Coming Clean–About Soap (and other personal products)

Coming Clean
About Soap (and other personal products)

Soap is one of those things we take for granted. But what is soap, anyway, and how does it work? Who invented it? Does it matter what kind we use?

The answer to the last question is yes, it sure does matter, and that makes it worth knowing more about soap, as well as about the ingredients in our other personal products.

HOW SOAP WORKS

It all begins with water. Why won’t water just wash away dirt? Water molecules are made up of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atoms are on one side of the molecule and the oxygen atom on the other. The hydrogen atoms each have a single electron, which usually “hangs out” near the oxygen atom, which has eight electrons of its own. This creates a positive charge on the hydrogen side of the water molecule and a negative charge on the oxygen side. The positively charged hydrogen end of each water molecule is attracted electrically to the negatively charged end of other nearby water molecules. This attraction causes countless temporary bonds between water molecules, which are what makes water stick together.

Within a container, or even a drop, of water, these bonds create a pull on all the molecules in every direction – except at the surface. The molecules at the surface have no molecules above them to pull on them, so they are only pulled by the molecules underneath them. This creates surface tension, making it possible to fill a glass noticeably above the rim. It also holds dew drops together in little spheres. Water strider insects actually skim around on the skin-like surface of ponds and streams, depressing the water surface under their tiny pontooned feet.

Water will dissolve something like sugar or salt, as their particles also have electrical charges, but dirt is usually associated with oil, and water is simply not attracted to oily things because they have no electrical charge. In fact, water and oil repel each other. If you put a greasy dish into water, the grease will actually flatten itself against the plate to get away from the water molecules.

Soap changes all this, starting with the surface tension. A soap molecule is a long hydrocarbon chain that looks a bit like a caterpillar. The head end loves water and hates oil, the tail end loves oil and hates water. When you add soap to water, the soap molecules near the surface squeeze between the surface molecules of the water and all stand on their water-loving heads with their water-hating tails in the air, reducing the surface tension of the water to about a third of its usual strength. (Soap bubbles last longer than plain water bubbles because there is too much surface tension in water for it to remain in a bubble. In a soap bubble, the tails of the soap molecules are on the outside of the bubble, which also protects it from evaporation. If you want to see how long you can keep a soap bubble, try putting it in a jar. One bubble lover kept a bubble for 341 days this way.)

Soap that is dispersed in water forms little clusters called micelles, as a group of soap molecule “caterpillars” get together with their tails in the center of the cluster away from the water. This gives the clusters a negative charge, so they repel each other and disperse throughout the water. When they encounter a bit of grease or oil they grab it and form a new micelle with the grease held inside the micelle. These particles are washed away when we rinse the soapy dishes.

Washing a person is similar. The reason water alone does not do the job is that we are oily. What dirt attaches itself to us is embedded in this oil, and it repels water. Until we reach for that bar of soap.

But wait, what is that bar of soap actually made of? We’ll look at what’s in our soap shortly, but first…

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BATHING & SOAP

If you were an ancient Greek or Roman, you cleaned yourself by rubbing olive oil and sand or pumice on yourself and then scraping it off. Eventually, various cultures learned to make and use soap, but bathing was often done for social or ritual reasons, not to become clean. The majority of cultures, however, bathed in water and most of them heated the water.

Water bathing was practiced by the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans. The first of the famous Roman baths was built about 312 BC. These wonderful public bathing facilities (large communal “hot tubs”) were supplied with water from the aqueduct system. There were both hot and cold rooms, and medium-temperature rooms for lounging, which had a variety of services such as food and wine, massage and “personal training.”

We cannot say for sure who first made soap. A soapy material has been found in Babylonian clay cylinders dating from as early as 2800 BC. (Did you know Babylon is now Iraq?) An Egyptian papyrus from about 1500 BC describes a soap-making process.

A commonly accepted story for how soap was discovered comes from a Roman legend according to which rain would wash down through the ashes and animal fat of the burnt animal sacrifice area of Mount Sapo into the clay banks of the Tiber River where the local women washed their clothing, and they noticed that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner. It is most likely, however, that the process of making soap was discovered independently in many places around the world, as news did not travel quickly in the early eras of mankind.

At any rate, we know that public baths had become very popular as a social gathering place in Europe by the Middle Ages. Criers ran through the streets to announce that the water was hot. Food and drink were served on floating wooden tables and entertainment was provided. A good time was had by many.

Too good a time by too many, in the eyes of the Church, which saw it as overindulgence in pleasures of the flesh.

Although bathing remained a healthy custom in places like Japan and Iceland, it fell out of favor in Europe due to deadly misperceptions and religious beliefs, and thus filth was a strong contributor to the horrible European plagues such as the Black Death of the 14th century. Cities were built without water-delivery or waste-removal systems, and garbage, human waste and rats were ubiquitous. Change was not facilitated by the fact that the Church was adamantly against bathing, declaring not only that it was sinful but that it opened the body to the plague and other diseases. Filthiness was considered a sign of holiness. Members of some holy orders bragged that they washed only the tips of their fingers. Even doctors believed that a layer of filth on ones body protected one from disease. It was also believed that odors caused disease and that smelling to high heaven yourself would protect you, if you could “outstink” the odors around you. Not until the 17th century did bathing become common again in Europe. The discovery of germs in the mid 1800s certainly encouraged people to get and stay clean.

Italy, Spain and France were early European soap-manufacturing centers. By the end of the 12th century, English soap guilds were also making soap from olive oil, animal fats and plant ashes, using secret recipes. Sixteenth and 17th century housewifery texts contained recipes for mixing cut-up guild-made soap with scenting agents to form a pleasant-smelling soap for personal use. Cleanliness standards improved significantly when the high taxes that several countries had placed on soap as a luxury item were removed in the 19th century.

Although some commercial soap making in the American colonies began with the arrival of several soap makers on the second ship from England in 1608, for many years soap making was essentially a household chore, with colonial Americans making their own soap from animal fats and wood ashes.

The colonists boiled animal fats to render them into oil. Lye solution was prepared by pouring water through ashes, and considered to be the right strength when a potato or egg would float in it with an area about the size of a quarter above the surface. What experience had proven to be about the right amount of lye was added to some of the oil and the mixture was boiled until it became frothy and had a bite to it if tasted. Upon cooling, the resulting jelly-like soap was stored in a wooden barrel and dipped out as needed. Hard soap could be made by adding salt, but salt was too precious to use just for making soap. Most of the colonists’ soap was used to wash clothing, rather than to wash colonists.

Since then, “we have come a long way, baby.” Today, very few of us stink, and we have “soaps” in a previously unimaginable variety of shapes, colors and scents, both solid and liquid. But just what are they made of, and is this a matter of concern? It should be.

SOAP’S DIRTY SECRET

Much of what is called “soap” today is not really soap at all, but harsh, petroleum-based detergent that dries and irritates our skin and can cause inflammation, itching, and burning. The most common “fragrances” used are also synthetic petrochemicals that trigger allergic reactions in many of us. Toxic colorants and other substances are also often added to what is sold as “soap.” How did we come to this?

Soap is made by combining fats and oils, which contain fatty acids, with lye, which is alkaline. The strong alkali splits the fats/oils into fatty acids and glycerin. Then the sodium (or potassium) part of the alkali joins with the fatty acid part of the fat or oils, forming a salt that we call “soap.” Technically, soaps are sodium or potassium fatty-acid salts, produced from the hydrolysis of fats in a chemical reaction called (supposedly after Mt. Sapo) saponification.

The earliest known soap recipe is found in the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 BC, which describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for washing and also for treating skin diseases. Until recently, all soaps were made with natural oils and alkalis.

Early soap making was more an art than a science because the chemical process was not understood and the quality of the alkali was not standardized. In the early 1800s a French chemist, Michel Chevreul, discovered the chemical nature and relationship of fats, glycerin and fatty acids, establishing the basis for soap chemistry. In the mid 1800s, a way of making soda ash from common table salt was discovered, which increased both the quality and quantity of ash available for making soap. These discoveries, with the development of power to operate factories, made soap making one of America’s fastest-growing industries by 1850. Soap was no longer considered a luxury, but an everyday necessity. Milder soaps were developed for personal use, and soon we even had washing machines to wash our clothes. Life was good.

Synthetic “built” detergent, containing a surfactant detergent as the basic cleaning ingredient and a chemical “builder” that makes the surfactant more efficient, was first introduced in the U.S. in 1946. Phosphate compound builders vastly improved laundry-cleaning performance, and by 1953, detergent sales in this country surpassed those of actual soap. Synthetic detergents have now almost entirely replaced soap-based products for washing dishes and laundry and doing household cleaning.

Phosphates are nutrients that stimulate overgrowth of algae, which deplete the supply of oxygen in contaminated waters, destroying plant and fish life. It is estimated that 50 to 75 per cent of the phosphorus in our lakes and rivers comes from detergents. By 1983 over 2 million tons of phosphorus were used annually in the US for detergents, with the average American contributing from 1.5 to 2 pounds of phosphorus per year to our surface waters. Today’s use is even greater. One pound of phosphorus can stimulate the grow 700 pounds of algae.

In 1970 Congress “strongly recommended” that the phosphate content of detergents be immediately reduced, and that it be phased out entirely by 1972. Municipalities in several states passed laws limiting detergent phosphate content or even banning it altogether, and Canada limited detergent phosphate content to 2.2%. Proctor & Gamble, the makers of Tide, the most popular American detergent, led a successful lobbying effort against a federal ruling to lower phosphate content to 8.7%, as U.S. detergent makers to agree to reduce detergent phosphorus concentrations to 8.7% voluntarily. Many companies, however, have not kept this promise.

Want to turn the tide? Let companies that still use phosphates know you’re not buying their products for this reason. Use liquid organic cleaners instead. (And keep all cleaning products out of the reach of small children, as the ingestion of some brands has proven to be fatal.)

We have even taken thoughtlessly to washing ourselves with detergent. Most of the products now used for bathing (as well as for shampooing and cleaning our teeth) are actually synthetic detergents. They are popular because they foam abundantly, work well in hard water, and don’t leave the “soap scum” that forms when soap reacts with the calcium in hard water. Because their advertising refers to them as “soap,” few people realize that they are in fact detergent.

The bar “soaps” contain additional chemicals added to make them hold their shape and move smoothly through factory machinery, and the naturally humectant glycerin that is a byproduct of natural saponification is removed. The liquid “soaps” are composed almost entirely of chemicals of varying toxicity. Both the bars and liquids are harsh and drying to our skin. They also contain petrochemical fragrances and colorants, many of which are toxic and some of which are actually carcinogenic.

It is a popular misconception that the FDA regulates the cosmetics industry and is looking out for our well being. Unless a product makes health claims, it is not regulated by the FDA. The personal products and cosmetics industries are “self-regulating.” Translation: the fox is profitably in charge of the flock’s well being.

PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS?

In the last couple of decades, thousands of new personal-care products have been created for a buying public blitzed by advertising PR into believing that these products will bring them health and beauty. (According to TV Guide, the average American watches 200 TV commercials a day.) In most cases, however, they do the opposite. There is precious little “care” in the personal-care industry.

You may wish to check the products you are presently using for the following ingredients, and choose more healthful alternatives for those products that contain them. This list is by no means exhaustive, as hundreds of chemicals are used in such products, but these are the “biggies.”

Triclosan

As we are caught up in an antibacterial craze fed by marketing hype, many of our personal products also contain toxic triclosan or triclocarbon. (Remember, most chemicals that kill germs are also toxic to us.) These chemicals need to be left on a surface (your skin) for about two minutes in order to kill germs, so in most cases they do not, as people don’t stand with soapy hands for two minutes. This failure is most likely a good thing, as the normal bacteria population of our bodies not only eats our sweat but also acts to defend us against harmful invasive bacteria. However, scientists are concerned that common usage of antibacterial agents will create resistant bacteria, just as the overuse of antibiotics has. At any rate, washing with any soap effectively washes away any stray “bad guy bacteria” one may have picked up, and diseases such as the common cold are not bacterial in nature anyway, but viral. This leaves us with no reason to use antibacterial soaps, and many good reasons not to. Let me add more.

Dr. O’Donoghue, associate professor of dermatology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Centre in Chicago, says that many of her patients have developed cracked skin or eczema from using these products, and that “there is nothing quite as good to spread bacteria as hand eczema.”

Triclosan is a member of the carcinogenic chlorophenol family. (As is Agent Orange, the defoliant used in Vietnam with such tragic results.) In addition, not only are batches of triclosan occasionally contaminated by carcinogenic dioxins, but triclosan itself breaks down into dioxins when exposed to sunlight in the general environment.

The EPA lists Triclosan as a toxic pesticide with the highest scores regarding risk to both human health and the environment. The triclosan absorbed through your skin is stored in your fatty tissues, eventually reaching levels that suppress your immune system and could damage your liver, kidneys and lungs and/or cause paralysis or heart problems. The Triclosan your body does not absorb when you use these products goes down the drain and remains in the environment forever. A recent study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey found triclosan contamination in 57% of 139 streams they tested in 30 states.

Retailers in Sweden have cleared their shelves of triclosan products after traces of it were found in sewage, fish, and mothers’ breast milk. Major English retailers are now following suit, phasing out triclosan products by 2005. Be aware that triclosan is also common in plastic kitchenware products, and even in sinks and toilet seats.

Sodium Lauryl/Laureth/dodecyl Sulfate

Another downside of commercial soaps/shampoos/toothpastes is Sodium Lauryl/Laureth/dodecyl Sulfate (SLS). SLS is absorbed into and retained in the tissues of the eye, brain, heart, liver, and other organs. As pointed out by Dr. O’Donoghue, “surfactant molecules stay on hair and skin long after you think you’ve rinsed them off. As they sit there, they literally strip-away fatty acids, moisture and amino acids from your hair and skin. They increase dryness, increase roughness, and disturb the healthy growth process of new hair and skin.” SLS can also cause cataracts in adults, and keep children’s eyes from developing properly. It has a tendency to react with other ingredients to form NDELA, a nitrosamine and potent carcinogen. Researchers estimate that you absorb as much nitrate from shampooing your hair once with a product containing SLS as you do by eating a pound of bacon. SLS also makes it easier for other toxins to be absorbed into our bodies. SLS is a skin irritant, used in testing labs as the standard ingredient to irritate skin. It is a denaturant, that is, it dissolves protein. Our skin, hair and gum tissue are made of protein, thus the SLS in our personal products is very damaging to our very cell structure. (When I began making tooth powder and stopped using tooth paste, my dentist commented on the fact that my gums were much healthier. He was surprised to learn the reason why.)

Propylene/ethylene/butylene/polyethylene glycol

Propylene glycol (PG) and butylene glycol are petroleum plastics that easily penetrate the skin and can weaken protein and cellular structure. Glycols are used in antifreeze and deicing solutions for cars, airplanes, and boats and as solvents in the paint and plastics industries. PG is also used to remove barnacles from boats. The EPA requires workers to wear protective gloves, clothing, and goggles when disposing of PG solutions by burying them in the ground, warning against skin contact to prevent such consequences as brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities. The concentration is greater in personal products than in most industrial applications.

Some soap manufacturers use diethylene glycol or triethylene glycol to give their soap a smooth, moist look. However, these petroleum products remove essential skin lipids, so they themselves are actually drying and damaging our skin.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a potentially carcinogenic petroleum product that can reduce your skin’s natural moisture factor thereby increasing the appearance of aging and vulnerability to bacteria.

DEA (diethanolamine), MEA (monoethanolamine), & TEA (triethanolamine)

The use of these hormone-disrupting chemicals is restricted in Europe due to known carcinogenic effects, but in the U.S. they are used to create foam in products like shampoo, shaving creams, and bubble bath.

Fragrances

Synthetic fragrances are among the most dangerous ingredients in today’s personal-care products. They can cause watery eyes, reddened skin, spaciness, nausea, mood changes, depression, lethargy, restlessness, irritability, anger, memory lapses, and inability to concentrate. Fragrance-sensitive people can be incapacitated by exposure to these chemicals. (Upon being sprayed with cologne by a department store worker who did not ask permission, a friend of mine promptly collapsed on the floor and was unable to walk for some time.)

About 95 percent of the makeup of a “fragrance” is synthetic chemicals, many of which are designated as hazardous, including methylene chloride, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl alcohol, and benzyl chloride. A fragrance may contain six hundred or more different raw materials and synthetic chemicals, few of which have been tested for their safety.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) reports that 884 toxic substances were identified in a list of 2,983 chemicals used in the fragrance industry as capable of causing breathing difficulty, allergic reactions, multiple chemical sensitivities, and other serious maladies, including neurotoxicity.

FD&C Color Pigments

I once saw a poster in a college chemistry lab that consisted simply of a large picture of a sponge cut out in the shape of a human hand, with the caption “This is what your hand looks like to chemicals.” The skin of our entire body is excellent at absorbing whatever we put on it.

Strangely, in the 1930’s skin was supposedly thought to be an impermeable barrier. That thought, along with the sheer political clout of big money industries, resulted in many ingredients being given special exemption from bans when the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938. The FDA has no power to remove these ingredients from the market, even though many have since proven to be highly toxic and even carcinogenic. Thus synthetic colorants made from petroleum and containing benzidine, a known carcinogen, are used in our personal products (as well as our processed vegetables and many beverages, desserts and drugs). Absorption of certain colors can cause oxygen depletion, even death. Animal studies have shown almost all of them to be carcinogenic.

Today’s synthetic dyes are engineered from petroleum products rather than extracted from actual coal tar, which reduces the amount of carcinogenic residuals from the coal itself, but as these dyes still have carcinogenic properties they are still referred to in the industry as “coal-tar dyes,” according to the FDA. (From U.S. Food & Drug Administration. “Color Additives Fact Sheet.”)

These chemicals can trigger a wide number of behavioral, learning, and health problems. FD&C color or D&C (drug & cosmetic) colors can cause severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches, nausea, fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, and cancer. For example, Yellow 5, widely used in foods and drugs, causes asthma and hives in some individuals (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) and triggers hyperactivity in sensitive children (Lancet, Mar. 9, 1985). Yellow 6 can cause urticaria (hives), rhinitis, nasal congestion, bronchoconstriction, anaphylactoid reaction, purpura, indigestion, abdominal pain, and vomiting. (Source: American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs, 1985) Another of the most common colors, Yellow No. 5 (Tartrazine), is associated with allergic reactions and conditions.

You might check to see if your toothpaste contains FD&C Blue #1, found in animal studies to be a definite bladder carcinogen. (While you’re at it, check for saccharin, which has been rated carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.) These substances can be absorbed in mere seconds through the skin on our lips or through the mucous membrane that lines our mouth which, according to the Physician’s Desk Reference, has an absorption efficiency of over 90 percent.

With all toxic personal products, children are particularly at risk, as they have a greater sensitivity and proportion of skin area than adults.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN “NATURAL” SOAP

OK, so now we know we don’t want toxic chemicals in our soap. What do we want in it? Don’t be fooled by misuse of the word “natural,” which has been so abused it no longer means anything. You will have to ask questions. Here are some things to ask your soap maker:

· What kind of oils are used?

· Are they cold-pressed or solvent-extracted (solvent-extracted leaves traces of solvent)?

· Are they fresh?

· Are they as nature made them, or have they been deodorized (which removes the evidence that an oil had gone rancid), or hydrogenated (using toxic nickel)?

· Are the colorants safe, or are they made from toxic dyes? Which colorants did you use? (Colorants from annatto seed and other plant colorants are best.)

· What is used to scent the soap? Pure essential oils (EOs) are safe, with the exception of wintergreen and birch, which have a high methyl salicylate content. “Fragrance oils” are toxic. Some soap makers use both EOs and synthetics. Be aware that fruit scents such as strawberry or mango which are often synthetics, as are scents like Rain, Chocolate and Bubble Gum. Genuine rose, honeysuckle and jasmine are way too costly to use in soap, so ask how they’ve been scented in soaps of these names.

If you like those pretty, translucent “glycerin” soaps, be aware that they are almost universally made with propylene glycol, not healthful glycerin (The label may correctly state that the product is made from vegetable glycerin if it contains ANY at all, even if the percentage of propylene glycol is high. The maker might mention only the ingredients they choose to mention.) Such bars can contain many other toxic petrochemicals as well.

After reading the advertisement of one glycerin “melt & pour” soap manufacturer that said their product contains no propylene glycol, or other undesirable ingredients. I requested an ingredients list from their technical department. It clearly lists such ingredients. I called their main office and inquired about the ingredients and was told there was absolutely no PG, etc. I then read to their representative the list of ingredients. She hemmed and hawed just a bit, then blithely said that of course they welcome their customers to educate themselves.

A good place to begin would be to ask the company’s technical department to send you an ingredient list. (There are at least two smaller companies making a less-toxic glycerin soap. These soaps are less translucent than the toxic ones.)

You have a right to know what is in any product you are going to absorb into your body. Asking to know all the ingredients is not the same as asking for the maker’s recipe secrets.

Now you know that manufacturers are not required to list all the ingredients in all the products they sell you for personal use, though most products do come with an ingredients list. The next time you purchase a personal product, read the label. Are those chemicals you want to absorb into your body or expose your family to? Isn’t it time to upgrade?

Fortunately, better, safer products are available. When you use them, you will not only discover improvements in your skin, hair and gums, you will also have more peace of mind, knowing that you and your family are no longer being exposed to the health-damaging effects of most commercial personal-care products.

ABOUT SHIVANI’S LIFE ENERGIES PERSONAL PRODUCTS

Shivani has been a natural health practitioner and wellness consultant for over 30 years. She began making soap and other products for her family in 2000, after realizing that just because something was sold by her natural foods coop didn’t mean it was either natural or safe. The folks who received these as gifts soon wanted more, and she found herself in business. Her soaps, shampoo bars, balms and other products are beautiful, smell wonderful and take loving care of your skin and hair. She uses only high-quality ingredients that are safe and beneficial.

The oils in her soaps are of top quality and the percentages used are carefully calculated to give you soap that not only lathers richly and cleans well but is also kind and nurturing to your skin. In addition, a bit of extra oil is left in the soap. This “superfatting” means you actually get a bit of lotion effect from using the soap, unlike the damaging and drying effects of synthetic soaps and those made from cheap oils. Her soaps also contain abundant natural glycerin, which is very moisturizing to your skin. They are colored with safe ingredients from nature (herbs and spices, seeds, roots, berries, flower petals, clays) and safe ultra-marines and oxides.

The rich, satisfying scents of her soaps, and of all Shivani’s products, come from the pure essential oils of various plants, flowers and trees, virtually all of which have aromatherapeutic properties as well as smelling wonderful. Even those individuals with terrific sensitivity to synthetic “fragrance” oils have been able to use these naturally scented products.

In addition to regular-shaped bars she makes beautiful gift soaps in the shape of mermaids, sea shells, angels, hearts, moon, stars and various “critters.” Some of her customers find these so lovely that they have to be reminded that they are, after all, soap, and meant to be used.

Shivani’s shampoo bars make lots of chemical-free lather to cleanse hair without damaging it. They are superfatted with a bit of jojoba oil to gently condition your hair. Customers report that the texture, appearance and behavior of their hair are markedly improved. Many also report that they no longer need conditioner after switching to Shivani’s Shampoo Bars, and notice a difference in their hair from the first shampoo. (This product also makes an excellent shaving soap.)

The toothpowder Shivani makes contains no sodium lauryl sulfate, which “eats” proteins such as our skin, no sugar or toxic sugar substitutes, no synthetic colorants or flavorings and no poisonous fluoride. It is made solely of pure baking soda, calcium carbonate, and myrrh powder, which is naturally astringent, anti-inflammatory and a friendly antimicrobial.

Her “solid lotion” and lip balms contain only the most desirable ingredients, the kind that you want to be absorbed. (No preservative is needed, as bacteria cannot grow in the absence of water.) One of the unique ingredients of these balms is the beeswax from Pure Mountain Honey of Mountaindale, NY. Most beekeepers add both antibiotics and toxic pesticide to their hives year round, so these are present in most beeswax products. The honey and beeswax of the Pure Mountain folks, however, are free from these substances. Both the “solid lotion” and balm come in push-up tubes that are easy to keep handy. (She also makes balms in small screw-top jars, which contain additional special ingredients such as “friendly” antimicrobial tea tree oil, healing calendula extract and anti-inflammatory blue chamomile extract. No healing claims are made, of course.)

She also makes to order spray-pump spritzers of various essential oils (Never put any undiluted essential oil directly on your skin.) and certainly may make additional products in the future.

You are welcome to call or e-mail Shivani for more information on any of the points discussed in her article, for a list of currently available products, or for pictures of her products sent via e-mail.

Sarjuna@aol.com

Shivani’s soaps, shampoo bars, lotion bars and other products are beautiful, smell wonderful, and take loving care of your skin and hair. She cares about your health.

This article may be freely reproduced and shared if it is reproduced in its entirety, right up to and including this sentence.

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