Butter Cups & Beauty Bars Handcrafted Soap VS. Dove

BCBB Handcrafted Soap - Gingered Bergamot

 "What soap do you use?"  A question I ask all my customers who are unfamiliar with handcrafted soap.  Many answer, "Dove."  I don't blame them since according to Dove's advertising, their beauty bar consist of "1/4 moisturizing cream, richly blended with its mildest cleansers.  No other beauty bar has more skin natural moisturizers than Dove."  This leads me to the following questions: Is Dove really soap?  Are commercial soaps really soap for that matter?

Is your soap really soap or is it detergent?  Look at the label on your bar of commercial soap.  Is the word "soap" on the label, or is it a “beauty bar,” “cleansing bar,” or “deodorizing bar?”  If it not listed as "soap" then it is not really soap.  Many commercial brands are not called soap because by law they cannot be listed as soap.  This is because they are not soap at all but DETERGENTS.  Most products you think of as soap are actually detergents.  Detergents have one main purpose: to remove dirt and strip off oils.  This is great if you're using it to wash dishes, do laundry, or even get that bird poo off your car.  But, it is not so great when you use it to wash and clean your skin, which is the largest organ of your body.  Detergent bars strip the natural moisturizing oils from your skin leaving you dry and itchy the moment the water evaporates off your skin. 

The label of ingredients on a bar of commercial soap has a long list of unpronounceable chemicals.  Whether or not these synthetic chemical additives are bad for you may be up for debate, but chances are you are better off with none at all.  The chart below compares Butter Cups & Beauty Bars Handcrafted  Soap with Dove's Beauty Bar.

BCBB Handcrafted Soap vs. Dove Beauty Bar
BCBB Handcrafted Soap Saponified oils of: Olive Coconut Palm Water Soybean Avocado Castor Wheat Germ Shea Butter Cocoa Butter Essential or Scented Oils Milk/Seeds/Petals/ Clays/Minerals	Dove Beauty Bar sodium cocoyl isethionate (synthetic detergent) sodium tallowate (sodium salt of cow fat) water sodium isethionate (detergent/emulsifying agent) coconut acid (the sodium salt of coconut oil) sodium stearate  (emulsifier, also used as a cheap stabilizer in plastics) sodium dodecylbenzonesulfonate  (synthetic detergent, skin irritant) sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernalate (sodium salts of coconut or palm kernel oils) sodium chloride (table salt used as a thickener) titanium dioxide (whitener, also used in house paint) trisodium EDTA (stabilizer, used in industrial cleaning products to decrease hard water, skin irritant) trisodium etidronate  (preservative, a chemical that is used in soaps to prevent soap scum) BHT (preservative, common skin irritant)

The skin is the largest organ of the body.  Like a sponge, it absorbs everything we put on it including chemicals.  Try reading the ingredients list of your favorite bar of commercial soap.  Do you recognize of any of the ingredients other than the word "water"?  Every day, people take baths or showers, lathering up with "commercial soaps,” not knowing they are wrecking havoc on their skin.  But now that you know, would you still use a bar of detergent or would you switch over to handmade soap?  We only have one skin.  Love it and treat it with care.