02/05/2021
CASTILES FOR SOAP
How much of your health and beauty can be credited to your skin-caring regimen?
The skin is the largest and fastest-growing organ of the body. it literally holds the body together. It is our first defense against the natural elements. It is a very important sensor that sends signals to the brain. It filters out dirt, grime, and what-have-you’s that can cause infection, sickness and diseases. It is a passageway to our bloodstream — that it readily absorbs what you apply on it, as well as a way out for toxins when we sweat to regulate body temperature.
The skin manufactures , aka the sunshine vitamin, that has important functions in building and maintaining healthy bones and teeth, in modulating cell growth (thus, it is closely related to the prevention of cancer progression), and, of course, in maintaining the health of our other bodily systems.
For the skin to continue to perform these very important functions, experts advise us to:
- eat healthy (note: get lots of color and good fats onto your plate; avoid sugar)
- drink about eight glasses of clean water
- cover up, seek shade, and/or wear sunscreen to prevent damage from the sun’s harmful rays
- sleep well
- exercise and breathe in fresh air
- stop smoking
- opt for natural skin products, and
- use non-toxic household cleaning products
Among the items in the list above, the last two have been getting some media recently because studies are showing that chemicals in the skin- and household-cleaning products are causing trouble inside of our bodies.
It was in the 19th century that soap went into commercial production. these commercial soaps smell good, are wonderfully bubbly, and are hard, thus giving it portability and allowed for longer use. But it was only very recently that the of these soaps were revealed.
Instead of essential oils, most commercial soaps use fragrance oils. Little did we know that the beautiful scents are kept intact throughout the use of the soap by chemical fixatives like plasticizing phthalates and synthetic musks which are known hormone disrupters. These chemicals are usually masked in product labels as “fragrance.”
Then, of course, the lovely — which became erroneously synonymous to cleaning effectiveness — are made by surfactants, identified as sodium lauryl and laureth sulphates ( / ) including coco-betaine in the labels of soap, shampoo, toothpaste, dishwashing soap, lotion, among others. These surfactants or foaming agents, generally a degreaser, irritate the skin, and for some people the skin reaction is quite strong.
Soap hardness gave the commercial soaps longer shelf- and bath-life. These soaps are made longer-lasting through the removal of excess water, and glycerine, the natural humectant (preventing loss of moisture) that is a by-product of the oldie but goodie oil-and-lye combo. Then, to replace natural skin-softening from glycerine, chemical emollients are added.
In the past several years, anti-bacterial substances have been added to many popular bath soaps and even makeup through more lab-born chemicals to extend shelf-life of these products. Parabens and their derivatives commonly used as preservatives, and anti-bacterial triclosan, which in 2013 was found to be cancer-causing, are broad spectrum anti-microbial agents that kill both good and bad bacteria.
Considering the Filipinos’ twice- or thrice-a-day showers, winter or Baguio weather be damned, we are especially exposed to all these damaging chemicals and their cumulative and long-term effects.
But what options do we have? How do we keep clean, fresh-smelling yet safe from the likes of ?
Health experts are urging us to use natural products., with “natural” meaning made from ingredients found in nature, meaning not containing born-in-the-laboratory substances. and on this, we had so much to learn from the medieval world.
It was in the 11th to 12th century that soap made from laurel berry oil and lye grew in popularity from the Mediterranean to Europe. Its use caught on and the Kingdom of , that we now know as Spain, started to make soap out of oil from the olive groves they had in abundance.
The Castile soap was superior from the soaps made in England and France that used animal fat. it became the soap-of-choice of the and of .
Pure Castile soap is very mild, suitable for very skin, even baby’s. it makes a creamy lather without large bubbles.
From being unscented, Castile soap and bathing became very much more enjoyable over the centuries when extraction of skin-beneficial essential oils became more efficient. The essential oils gave the Castile soap beautiful, mood-boosting scents and special qualities that echo the properties of the plants and fruits from which they came.
It would also benefit us to know, that Castile soap — the resulting “salt water” and glycerine from mixing vegan oils with lye — is . Thus, water from our baths will not pollute the environment.
Natural is good. Biodegradable is good. and Castile soap is both.
Most of all, there are soaps and Castile soaps. and there are true Castile soaps from SOAPure.
