The Body Wash Deception and Why It Matters

Our skin is amazing. 

Not only does it serve as the literal transition between our internal and external environments, it also performs a multitude of other critical functions like maintaining water balance, regulating body temperature, and housing many of the sensory receptors we use to perceive the world around us. Skin makes up roughly 14 percent of the total body weight of the average human, and typically covers anywhere from 16-21 sq ft (1.5-2 sq meters) of surface area.

It does a lot and we put it through a lot. All day long our skin is absorbing toxins and chemicals from both our surroundings and the products we put on ourselves such as makeup, oils, and lotions. It’s important to properly care for your skin like you care for your heart, lungs, or teeth. Oftentimes that care can be achieved by a thorough cleaning. Removing the layers of invisible materials and allowing our skin to breathe.

But cleaning is not cleansing. And while they typically appear in that order, they are very different in both form and function. 

Generally speaking, cleaning is destructive. The action of washing away unwanted substances from an object or environment. Cleaning is also intense, and the process usually leaves those environments sanitary and bare.

By contrast, cleansing is generally corrective. Usually the result of a ritual or regimen intended to promote health and remove toxins. Cleansing is a primarily identitive process where the benefits are often imperceptible at first, more felt than seen. Over time however, those benefits will frequently manifest physically as well.

Cleaning takes. Cleansing gives. Cleaning the body cleanses the soul, and a true cleansing is incomplete without soap.

So why should you care? Because you’ve been deceived. For years, soap makers have been cutting manufacturing costs by substituting cheaper synthetic chemicals to replace higher quality, more expensive, natural ingredients.

To disguise the lower quality, they also add foaming agents to help convince us that foam equals clean. This is a lie. Most "soap" on the market shouldn’t even be called soap but “body cleaner”, because it's actually detergent created by combining chemical compounds in a mixer. Detergent cleaners are popular because they make suds easily in water and don't form any deposits, making them ideal as a cheap alternative to real soap.

We all know what soap does, but we don’t usually think about what soap is. Put extremely simply, soap is the result of a natural process called Saponification (sa·​pon·​i·​fi·​ca·​tion). It happens when you combine a non-acid compound like sodium hydroxide, with a fat, oil, or lipid. Various ingredients are then added to this base to provide additional benefits.

This formula has remained virtually unchanged for nearly 5,000 years with the earliest record dating back to ancient Babylon. This same recipe also shows up in the Roman empire, ancient China, medieval Europe, and in the 15th-18th centuries where it was partially responsible for the sharp increase in the demand for whale oil during the Industrial Revolution. Eventually soap makers switched to plant-based fat alternatives such as the coconut and palm oils we use today.

It should come as no surprise that the best ingredients for your skin are natural ingredients. That is to say, ingredients present in (or produced by) nature. Lucky for you, we care about quality here at Eden Body Care. We seek the purest ingredients not just for you, but for our own family as well. We use ingredients sourced from the earth. Some of those ingredients include:

Milk - Our soap recipe replaces water with fresh goats milk from the loveable goats on our family farm in Nevada. We care for these goats daily and even teach our kids to care for them as well.

Oil - As the foundation of our recipe, we use only the finest Olive, Coconut, and Sunflower oils for our soaps.

Butters - Adding butters such as Shea and Cocoa to our bars ensure that the conditioning properties and beneficial effects far outlast the competition. 

Activated Charcoal - A fine black powder produced when regular charcoal is exposed to high heat. This material adsorbs impurities and contains antimicrobial and antiseptic properties.

Additional Goodies - Nuts, teas, beans, berries, flowers, and anything else beneficial that we can get our hands on.

Better quality ingredients and less fillers also results in quite a few advantages you’ll notice almost immediately. Looking to remove some of those chemicals we mentioned? Our best selling Tea Tree Charcoal bars are both luxurious and moisturizing. With just enough scented pure tea tree essential oil to transform your shower into a nourishing and gratifying home spa experience.

Our handmade goat milk soap also contains an important substance called Glycerin. In store-bought body cleaners, this special substance is removed and resold to then create all kinds of other products. Our soap also contains a variety of beneficial vitamins (A, B1, and B2 just to name a few) that work together to improve both the health and resilience of your skin.

Most importantly, we do not rush our soap making process. We allow our bars time to cure fully before we send them out to improve the world. Our technique, in combination with our ingredients, also results in glycerol-rich superbars that provide exactly the hydrating and protective support that traditional bars lack. The result is a soap that is gentle, while also delivering essential elements necessary to keep skin healthy and smooth.

Our skin is important, as important as our hearts or our brains. The great news is that you can find natural products simply by being aware and looking. By examining the ingredients in the skincare products you currently buy. Be unafraid to look up anything that is unfamiliar, and keep in mind that natural doesn’t mean worse; most times it actually means the exact opposite. We encourage you to give your skin the health and respect it deserves and give our products a chance to blow your mind. You will not regret it.

We provide a ton of great information here, but there is plenty of valuable information out there. Don’t be afraid to explore! Join social media communities to find others that are making the switch to natural products as well. It’s an incredible start to better overall health, but you’re not in it alone. You can also join our community on Instagram by finding us @edenbodycare, and joining our exclusive email list for additional skincare tips. We love to hear from our community and we can’t wait to hear from you too.

-By Andrew Baker
Eden Body Care Team