Are Simon's Soapbox Soaps Moisturizing?
We received a question from Douglas
“I have dry, sensitive skin. A dermatologist recommended Dove brand because of the level of moisturizers in the product. I would prefer using Simon's Soapbox products. Do they contain a high level of moisturizing components? Some of your soaps more than others?”
Disclaimer: we’re not dermatologists, we are skin loving soap makers. If you have a specific situation with your skin you should listen to your medical practitioner. But we’d love to tell you about our soap formula and how Simon’s Soapbox soaps leave your skin feeling clean and smooth.
We need to keep our skin clean and safe. Dry, irritated or cracked skin is a problem and so we reach for the moisturizer to soothe our dry skin. How does soap factor into this process?
Well, first let’s be clear about what soap is: (nerd alert - soap is actually a salt!) It is the result of a chemical reaction between oil and sodium hydroxide. In developing our soap formula, we ensure that all the sodium hydroxide is used up by adding some extra oil – in the soap biz, we call this superfatting. We’ll come back to how that can make your skin feel moisturized.
Soap’s cleaning power comes from its ability, when used with water and mechanical scrubbing (like rubbing your hands together or rubbing a soapy cloth against your skin or another surface), to release dirt/grime/oil, allowing it to be washed away by water. Our skin feels best with a little oil and so some soaps leave skin feeling dry or irritated when all or most of the natural oils are washed way with the grime.
To address this, we turn to our superfat formula.
We superfat at 5%, which means that after the sodium hydroxide has completed its reaction with the oils, there is 5% more oil left over. That 5% includes our hero ingredient organic unrefined shea butter as well as olive oil and coconut oil. When you wash your skin with Simon’s Soapbox soaps, you’ll feel the cleansing power of soap and your skin surface will feel replenished thanks to the shea butter.
That’s great, but you may wonder why keep our superfat level at 5%. This comes from a bunch of testing on ourselves and our family members (thanks mom!). In our tests, if the superfat level is higher than 5% then skin can feel greasy after using the soap, if it is less than 5% we noticed our skin felt drier and thirsty for moisture. 5% is the sweet spot, in our opinion.
The second part of Douglas’ question was if there are certain Simon’s Soapbox soaps that are more moisturizing than others. The answer is – nope – all our body soaps have the same oil blend formula. Once we found the blend we liked, we stuck with it. Having one soap formula makes it easier for us be consistent every time we make soap together. The only difference between varieties is the blend of essential oils and clays.
Discover our Fair Trade Shea Butter Bar Soaps Here
Photo: Simon preparing the soap to be cut into bars
So, to answer your question Douglas, I can’t say for certain if Simon’s Soapbox soaps are more moisturizing that Dove (I don’t have their formula on hand) but I hope this blog post helps explain our rationale for our soap formula.
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