Usage Of Soap And Skin Damage

Skin damage can be caused by years of abusing alkaline soaps and other skin products. The excessive use of commercial soaps and shampoos strips away the skin’s oil, damages skin pigments, and removes skin moisture, leaving the skin dry, faded, and coarse.

The skin generally thrives at a slight acidic pH. The extreme alkalinity of soaps disrupts this delicate pH balance. Soap is particularly harsh on people who have dry skin. If you have dry skin, be sure that you avoid washing your face with soap.

According to my research, soap likely had its origins in ancient Babylonia (2800 BC), where a formula for soap consisting of water, alkali, and cassia oil was written on a cuneiform clay tablet. The Ebers papyrus (1500 BC) indicates that the Egyptians mixed alkaline salts with oils in order to create a type of soap. The word “soap” (Latin sapo) was first mentioned in Europe in Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis. Soaps similar to what we have today were originally produced by Islamic chemists. These soaps were made from olive oil, aromatic oils, and lye (al-Soda al-Kawia). The Persian chemist Al-Razi wrote a manuscript of recipes for soap.

The advent of soap followed on the heels of a major increase in cooked animal food and cooked oil in the diet. The residues of cooked fat come through the pores as a smelly, thick, waxy fluid that is difficult to wash off without soap. Once one switches to a plant-based diet, the oils coming through the skin are purer, have less odor, and are easier to wash off.

Diluted lemon juice or diluted raw apple cider vinegar are simple soap substitutes. To make a cleansing liquid, add one tablespoon of lemon juice or raw apple cider vinegar to 6–8 fluid ounces (180–240 ml) of warm water.

I do not rely on soaps or soap substitutes. I mainly clean my skin by dry-skin brushing using a moderately firm, natural-fiber brush, and then rinsing using warm, not hot, purified water or hot springs water. Dry brushing exfoliates dead skin cells and stimulates the lymphatic system.

The caution put forth against putting oils directly onto the face is only valid when the skin is very oily, damaged and/or absorption is poor. As long as the oils are cold-pressed (raw) and they agree with the individual, then putting cacao butter (best choice), hemp oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, or coconut oil onto the face can provide wonderful benefits to the skin without clogging the pores.