Soap vs Cleanser: The 3 Card Monte Game Big Business Plays With Your Skin

Soap has been the whipping boy of major facial and skin product manufacturers for years. They tell you that soap dries the skin. They have all kinds of nifty demonstrations that prove it. The thing is, they are not telling the whole truth. Surprise!

A major manufacturer of skin cleansing products makes a product that they proudly proclaim is not soap. The have spent millions of dollars over the years branding their cleanser as “not soap plus.” For years, this cleanser was touted as having superior moisturizing qualities because it is ¼-moisturizing cream. Their current campaign shows a rose being dipped in their product and “soap.”

Afterwards, the rose dipped in their product is robust and coated in a smooth glistening layer of their product. The rose dipped in “soap” appears to have been involved in a traffic accident. The evidence is clear; at least, the inference is.

Let’s take a two-pronged approach to get to the truth here. It’s not really fair but I am going to use the aforementioned example to represent its genre. And, I am feeling a bit wily, so, I am going to do a product reveal. It’s Dove! The second phase will be a look at the cleanser manufacturers straw man, “soap.”

Do you know what moisturizing cream is? Neither do I. Let’s take a peek at the ingredients in Dove Cleansing Bar:

Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate, Aqua, Sodium Isethionate, Coconut Acid, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Parfum, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Chloride, Trisodium EDTA, Zinc Stearate, Tetrasodium Etidronate.

Does anything on that list look creamy to you? It might help if we knew what those things are. Here we go.

· Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate – Surfactant – It makes things slippery with dense lather

· Stearic Acid - Emulsifier – It makes compounds stick together and makes soap harder. – This is how they make it: Stearic acid is prepared by treating animal fat with water at a high pressure and temperature. It can also be made from the hydrogenated vegetable oils.

· Sodium Tallowate – This is animal fat that has been processed with water and lye – it’s the soap part of the stuff that isn’t soap.

· Aqua – That’s their fancy way of saying water.

· Sodium Isethionate – Detergent – This makes more lather that is really thick.

· Coconut Acid – Fatty acid – They use this to control texture.

· Sodium Stearate – Fat steamed away from beef fat and processed with lye – In other words, more soap in the stuff that isn’t soap.

· Cocamidopropyl Betaine – High Foaming Surfactant- Slippery detergent.

· Parfum – This is a real feat of chicanery. The word itself is French and is most commonly associated with the phrase “eau de parfum.” Eau de parfum is the purest and most expensive form of scent. But, that is not what it is in this context. It means fragrance and it could be anything you can bet the farm; it’s not expensive.

· Sodium Palm Kernelate – Palm kernel acids, oil and salt.

· Sodium Chloride – Salt.

· Trisodium EDTA – Acidic salt

· Zinc Stearate – Stabilizer

· Tetrasodium Etidronate – Water softerner

That’s what is in Dove. Looks yummy doesn’t it? I have that feeling of luxury just thinking of it. Did you notice how much soap is in the bar whose advertising first told you that soap dries your skin?

Now about that soap drying your skin business. Well, yes and no. What cleansers are referring to when they that soap dries the skin is the soap that many mainstream manufacturers make soap is by skimming off the glycerin that is a natural by-product of the chemical reaction between lye and oil. This chemical reaction is the basis for all soap. The act of removing the glycerin, which they use for other high end products, causes the soap to be drying to the skin.

Soap doesn’t have to be drying. They make it that way.