Subscribe and receive a £5 voucher to spend on your first purchase with us

Why can soap often your dry skin out? And why is ours different?

 

Customers are often, understandably, cautious when we introduce our soaps as being suitable as a facial cleanser.

Past experiences of skin being left tight, sore, itchy and dry have left them feeling dubious and hard to convince.  It took Kevin quite a while to convince Liz on this very subject!

Let's get to the bottom of why this might be. What is it about soaps that usually makes them so drying? In our video below we ask founder (and our soap and skincare formulator and maker!), Kevin, to share more about how conventional, mass-produced soaps are made and what causes them to be drying. He also gives his insights into how our nourishing, organic, moisturising soaps can help to soothe dry skin conditions, such as eczema and psoriasis...

 

 

How are soap bars made?

Cheap commercial soap bars and even many produced by luxury brands are usually made using harsh chemicals and low-cost oils and ingredients. During the soap-making process of mixing fatty acids (oils) and an alkaline base (sodium hydroxide and water), a chemical reaction occurs called saponification to create soap and glycerin.

Soap is the cleansing component, and glycerin is the moisturising and skin softening compound, and is also what is known as a humectant which means it draws moisture to your skin and seals it in, leaving it feeling soft.  

So why is it that soap bars dry out the skin typically?

More often than not, the glycerin in mass-produced soap bars is removed in order to be used in other products to maximise profits.  The removal of the glycerin ensures that any possible benefit to the skin has also been removed. In simple terms, the soap is now a basic detergent.  It will 'clean' the skin, but over time the harshness of it can damage the skin by stripping it of its natural oils, healthy bacteria and moisture.

You then need to buy other products such as hand cream and body moisturisers which ironically often have added glycerin which was originally in the soap. 

 

 

 

What about liquid soaps?  

As we mentioned in our recent blog post on water in your skincare, all water-based skincare products need to be preserved and emulsified using chemical ingredients that the skin is not designed to tolerate.  Over time, this can leave your skin feeling dry, itchy and irritated.

We looked at one leading luxury liquid soap and found it contained 29 ingredients, including sodium laurel sulphate, phenoxyethanol, fragrance, skin irritants and environmental toxins. 

Some of these ingredients have been linked with cancers, hormone and endocrine disruption, and can also affect the central and peripheral nervous system.

 

   

 

How does our soap-making process differ?  And how does that benefit the skin?

"You get out of life what you put in"

We say that your skin receives the benefit of what you put on it.

The key thing, as always, is the quality of the ingredients we use in all of our soaps and skincare.  We only use organic cold-pressed plant oils and butters which retain all of their moisturising and healing properties.

All of the beneficial fatty acids and nutrients in our signature blend of certified organic extra virgin, moisture rich oils and plant butters are slowly infused with organic herbs, flowers or essential oils. This results in a soap that luxuriously lathers into smooth and creamy velvet on your skin, to deeply revive, balance and brighten your skin day after day.  Only goodness is included and nothing beneficial is taken out.

Moisturising is key when you have eczema and psoriasis, and it’s best to avoid skincare products with added synthetic fragrances and preservatives.. Our soap softens the skin and moisturises it with naturally occurring glycerin.

What our customers say:

"For the last two years I suffered from severe rosacea on my face. I tried many different creams, and I took antibiotics for months. Last week I reluctantly asked Kevin at Coraline Skincare if one of his products would work. He recommended using their 'Lavender' soap bar to wash my face, followed by the 'SOS Recovery' facial oil. Well, you should see my skin! I feel like it is a miracle. People that know me asked how I got rid of it. The redness is still there but little by little it is disappearing" Nuria F 

"I have always had a dry skin but I find your soap a great asset,as it moisturises so nicely." Susan M

"This is a lovely hard soap which cleanses beautifully without leaving skin tight or dry." Kathryn J

Shop our natural organic soaps here 

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published