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| My New Venture is Done. Now, the Important Wait... |
| Tuesday, 24 July 2007 00:00 |
 Just two Fridays ago, I made a new variety of handmade soaps. Most of them had essential oils, fruit extracts, and plant extracts. I also added new natural scrubs (like poppy seeds, tea tree leaves, and ground apricot) , vitamin E (an antioxidant and prevents skin wrinkles), and wheat germ oil (both an emollient and an antioxidant that is gentle on the skin). It was fun! It was like starting all over again, experimenting on new scents and natural additives. But this time, I had the assurance that these new ones would turn out into really good soaps. It was only a matter of getting the right scent and combination. I'm really excited to try them all! I added goat's milk, skim milk, honey (well, I have been using honey, but I looove it's sweet smell, so I tried a different approach with it), coffee beans (yup, real barako coffee beans, mmm...loved the aroma while making it), and for the rest I put essential oils plus extracts for whitening (yes, I am finally giving it a try, but I tell you, some of my users do get fairer skin just by using my Regular Bars regularly), slimming, moisturizing, and preventing wrinkles and acne. Now, I have to wait for about 1 1/2 more weeks (a total of one month for the curing) before I can try these new handmade soaps. It is very important for soaps to undergo the curing period. Curing is when the soap dries into hard bars. This is also the time when the pH level of the soap, from being highly alkaline, decreases and becomes safe to use on our skin. I would like to take this opportunity to warn you about soaps that cause your skin to itch after washing your face or body with them. That sensation is NOT NORMAL. Sales ladies may say that it's a normal feeling, but I don't think they know any better. I remember when I just started researching about soaps in the year 2000, I bought this brand of soap from a well-known department store in Makati. The soaps looked interesting enough to try, with their different pastel colors, so I bought around 2 or 3 bars. The label had instructions on how to use the soap and what it will do for the skin. I, not knowing much about soaps that time (but I have read about curing soaps then), did as directed. After I soaped my face, I felt some itching and stinging sensation that I had to wash my face again using another soap! It was horrible! I returned the soaps and complained about it. I told the saleslady that their supplier must have delivered the soaps even if they were not ready for use yet. According to the lady, the soaps were very saleable and easily went out of stock. So I thought, "No wonder the supplier was forced to deliver those uncured bars of soap..." But if my speculation was wrong, then that's even worse! It only means that there are ingredients in the soaps that cause the itching and stinging sensation. Tsk, tsk...I pity consumers who have no idea about these things, about the ingredients big manufacturers put in their soaps just to make them look attractive, lather more, last longer, and smell good, and the things they falsely claim these bars can do for the skin. I just read a soaping success story in the internet and this lady actually "developed an allergy to the chemicals used in retail soap and shampoo." So you know, certain allergies developed over time. Some people can only tolerate different allergens up to a certain degree. Once the body has reached its threshold from constant exposure to those allergens, it will start reacting to them. Meaning, our immune system will begin fighting those foreign bodies and this results to the common rash, itching, wheezing, runny nose, watery or itchy eyes, etc. Anyway, I'm so off the subject but I felt that I had to share those information with my readers. I will definitely be posting more about the effects of chemicals on our skin and on our body. If only I had the time to keep typing away. But my boys need me, so those posts will have to wait. |
By the way, the picture you see above are the actual new handmade soaps I made. Don't they look like little sliced cakes? Yummm!
Comments
I haven't found any baby soap/wash/shampoo that smells good on my baby's head!
thanks for your suggestion! actually, some of My Original 17 are okay to use as baby shampoo. what i can do is try those on my baby and see what scents will stay, then i'll post them here and let you know. :)
i have tried the following handmade soaps (interchanging them) on my baby's hair for a month now:
- Warm Patchouli
- Honey Lemon
- Cocoa Butter Melt
So far he still has a lot of hair :) the scents are quite mild so they don't really stay but they beat using regular baby shampoos which have foaming agents, too.