Between hormones and skin stretching around baby watermelon, pregnancy will leave your skin very dry and itchy. I’ve seen some bloggy sites that recommend moisturizing body washes to remedy the problem, they’re very wrong. I don’t have a degree in dermatology nor chemistry to back my claim, but I’m standing by my words. They’re so wrong. Body washes and shampoos are often made with a combination of natural soap and a mild detergent. It’s not going to say in the ingredient list because cleansing agents are typically listed as Surfactants, and both soap and detergent are Surfactants. Even many “all natural” products are not true soaps.
What’s the difference and why do you care? Do you remember the old Zest commercials where the woman is wearing a black bathing suit? She washes half of herself with some soap and the other half with Zest and they show the “icky” residue from “that other soap”. The jingle was, “you’re not fully clean unless you’re Zestfully clean”. That other soap is a real soap. Real soap is more natural, more gentle on skin, and friendlier to the environment. The downside is that soap attaches to minerals, which translates into dull looking hair if you use it as a shampoo, and soap scum on the shower walls *if* you have hard water.
Now you’re saying, “but I’ve used (name of common name brand soapy soap) and it felt like I just had a face lift cause my skin was so tight I had a permagrin”. Most common brand name soapy soap soaps take out a lot of the glycerin from their soapy soap soaps. Glycerin is a natural byproduct of soap with great moisturizing properties. Homemade and smaller soap companies keep the glycerin in while larger manufacturers take a lot of it out to put in their lotion/moisturizer lines.
How do you find a good real soap? Some natural soap makers will list, “Saponified Olive Oil” on their ingredient list. The type of oil isn’t *that* important. The part that lets you know it’s real soap is the “Saponified” part followed by an oil. Olive oil is supposed to be the most gentle to the skin and is always the one recommended for babies, but a bar of pure olive oil soap gets slimy and dissolves quickly. Not that it really matters, but it also doesn’t lather very well especially in hard water, so if you equate suds to cleanliness you’ll be disappointed. Coconut oil isn’t nearly as moisturizing but gives a good lather. Combine the two, and there is a happy medium. There are a whole host of fancy and very expensive oils used in soaps…don’t waste your money. It’s really not worth it.
Apparently, another way to know if a particular soap is really soap is to test it for the date-rape drug, GHB. The makers of Dr. Bronner’s soaps even did a video about it.
On a semi related note, if you’re like me and try to keep things as basic as possible check out The Organic Consumers Association. They have also filed a lawsuit in California over companies that label their products as organic as a “Coming Clean” Campaign. They have found that many personal care products that are labeled “organic” contain the carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane.
If you want to know what’s in your personal care products check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.
The soap I use on myself and Sophia is Savon de Marseille. You can buy it at – Savon de Marseille or Several shops at Amazon.com
It’s expensive for a bar of soap, but these aren’t regular sized bars. They’re cubes and they last quite a while. Sophia’s shampoo is California baby, which you can buy at Target. What does chemical loving Kurtie use? He’s a guy, he uses whatever I buy. 
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