In This Article:

What Is Natural Soap?

What Makes A Tear-Free Cleanser?

Can You Make Natural Soap Tear-Free?

How To Use Soap Safely Around Eyes

What Is Natural Soap?

Most of what people mistakenly call “soap” sitting pretty on store shelves *is technically not real soap*. Did that blow your mind? It should!

The term “soap” is an FDA-protected term. If it is not true soap, legally the manufacturer cannot call it “soap”. Instead of “soap” they must use other terms such as: “wash”, “cleanser”, “bar”, “washing liquid”, “shampoo”, “body wash”, et cetera.

Only true, natural soap can legally be called “soap”. So, how does the FDA define soap?

To meet the definition of soap in FDA’s regulations, a product has to meet three conditions: 

What it’s made of: To be regulated as “soap,” the product must be composed mainly of the “alkali salts of fatty acids,” that is, the material you get when you combine fats or oils with an alkali, such as lye.

What ingredients cause its cleaning action: To be regulated as “soap,” those “alkali salts of fatty acids” must be the only material that results in the product’s cleaning action. If the product contains synthetic detergents, it’s a cosmetic, not a soap. You still can use the word “soap” on the label.

How it’s intended to be used: To be regulated as soap, it must be labeled and marketed only for use as soap. If it is intended for purposes such as moisturizing the skin, making the user smell nice, or deodorizing the user’s body, it’s a cosmetic. Or, if the product is intended to treat or prevent disease, such as by killing germs, or treating skin conditions, such as acne or eczema, it’s a drug. You still can use the word “soap” on the label.

You can read the entire regulation at 21 CFR 701.20. 

This is exactly why we have to have a disclaimer with any beneficial claims (other than cleansing) on our website that states “These statements are not approved by the FDA. This product is not intended to treat, mitigate, prevent, or cure any disease.”

How are traditional soaps and synthetic detergents different?

Ordinary soap is made by combining fats or oils and an alkali, such as lye. The fats and oils, which may be from animal, vegetable, or mineral sources, are degraded into free fatty acids, which then combine with the alkali to form crude soap. The lye reacts with the oils, turning what starts out as liquid into blocks of soap. When made properly, no lye remains in the finished product. In the past, people commonly made their own soap using animal fats and lye that had been extracted from wood ashes. 

Today there are very few true soaps on the market. Most body cleansers, both liquid and solid, are actually synthetic detergent products. Detergent cleansers are popular because they make suds easily in water and don’t form gummy deposits. Some of these detergent products are actually marketed as “soap” but are not true soap according to the regulatory definition of the word.

You can find all of this information here on the FDA’s website: https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/frequently-asked-questions-soap

 What Makes A Tear-Free Cleanser?

The answer lies in a few subtle changes in chemical formulas of detergent cleansers.

Adult and baby detergent shampoos contain surfactants (short for “surface active agents”). One end of the surfactant molecule is attracted to water. The other is repelled by water but attracted to oily substances. Surfactants work by reducing the surface tension of a liquid, allowing the shampoo to spread and penetrate better, and remove the thin layer of oil known as sebum from the hair and scalp [source: Schwarcz]. Baby shampoos use detergents with long chain surfactants, such as sodium trideceth sulfate or nonionic polymers that are less harsh than normal detergents, and they use only small amounts of these cleansers in their shampoos.

Tear-free formulas also leave out surfactants such sodium lauryl sulfate, which can be irritating to the eyes and scalp. This does create a trade-off, though. Sodium lauryl sulfates — formed in part from coconut fat or palm kernel oil — are the chemical agents in shampoos that get hair really clean (and give a nice lather) [source: Schwarcz]. Although tear-free shampoos still clean hair, they don’t remove oil as thoroughly. But since most babies don’t do more than look cute and occasionally smear food into their hair, this usually works out just fine.

You may read more about this here: https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/tear-free-shampoo-not-sting-eyes.htm

Can You Make Natural Soap Tear-Free?

Due to the very definition and make-up of natural soap, the answer is a resounding and unfortunate no. Because soap is naturally an alkali (this is how it cleanses) – it cannot NOT irritate the eyes when they come into direct contact with soap.

Can you make soap less alkali? Trying to making a soap more acidic would cause it to cease being or acting like a good soap, so it’s a no on that too. Since soap has a hydrophilic (water-attracting) side to it’s saponified molecules, the other half is hydrophobic (water-repelling), this is what makes it great at washing away dirt and grime when mixed with water! If we made soap less of a base and more of an acid by adding more acidic ingredients, it would significantly weaken its cleansing abilities (and cause an icky mess).

We add just enough excess fats (bases) to not dry the skin and hair, and also just enough lye (alkali) to be able to cleanse the skin and hair. This is a very fine balance called a superfat percentage carefully measured with highly sensitive scales each time we make soaps.

How To Use Soap Safely Around Eyes

Can you use soap safely around the eyes? Yes you can! You just have to be careful and patient, especially while washing a baby or toddler. Baths are the safest way to do this since you can dilute the soap in the bathwater first before applying it to the hair or skin around the face. Leaning the child back or asking the child to lean back while seated during the wash and rinse of their hair makes it much easier to avoid getting soap in their eyes. They can also use the edge of the bathtub or baby bathtub for better back and neck support during the wash and rinse. Use the edge of your thumb, palm, and index finger all pressed snugly against their eyebrow area to shield sensitive eyes from the soapy water when you rinse their hair. This looks just like when you are shielding your eyes from the sunlight.

Soap made for the body and hair will not permanently harm or damage the eyes, but it may sting and cause some irritation until it is rinsed off!

Keep this in mind: most bathwater — without the use of tear-free cleansers — could still cause tears to sensitive eyes. It all depends on the pH level of the water, which is a measurement of the free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water. A pH level measures water on a scale of 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. If the number drops below 7, the water is increasingly more acidic, which means it has a greater amount of free hydrogen ions. Above 7, and the water is increasingly less acidic (or more basic), which means it has a greater number of free hydroxyl ions [source: USGS]. The pH range for human eyes is 6.5 to 7.6, with 7 being optimal. Any variation from neutral may cause your eyes to tear, and it has little to do with the tear-free shampoo [sources: Kiechle, WHO].

Thanks for reading our article about why we can’t have natural tear-free soap – If you have any questions, please leave us a comment below!

Article Topics:

Why Milk Soaps?

But Why Buttermilk?

Cow’s Milk Vs…

Nutrient Profiles of Milks

Environmental Reasons

Lactose Intolerance, Acne, and Other Concerns

Why Milk Soaps?

Soaps enriched with milk are creamier than those made with water, and milk’s natural fats, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients provide skin-renewing moisture and nourishment.

How Your Skin & Scalp Absorbs Topical Nutrients

Have you ever seen a nicotine patch and wonder how they work for smokers trying to quit? Or how merely touching a toxic yet brightly colored tree frog can lead to death? It’s because your skin and scalp absorb what you put on them!

Your skin is your body’s largest organ by far, with a total average area of about 20 square feet! That’s a lot of avenues for nutrients to reach your body… or to get slowly poisoned by toxic body products. The good news is Perma-Earth offers some of the best body care products in the world to feed your hair and skin from the outside-in.

Nutrients follow three pathways through the skin, according to the CDC. 

1. Intercellular pathways. As the name implies, there are spaces in between your skin’s cells. Nutrients may follow these pathways deeper into the skin. Along the way, your skin’s outer layer may absorb some of the nutrients in our buttermilk soaps, such as Vitamin D3, Retinol-A, Alpha-Hydroxy Protein Acids, and more beauty-promoting goodies!
2. Permeation. Nutrients may pass from cell to cell in your epidermis. When the outermost cells take on some nutrients, they could pass some of those to the next cells behind the outer ones. 
3. Hair follicles and glands. Nutrients that permeate slowly into your skin may reach the hair follicles or glands deeper into your skin’s layers. This represents the hardest way your skin can absorb nutrients because your follicles are much deeper in the skin.

Since milk soap is a natural product recognized as safe by the body, it can be absorbed that much deeper and easier. The famously beautiful Queen Cleopatra knew this as she used to bath in buttermilk daily.

But Why Buttermilk?

We use traditional grassfed buttermilk in our body products, which is simply cultured raw milk straight from the animal, in our case, a grassfed cow. Our grassfed and pasture-raised jersey cow sources produce very high fat whole buttermilk, much higher fat than any other milk, and an abundance of it! This is one reason why we choose grassfed cow’s milk over goat’s, sheep, or any other milk.

Fats are what protect the skin, keeping it nourished, healthy-looking, and moisturized. Many vitamins are only soluble or bioavailable with a fat attachment (called fat-soluble vitamins like A and D), making some nutrients completely useless without sufficient fats for your body to utilize them.

Full-fat buttermilk is not only high in fat-soluble vitamins, but particularly high in multiple different proteins too, like yoghurt! Buttermilk and yoghurt are very similar in fact, but farm-fresh raw buttermilk is higher in many different proteins versus store-bought buttermilk or yoghurt. Store-bought yoghurt or buttermilk sitting for weeks or months on the shelf is usually pasteurized (destroys proteins) and cultured with only one or two different probiotics.

Farm-fresh, raw yoghurt or buttermilk can have dozens of naturally-occurring probiotics along with many alpha-hydroxy acids like lactic acid, which promote cell renewal and rejuvenation of beauty factors such as brightness, tone, and complexion maintenance. Buttermilk is higher in lactic acid than any other milk – another reason why we choose this hand-cultured moo milk!

Cow’s Milk Vs…

These days, the dairy aisle is saturated with options—and we don’t just mean 2 percent or whole. There’s soy, almond, cashew, rice, oat, hemp, camel…you get the idea. In a world full of milks (and “mylks”), it can be overwhelming to educate yourself on which is better? 

As many have stated before us, the original milk (real animal’s milk) is top tier in terms of nutrient profile perfection, complete nutrient density, quantity and quality of complete proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals – plant “mylks” (which contain anti-nutrients like phytic acid and oxalates) just cannot compare.

Can’t you turn any raw animal’s milk into a cultured buttermilk? Yes you can, but let’s summarize!

Our local sources of grass-fed cow’s milk is higher in fat and abundance than any other local and freshly available milk, which is important for skin and scalp health to assist in nutrient absorption and utilization.

Milk once cultured into buttermilk is higher in lactic acid than any other fresh milk. This also helps to lower the pH of products the buttermilk is added to – making them more gentle and beneficial for the skin and scalp.

Nutrient Profiles of Milks

You know the saying that milk is the near-perfect food? They weren’t lying.

Milk is considered a “complete protein,” meaning it contains all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for your body to function at an optimal level, plus all of the essential Omega 3, 6, & 9 fatty acids in balanced proportions.

And buttermilk is even better!

Nutrient Profile of Whole Buttermilk in 1 cup (8 fl oz):

• Fats: 8 grams
  • Omegas 3, 6, 9
• Proteins: 8 grams
  • Tryptophan
  • Threonine
  • Isoleucine
  • Leucine
  • Lysine
  • Methionine
  • Phenylalanine
  • Valine
  • Histidine
• Retinol-A (Vitamin A): 115 UG, 17% of the Daily Value (DV)
• Calcium: 282 mg, 28% DV
• Sodium: 257 mg, 17% DV
• Riboflavin (B2): 38% DV
• Vitamin B12: 22% DV
• Pantothenic acid (B5): 13% DV
• Potassium: 331 mg, 14% DV
• Vitamin D3: 127 UG, 26% DV
• Vitamin C: 4% DV
• Phosphorous: 208 mg, 30% DV
• Niacin (B3): 2% DV
• Vitamin E: 1% DV
• Vitamin K: 1% DV
• Copper: 5% DV
• Folate (B9): 3% DV
• Vitamin B6: 7%
• Magnesium: 25 mg, 8% DV
• Zinc: 12% DV
• Thiamine (B1): 11% DV
• Selenium: 17% DV
• Manganese: 1%

In summary, you just can’t beat whole buttermilk’s nutrient profile compared to other milks!

What about goat’s milk?

Many people have “herd” that goat milk might contain more nutritional benefits than regular old moo juice, so we dug deeper for the answer. It turns out, neither milk is healthier or more nutritious than the other since the nutrition content is almost the same (depending on the source, season, diet, processing, etc.), but goat milk may be a better choice for the digestive system as it has less lactose. However, this doesn’t pertain to the integumentary system – hair, skin, nails, etc. In other words, you don’t have to worry about milk soaps or lotions reaching your digestive system if you are lactose intolerant!

What are the nutritional stats of goat milk vs. cow milk?

When doing research, one must take into consideration that source is everything. For instance, the USDA says that goat’s milk on average has very slightly (1%) more fat than cow’s milk, but from our own experience in farming and using farm-fresh raw milks, our source of grass-fed cow’s milk has a LOT more fat/cream than other local pasture-raised goat’s milk.

We can simply taste this or even see this when the fat and cream separate from the milk itself a day or two after milking since raw milk is not homogenized. Goat’s milk takes a lot longer for the cream to separate so it will take longer to see and we may never know visually how much fat goat’s milk contains.

Considering all of this, we must take what the USDA and other nutrient science says with a grain of salt, as who knows what their sources were for comparison.

According to the USDA, goat milk and cow milk are almost identical in macronutrients. The USDA specifically states that goat milk comes out on top for protein and cholesterol by 1 gram more per cup, but cow milk’s fat content is ever so slightly lower.

And as far as vitamins and minerals go, both milks have a lot to offer, just in different amounts. Goat milk has more calcium, potassium and vitamin A than cow milk, but cow milk has more vitamin B12, selenium and folic acid.

Therefore, the nutritional benefits of cow’s milk vs. goat’s milk are negligible. Both can be made into their own buttermilk, which would in turn have very minor nutritional differences. We do now offer goat’s milk soaps for those who wish to feel the difference!

Environmental Reasons

Is cow’s buttermilk eco-friendly? Cows are much more efficient at producing consistent quantity and quality milk than any other animal. Cows are also the most gentle on the environment since they are strictly ruminants that cannot over-graze ecosystems as easily as goats or sheep can due to their unique mouth structure. Cow’s milk is also the most wasted milk produced, but buttermilk body products are the perfect solution to the over-abundance!

We choose to use local, raw, pasture-raised, and grass-fed milk our bath and body products – making our sourcing the best environmentally for any kind of milk products! This ensures the least amount of travel, containment, and processing waste possible.

Lactose Intolerance, Acne, and Other Concerns

For those concerned about lactose intolerance: Milk used in soap or other topical products has no direct relation to lactose-intolerance. While the milk enzymes and acids are released into the skin during soap use, these components remain external to the human digestive system. This is because a lactose-intolerance has to do solely with how the digestive system handles lactose poorly, not the integumentary system – which includes hair, skin, nails, etc.

However, if a milk allergy or general milk intolerance has been diagnosed by licensed health practitioners, they are advised to not use any milk products anywhere near their bodies. We have had many success stories even with those who are diagnosed as lactose-intolerant, but that is up to your and your healthcare provider to decide.

What about dairy and acne?  People who are lactose intolerant by way of digestion or who have found a connection between the physical intake of dairy and skin flare-ups do have the green light to apply milk topically. Dermatologists and doctors have gone on the records stating that the dairy-acne connection stems from digestion of the milk triggering a cascade of hormonal events that ultimately leads to acne. That cascade is not triggered by applying milk products to the skin.

Similar to how magnesium is best absorbed topically by some because ingesting magnesium upsets their digestive tract and can trigger other health issues – milk applied topically versus ingestion is another very similar situation which has many health benefits! Speaking of both, we offer farm-fresh milk and magnesium lotions to feed your skin from the outside-in.

If you have any other questions or concerns about this topic, please leave us a comment below or contact us!

In this article you will learn:

How Bar Soaps Differ From Liquid

Bar Soaps Are More Nourishing

Bar Soaps Are More Moisturizing

Bar Soaps Are Less Wasteful

Bar Soaps Are Less Expensive

There’s reasons why we haven’t offered liquid soaps even though most people prefer the convenience… Let’s dive in!

How Bar Soaps Differ From Liquid Soaps

To clarify, we are talking about pure, real soap. “Soap” is an FDA protected term! Some people assume surfactants or detergents are soap, but if it isn’t traditional, real soap it must be labeled differently: such as a hand wash, body wash, or a “beauty bar”. Most liquid “soaps” (as most people call them) on the market are not technically soaps but in fact detergents.

When we are talking about liquid vs. bar soaps in this article we are only referring to real soap!

Soap-making involves chemistry, so get ready for technical terms you may have to remember from high school! Chemically speaking, liquid soaps need a different alkali than bar soaps to complete the saponification process (the process that turns oils to soap with lye).

To recap, you can’t make any real soap without lye or a strong alkali substance. Lye is a natural product made from hardwood ashes filtered with water – that’s it!

There are 2 forms of alkalis (lyes):

• Sodium Hydroxide forms bar soap using the cold process method (what we use) or the hot process method (explained below)
• Potassium Hydroxide forms liquid soap using the hot process method – prolonged heat applied for several hours or more.

So, how does this change the nourishment quality, moisturization content, expense, and more?

Cold Process Bar Soaps Are More Nourishing

As mentioned above, liquid soapmaking requires the hot process method – heating for hours at a time.

If you aren’t familiar with heat factors and nutrient content: prolonged heat above 118 degrees Fahrenheit destroys vitamins and proteins. This isn’t good for the nourishing aspect of our buttermilk and animal fat soaps!

Hot process soap requires hours of heating soap between 200-220 degrees Fahrenheit!

Make sure your bar soaps were made using the COLD process method, which only requires enough heat to melt the fats for a very short period of time!

Some soapmakers use the hot process method for a “milder” bar of soap that cures faster. Curing time for cold-process soap takes 4-8 weeks, while hot-process soap takes 2-3 weeks. This makes hot-process soap more efficient for quick sales or sooner use, but it’s not beneficial for the nourishing content.

Bar Soaps Are More Moisturizing

“Superfat” is a term used by soapmakers to describe the excess, free-floating fats in a recipe: superfats are what makes the soap moisturizing and nourishing! Usually described as a percentage, the superfat amount can range in the negatives (very lye-heavy industrial soap) to 0% and higher (up to 25% with certain fats).

A huge difference in liquid vs. bar soaps is the maximum amount of superfat allowed in the formulas.

• Bar soaps have a maximum superfat averaging around 10% – WOW! Our animal fat soap bars average around 6-7% – not too moisturizing that it melts in your shower, but never too drying!
• Liquid soaps have a max superfat of 0%-5% depending on the type of fats used, which is quite drying. This range is recommended to prevent separation of free-floating fats and cloudiness, which clogs the pump and makes a chunky soapy soup instead of a smooth liquid.

In order to “neutralize” the excess lye or drying aspect in most liquid soaps, borax or another neutralizing agent is usually added after the hot process method.

In short, liquid soaps will never be as moisturizing or as nourishing as bar soaps because of the chemical differences – how disappointing!

Bar Soaps Are Less Wasteful

This one may seem kind of apparent, but we need to address it. Obviously, bar soaps require little to no containment except a label, paper wrapping, paper boxes, shrinkwrap (we use certified biodegradable shrinkwrap), or they can be completely naked – Oh-la-la!!

Liquid soaps require some kind of container (whether glass or plastic) and usually a plastic pump for easy access. Pouring a glass bottle every wash would get quite slippery and possibly dangerous. Therefore, liquid soap will never be as sustainable as bar soap.

Bottles and pumps are not very sustainable, and neither is the extra shipping weight and space.

It takes a lot more energy, time, and materials to make liquid soap. As described in the hot process method, a soapmaker must heat and tend to liquid soap constantly for several hours during the creation.

Weight of bar vs. liquid doesn’t equal final volume of soap use.

Bar soap is concentrated liquid soap: 12 oz of liquid soap equals to about 3 oz of bar soap.

Liquid soap is like watered down bar soap, and therefore has a bit more difficult time lathering. It takes more effort to clean and build up a good lather with liquid soap.

Lathering is much easier with bar soap.

Bar Soaps Are Less Expensive

This point is in addition to wasting materials unnecessarily: why waste money too? The bottles, pumps, and extra shipping weight/volume of liquid soaps are not cheap. The costs of bottles and pumps can range from $1-$2.50, which translates to an extra $3-$8 in final price. Let me explain!

Labor and production costs are always a factor in pricing. The cost of a product makes the final price increase exponentially (that means it’s multiplied, cost isn’t just added on dollar-for-dollar).

If a soapmaker needs more controlled space for making and storing, extra equipment, more ingredients, more energy, and possibly much more time to make liquid soap, those costs will translate to the final product.

The final price of liquid soap is at least 2-3 times more than bar soap considering all of the factors described above.

Since a 12 oz bottle of liquid soap has the same life as a 3 oz bar of soap, why wash your hard-earned money down the drain with all the unnecessary extras and none of the benefits?

Thanks for reading our short little article about why we abstain from making liquid soap! Liquid soap may work for some people – and that’s great! We just don’t see any need to make it at this time.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this topic, feel free to contact us! We’re always happy to help.

Before the 20th Century, people used soap bars to wash themselves – including their hair. The Victorian women had beautiful, long, flowing locks of hair, even during old age.

How did these women get such long, flowing locks of hair without all of the “innovative” modern haircare concoctions – which never seem to follow through with their grandiose claims?

It was soap they used to cleanse – pure, plain soap. Most of the time castile (olive oil) soap or lard (pig fat) soap was used to cleanse the body and hair. They also conditioned their hair with plain oils or animal fats.

There were articles in magazines and books written about how to properly wash one’s huge mane with a soap bar – recommended once per week minimum, more often was ideal. Most of the time it involved an hour or more of washing the hair section-by-section. Since modern plumbing was not available to most, it took women much longer to wash their incredibly long, thick hair – unlike today. Thankfully, experienced users of shampoo bar soaps now might only need 5 minutes to wash their hair!

If you are interested in learning about how to wash your hair with our shampoo soap bars, click here.

Now wait just a second, this isn’t to say that soap was the only factor contributing to those waterfalls of hairy waves – these women were also forced to eat mostly local and in-season without all the modern-day conveniences. This means that a lot of meats and fats and other fresh seasonal foods were consumed, further nourishing their hair and scalp.

So, don’t expect to be able to grow locks like your great-great-great grandmother simply from using soap. You haven’t lived like a Victorian for one reason, plus consider the common practice of using chemical detergents on one’s hair and skin from birth!

Detergents Vs. Soaps

Detergent Shampoos

Detergents are synthetically made surfactants that act like soap, but actually strip the hair and skin of everything good and kill the microbiome of your skin and hair (and so do naturally-derived surfactants). Foaming agents, waxes, silicones, sulfates, emulsifiers, esters, and other additives are often thrown into these chemical cocktails to make them work like original soap with a lot less effort… And your hair becomes dependent upon these chemicals instead of your natural microbiome.

Detergents also affect the sulfide bonds in your hair (whether or not they are “sulfate-free”), this weakens the sulfide bonds and causes your hair to go flat, or lack body and curl. This causes you to need more haircare products to fix what the detergents broke!

We cover the process of detoxing from your hair’s addiction to drugstore shampoos, click here to learn more!

“99% of us have been using detergents as shampoos all of our lives.” Even if the shampoo was claimed to be “natural” or “organic”, just research ALL of the ingredients you couldn’t pronounce. Spoiler alert: “naturally-dervied surfactants” are another word for detergents! We encourage you to challenge us if you think what you have been using is truly not a surfactant or detergent…

It would take an additional article to list and define all of the surfactants and detergents companies use – literally hundreds of different chemicals are commonly used . They are often cleverly hidden in online listings or with additional natural-sounding names such as “cleanser derived from plants” or they are omitted completely from sight!!

Don’t worry – it’s easy to become a conscious consumer with a computer at your fingertips 24/7. Type the confusing-sounding ingredients into your search engine and see what pops up. Or highlight the word on your device, tap and hold it, and select “web search” from the expanded pop up options.

Shampoo Soaps

On the same note, it’s quite easy to determine if a shampoo is truly natural or not – it needs to be 100% pure soap.

Saponified fats or “Sodium (fat or oil)-ate” are the common ingredients naming what soap is. Make sure no other surfactants or detergents are mixed in though!

Unfortunately, liquid soap will never hold as much moisturization and nutrients as cold process soap bars do – for reasons of chemistry. Pure and true liquid soap does not and will never hold a candle to cold process soap bars in hair care for 3 main reasons:

1. Liquid soap is only stable if it has less than HALF the moisturizing superfats as cold process soap!
2. Liquid soapmaking requires many hours of high heat, destroying a lot of vitamins and nutrients!
3. Liquid soap does not lather like bar soap, which makes hair-washing extremely difficult.

If you are interested in more details, read our Why We Don’t Make Liquid Soap article.

So even if you don’t stay with our shampoos, try to stick with only natural soap bars – for your hair’s sake!

Hair Benefits

These are based on hundreds of real customer reports and reviews. You may take a look for yourself on our shampoo soap listing reviews and our testimonials.

Hair Growth

Customers report new hair growth as soon as 1 month of using shampoo soap bars exclusively and consistently.

Many customers report markedly faster hair growth after only a few months. We even receive “complaints” of customers needing to dye their roots more often!

Body & Texture

Customers report improvements in hair body and texture!

Because their hair had been stripped with detergents all of their life, they never knew how much natural body and texture their hair really had until they started using shampoo soap.

Detergents stifle many beautiful genetic expressions of hair that shampoo soaps allow to develop.

Less Split-Ends

Another plus to using shampoo soaps is not needing as many hair cuts due to lack of split ends!

Since shampoo soaps are so much more nourishing and moisturizing than detergents are, your hair’s integrity and strength is kept in tact for much longer. Which leads us to our next benefit…

More Moisture

Since shampoo soap doesn’t strip the hair like detergents, hair is much more moisturized and strengthened.

Soap provides literally hundreds of times the amount of naturally nourishing ingredients than regular shampoos.

We also include about 25% raw grassfed buttermilk in all of our shampoo soaps – nothing like the powdered milk or extracts in other shampoo soaps.

Colored Hair

Shampoo soap bar users report more time between full permanent dye treatments – unless their roots grow faster!

Customers with light blonde or grey hair also report less issues with brassy tones!

However, we don’t recommend using shampoo soap bars with semi-permanent dyes. Since shampoo soap needs more massaging during the lathering process, this can rub the semi-permanent dyes off of the hair shafts faster.

Less Products

We’re so happy to hear when a customer says they’ve eliminated most of the haircare products they used before.

Since detergents are the cause of so many cosmetic hair issues: lack of body, lack of definition, lack of texture, lack of color, etc. Many people find they don’t need as many care products as before.

This also reduces your exposure to more chemicals.

Environmental Benefits

No Plastic

This one is pretty obvious, but it can’t never be understated. The early 21st century is swimming in plastic: polluting our ecosystems at alarming rates and wrecking havoc upon our health. Using shampoo soaps is another way to eliminate plastic from your life and future generations – for good.

Less Transport

When you’re able to condense a oddly-shaped 12 oz plastic bottle of liquid shampoo into a 4 oz rectangular solid soap bar – the transportation implications are massive.

This ultimately results in reducing transportation waste by at least 2/3, maybe more if you purchase directly from the soapmaker. That means 2/3 less gas being used and 2/3 less trucks on the highways.

Then consider all of the other haircare products eliminated from being transported due to the hair benefits of shampoo soap!

Less Products

If you are consuming less haircare products due to the hair benefits of shampoo soap – you are cutting out a lot of waste.

From transportation wastes, to plastic waste, to the wastes of manufacturing and sourcing production – all of those are eliminated when you eliminate the unnecessary products.

Did you know the beauty-care industry is considered by some economic circles to be the top-grossing in the world? That’s a LOT of stuff being produced and consumed!

Local & Natural Ingredients

90%-100% of our ingredients are completely natural. 50%-100% of our ingredients are local. Many of our ingredients are certified organic.

All of these factors combined can make a gigantic environmental impact – imagine if everyone used locally produced body care!

You can read more about our ingredients here and more about lard vs. tallow here.

If you can think of any other benefits and reasons why to use shampoo soap bars, or if you have any questions or concerns – please let us know! We’re always happy to help.

In this article:

Definitions

History of Use

Our Sources

Fatty Acid & Nutrient Profiles

Preferable Uses

Defining Lard and Tallow – What Are They?

• Lard is the rendered fat from swine – commonly known as pig’s fat or “pig tallow”. Tallow is also commonly referred to as beef tallow or other animal fats as tallow literally means “rendered animal fats”. So to lessen confusion we will refer to pig tallow as “lard” which is it’s defining name. Other animal fats may also have unique names such as “lard” to pig tallow. For instance: organ fats from cows are called “suet” while organ fats from pigs are called “leaf”. Another example is that sheep tallow is referred to as “mutton fat”. These names are helpful to distinguish between different types of animal tallow. However, when we refer to tallow on a label (just TALLOW) we are referring to rendered cow fats.
• “Rendered” fat means that the pig fat is heated to a melting point (around 120-150 degrees F) then cooked for a short period of time to filter the fat from any other natural meaty substances that remain after butchering.
• The end result of rendered pig fat is called lard and is shelf-stable by itself for up to 6 months in the right environment.

• Tallow is the rendered fat from bovine – commonly known as cow’s fat or beef fat. Tallow is also the name used to define other animal fats, which can be confusing, as described above.
• “Rendered” fat means that the cow fat is heated to a melting point (around 150-170 degrees F) then cooked for a short period of time to filter the fat for purity.
• The end result is called tallow and is shelf-stable by itself for up to 12 months in the right environment.

History of Use for Lard and Tallow

Our Sources – Where Do We Get Our Lard and Tallow?

The source of fat we use is extremely important to us as source affects many nutritional factors of lard and tallow:

• Pasture-Raised, Grass-Fed fats are very important to retain the most natural, balanced, and nutritious fatty acid profiles, which contributes to the effectiveness of our claims (described in more detail below). For instance, sunlight exposure is absolutely crucial for the development of Vitamin D3 levels.
• Hand-Rendered fats are important to make sure no additives were unnecessarily mixed into the final product (such as nitrates, BHT, chemical bleaches, chemical preservatives, etc.) Hand-rendering also insures that the temperatures were never raised to scalding levels, which destroys some vitamins and other nutrients.
• Farm-Fresh, Local fats are very important to insure the provision of the freshest, most nutrient-dense fats available.

Fatty Acid & Nutrient Profiles – Lard and Tallow Are Chemically Different!

First let’s review lard and tallow’s fatty acid profiles. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fat, these fats are necessary for all life forms including animals, plants, and microorganisms. All 3 categories of fats are essential for basic biological functions (including basic skincare and haircare) in their proper proportions.

As you can see, the differences in fatty profiles vary but are still very similar! The main outlying difference in tallow from lard is that it has slightly more saturated fatty acids and an additional polyunsaturated fatty acid called Linolenic Acid. All of these minute chemical differences causes us to treat them very differently. We have to make products in various ways depending upon the fat we choose to use and their applications.

We also take into great consideration the different nutrients that (pasture-raised) lard and tallow offer. Let’s dive into that!

Due to lard’s larger nutrient profile and differing fatty acids, we find lard much more useful for certain applications than tallow and visa-versa – let’s dive deeper into that next!

Various Uses Based On All The Differences – Both Have Their Proper Places!

Have More Questions?

Feel free to reach out to us! You can ask us any questions via commenting below, our social media pages, email, or contact form all found in the links below. We are happy to help you learn more about this fascinating topic!