How to Read a Label, Part 2: Soap vs. Detergent

Soap is pretty cool stuff. And it's very simply made. In fact, the very first soaps were made by boiling oils, blending them with ashes and, voila! Cave mamas could clean their pelts! Soap is the end product of blending pure fats or oils with an alkaline (like potassium or sodium hydroxide) solution. That's it. The oils are acids, the alkali is a base. Allow this acid/base solution to sit and stew for a while and the acids and bases neutralize each other. The oils are saponified, the scary-sounding stuff no longer exists, leaving a balanced, sudsy soap, with a natural pH high enough that it doesn't require the addition of synthetic surfactants or preservatives.

Detergent, on the other hand, is artificial soap originally made to do a better job of cleaning laundry and dishes than natural soap. Detergents started being used in some personal care products like shampoos and body washes because the blend of synthetic chemicals is a less costly way to achieve lathering and cleaning properties. Some detergents are benign and useful, but some can add up to a worrisome toxic soup!

What Is a Surfactant?
Stay with us, it's simple. Natural soap is a surfactant, or surface acting agent. When you put a drop of water on a counter, it holds its shape. If you add a surfactant to it and reduce the surface tension, the water spreads out evenly and the droplet disappears. Surfactants help break surface tension, making water more effective at washing the dirt away. Soap acts as a surfactant – detergents contain synthetic surfactants.

Are All Synthetic Surfactants Toxic?
No! But many of the synthetic surfactants found in detergent personal care products are under scrutiny for their toxicity to humans. These include common surfactants and emulsifiers like cocomidopropyl betaine, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamide DEA, TEA (Triethanolamine), and ethoxylated alcohols like ceteareth-12 alcohol, many of which are responsible for releasing carcinogenic formaldehyde and 1,4 Dioxane. On the other hand, decyl glucoside may sound scary, but is a gentle surfactant produced from a reaction between glucose from cornstarch and a fatty alcohol from coconuts. How can you not be confused?!

What Else is in Detergents?
Detergents usually also contain thickening agents like Polyethylene glycol (PEG) that make the detergent feel thick, even with the addition of up to 90% water. This group has some of the highest toxicity ratings and carry serious concerns about organ system toxicity and carcinogenic cell mutation. And to help detergent shampoos "moisturize" many contain humectants or additives such as propylene glycol. Propylene glycol is a very common additive in personal care products and skin and respiratory irritant which can cause liver and kidney damage and is also found in paint, wallpaper removers and de-greasers. Yikes!

Does Soap or Detergent Need a Preservative?
Because soap has a high enough pH to deter bacterial or mold growth, it does not need to be preserved. But detergent type shampoos and body washes do need to be preserved to keep them free of mold, bacteria and other goo. Common preservatives include methyl-, butyl-, ethyl- and proply- parabens, methylisothiazolinone, phenoxyethanol, diazolidinyl urea, Quaternium 15 and even formaldehyde, all of which have serious safety concerns.

"Fragrance" is no Bed of Roses
You'll often see the word "fragrance" or "fragrance oil" in soaps and shampoos (and lotions, and oils). If an ingredient list includes the word "fragrance" it is not disclosing the source of the artificial fragrance. Avoid products that list the word "fragrance" in their ingredient panel because "fragrance" can contain carcinogenic phthalates and mask the addition of undisclosed and potentially toxic preservatives.

Read the Labels!
Click on at least a few of the above links – or better yet, for your health and well being, read the labels of the personal care products you use on yourself and your babies. Look at the ingredients, and if you see something that makes you worried, check it out. A great resource is the Skin Deep database, where you can look up products by name, or single ingredients. Sometimes something that sounds suspicious will be safe, and sometimes something that sounds natural will have cause for concern. Knowledge is power, mama!

Are EMAB products soap, or detergent?
Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash and Angel Baby Diaper Rash Soap are pure soaps. And since they are both true soap, they require no artificial surfactants, thickeners, preservatives and of course have no artificial fragrances.

So that's the dirt on Soap vs. Detergent. We like to keep it simple, and save the detergent for the dirty diapers!