Inspired

I'm not a good writer. Most of you can already tell this by the lack of posts on this blog. I mean, it's been about 6 months since I posted last! Today, however, I was inspired to write. I wrote a letter to the editor of Women's Health Magazine.

Why?

Because of this:

This is an article that was published in the July/August issue of their magazine. After reading this I was completely horrified! Detergents are better than natural ingredients?? Bar soaps are drying?? Sodium Hydroxide is a *bad* thing?? Here's my response:

Dear Beauty Editor:

A friend recently emailed me a copy of the enclosed article from page 50 of the July/August issue and I was completely appalled by these horrifying claims!

I began formulating my own soap 7 years ago due to the synthetic detergents in most commercial soaps. Not only are these detergents drying, but most soap companies remove the glycerin (a natural moisturizing byproduct of the soapmaking process) from their soap and sell it for use in lotions which are more profitable. Sodium Hydroxide is not a detergent, but a chemical used to turn moisturizing oils, such as olive and coconut, into soap. Without an alkali such as sodium hydroxide it is not possible to make soap. It even explains this in the very definition of the word “soap” in the dictionary.

To address her statement that bar soaps are more drying than liquid because they are made with the chemical sodium hydroxide, I just want to say that liquid soap is also made with a chemical. It’s called potassium hydroxide. Neither ingredient causes dryness.

The second thing that shocks me is that she puts down sodium hydroxide but recommends a product that uses that very ingredient. Kiss My Face Olive Oil soap has “sodium olivate” right in the ingredient list. Sodium olivate is the INCI name for olive oil that has been saponified using sodium hydroxide. There are two ways that soapmakers are allowed to list their ingredients. One is by listing what goes into it: olive oil, sodium hydroxide, etc. The other is to list what the result is: sodium olivate. Just because sodium hydroxide isn’t listed, doesn’t mean it was not used.

Please, please, properly educate your readers. As the owner of a bath and body company it simply breaks my heart to read such false information.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I understand that you may think my view is biased so please look this information up for yourself. I would love to hear your opinions once you do.

Sincerely,

 

 

I can only hope that she'll take the time to look into this herself. Even if she doesn't write anything stating that this article was incorrect, at least she'll be informed for the future.