Shower gel

Soap free body wash is a must have in your shower if you have sensitive skin.

Some soap cleansers can leave your skin dry and irritated, because they peel away your skin’s natural protection – namely, our natural oils.

Non-soap cleansers are less likely to strip the good oils from your skin, because generally non-soap body washes are pH balanced, and therefore less likely to cause irritation.

What is soap?

A skin expert defined soap as: “Soaps are the salts of fatty acids, made by treating vegetable and animal fats with lye, also known as sodium or potassium hydroxide.This process is called saponification.

The resulting soap molecules have a head that’s attracted to polar molecules, like water, and a tail that’s attracted to non-polar molecules, like oils. What makes soap work is that it emulsifies oil and water. Normally, oil and water won’t mix, but with the help of soap the oil is broken into small soap-wrapped droplets that can be rinsed away with water.”

There is no doubt that soap does a fantastic job at removing dirt and oils from our skin. However, it’s a little too good at it. 

As strong anionic surfactants, soaps remove a lot of the natural oils our skin produces to help keep the moisture in, which can be a problem for people already prone to dry skin. 

Milder anionic and amphoteric surfactants remove dirt without stripping away natural moisturisers, which means that using a soap-free cleanser helps your skin to avoid dryness and irritation.

Why use a soap free body wash?

There are tons of benefits you get by just using a soap free body wash. The best soap free body wash should probably include all the following benefits.

• Soothes and cools the skin: With our busy lives it’s all too easy to grab the nearest product in the supermarket, hoping it will be soothing and cooling for our skin. The best soap free body washes should make your skin feel soft and also cool your skin. They should not strip your skin of moisture.
• Cleans deeply: The best soap free body washes should clean your skin well. Given the combination of natural ingredients, you should notice the benefits of less harsh ingredients immediately but also feel clean and fresh.
• Protects your skin: The absence of the more harmful chemicals found in some soap products, and the use of more natural ingredients, are two things that make soap free body washes more protective for your skin.
• It’s gentle on sensitive skin: If you have highly sensitive skin, chances are that you’ll find a soapy body wash irritating. However, a soap free body wash lacks the alkaline solutions found in soap, so they shouldn’t irritate sensitive skins.
• Moisturize: Soap free body washes generally contain moisturizers in small quantities.  Moisturizers help to keep your skin glowing and help prevent skin dryness.

How a soap-free cleanser works

Soapless cleansers essentially do the same job as soap, but without the harsh ingredients some traditional bar soap may contain.

Even though soapless skin cleansers use different ingredients from most traditional soap formulas, they still clean your skin in a similar way. To remove dirt and oil from your skin, all cleansers must be able to attract both water and fat. To do this, their molecules have an oil-loving component -- called a lipophilic part, and a water-loving component, the hydrophilic part. This combination of lipophilic and hydrophilic elements is called a surfactant.

A surfactant is a detergent that allows water to wash away the oil and dirt from your skin by decreasing the surface tension of water. Surfactants are both lipophilic and hydrophilic.  The lipophilic part captures the dirt and then the hydrophilic part rinses it away. The lipophilic part is typically composed of fatty acids, but in soapless cleansers, it's usually made of chemicals derived from petroleum and other oils, which are less damaging to skin

How do I know if a cleanser is a ‘soap-free cleanser’?

If a label doesn’t specifically state ‘soap-free’, or you just want to check the ingredient list yourself, how can you recognise a soap? 

Firstly, soaps have very poor solubility, so you’ll almost always find them in a solid bar form. Also, remember that soaps are anionic surfactants, so the first trick is to pick out the prefix (sodium or potassium) and the suffix (-ate). Soaps are named based on the oil or fat they’re made from, so olive oil, once it’s treated with sodium hydroxide, becomes sodium olivate.] Tallow becomes sodium tallowate. Coconut oil becomes sodium cocoate.

A  MADE-IN-SINGAPORE soap-free body wash: THEO10 Squeaky

Introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUX_j3pSHpo&feature=emb_logo

Description

The latest addition to our range of family-loving products, an all-natural body shower gel that does not contain any chemicals, preservatives or those long ingredient names found on your soap labels.

This is targeted towards those who have sensitive skin and is suitable for all ages. The unique feature is that it washes away very quickly within seconds and gives you a squeaky clean without drying your skin. (While some may not be used to this sensation of a quick clean feel, rest assured that your skin would be clean thoroughly and safely with a moisturized and softer feel after drying off.)

Notes:

• Suitable for dry and sensitive skin 

• Suitable for all ages 

• Contains no preservatives 

• No animal testing 

• pH level 8.9 

• No artificial flavouring

• No EDTA 

• No Paraben 

• No Silicone

 • Leaves the user with a mild orchid and white tea scent • Does not interfere with users’ perfume or cologne.

Ingredients include:

1. Orchid essential oil

2. White Tea essential oil

3. Organic Sweet Almond Oil

4. Organic Thai virgin Coconut Oil

5. Organic Extra virgin Olive Oil

6. Organic Vegetable-based glycerine

7. Distilled water

To purchase: https://theo10.com/product/theo10-squeaky-1100-ml/

Adapted from: https://lifestylefifty.com/soap-free-body-wash/