? 🚩🚩🚩

It is not inherently wrong to make cosmetic claims [beautifying the skin or improving the appearance of], as long as the soap is being proper labeled as a cosmetic. [Fun fact: soaps and cosmetics have different requirements when it comes to labeling.]

Soap has no way of altering the structure of your skin, such as tightening, brightening, or “lightening” [which is so problematic in and of itself]. 

“Lye free” soap claims are just straight misleading and create unnecessary fear over a necessary soap making ingredient. Customers may now be under the incorrect assumption that they need to avoid products without lye [which is also found in food for preservation and in cosmetics as a pH adjuster so the final product is in line with your skin's pH to prevent irritation]. Customers could also infer that this "lye free" soap was now made without lye, which is, well, a lie.

True soap is made without synthetic detergents. There is absolutely nothing wrong with synthetic detergents. However the FDA classifies true soap as the alkali salts of fatty acids.

You cannot make soap without lye [sodium hydroxide], as lye is needed to convert oils into soap. When the oils and lye combine and emulsify, a wonderful chemical reaction occurs called SAPONIFICATION, which turns the oils, fats, lipids, and lye into soap.

In the final bar, there is no lye in your bar of soap. Is the soap technically lye free? Essentially. Was it created without lye? Nah. Even melt and pour soaps need lye to create the soap base.

My soap will only clean your skin.