Hand Wash Soap
A must have here at the David Suzuki Foundation office is a simple hand wash soap.
What’s in it;
- 1/4 cup liquid castile soap: not tested on animals, fair trade, and organic. It’s made with saponified organic oils of coconut, olive, hemp and jojoba coconut, hemp and therefore vegetarian! Water softening and cleansing powers. Doesn’t cut dirt but dissolves it. The mildest soap you’ll find. It comes with essential oils of peppermint, almond, eucalyptus, tea tree and unscented.
- 3/4 cup distilled water : used to dilute the soap concentrate.
- 1 t sesame oil or grapeseed oil: Helps damaged and stressed tissues, and controls skin moisturization. A light and thin oil it contains more linoleic acid than many other carrier oils. Need 1 teaspoon.
- 10 drops of an essential oil (optional). Sometimes I add these because of their anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral or skin repair properties (some support immune function too).
Mix everything together and viola!
What’s NOT in it;
- Triclosan: found in antibacterial soap products. It’s a broad-spectrum killer so it kills good bacterial too. It’s a chemical pollutant that bioaccumulates in wildlife (acutely toxic to aquatic life) and humans. When mixed with chlorine (like many home cleaners) it forms carcinogenic compounds…and one could go on…
- Parabens: a preservative linked with chronic and acute health hazards.
- Phthalates (Fragrance): a plasticizer and often disguised as fragrance. They also fix fragrance so that the stink stays longer. Linked with bioaccumulation in wildlife and humans, cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, endocrine disruption, birth defects, and more.
- Sodium Lauryl (or Laureth) Sulfate: makes the suds and it’s a skin irritant. Still debate whether or not it causes cancer.
- DEA: Another foaming agent, but it’s a severe skin irritant and can have adverse effects on the blood, kidney and liver.
Go for it and make a batch for your home or office. Enjoy, Lindsay
June 19th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I read similar article also named Hand Wash Soap, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me