I would really love to know for sure. As I have heard/read/and researched about opposing views, and quite frankly it is confusing. It seems there is not hard fast rule, as the skin of every person is different.
This page has opinions of mostly dermatologists, and they advise against using soap on the face.
This other page encourages people to use a bar of soap in the face, and also advises how to use it (they say the bar of soap should not touch your face, just the lather you form with it in your hands)
Each article I read seems convincing, until I read another one and that one seems convincing too. Some articles make a distinction between hand made soap and commercial soap, but not all.
The Research
In case you want to read:
- This study talks about the effects of using an acidic cleanser, a neutral cleanser and a high ph/ alkaline cleanser (like soap). It pretty much says that the theory, (and I am glad they call it that) is that for those with dry skin and those with oily skin, an acidic cleanser might be beneficial, rather than a neutral or high ph cleanser. They show the results of experiments with charts and all.
- This article explains the science behind each type of cleanser, it explains why syndet (synthetic detergent bars) could be less damaging for those with skin issues especially.
- This 5 year study says that the skin PH in the long term is not affected by the use of soap, which contradicts the previous cited experiments
- This statement seems a bit biased to me, yes, it is by doctors, however at the bottom it says it is 100% supported by a personal care company
- This other statement puts both soap and syndet bars on very similar places as far as skin irritation goes, and suggest they are used sparingly.
Even though a lot of sources seemed to point towards an acidic cleanser (like our skin is) for better results, I still was not convinced to give up soap for facial cleansing. (And I have not). I had read a book called The Wellness Project, and I remember that the author mentioned that at the advice of her dermatologist, she started washing her face only once a day, at night time. She described how difficult it was because she was so used to washing twice or more times than that, given that her skin breaks out a lot. The logic of her dermatologist was that our skin needs those natural oils that are in it, and that removing them often causes more damage than good. She also discussed how stress and lack of sleep have a bigger effect on the health of our skin than we think. She has a video chat with her dermatologist here in case you want to watch it.
So, I thought, if even for Marie from “Humble Bee and me” soap is ok to shower with, given that we only shower once a day, would it not be ok for the face if I only wash it once a day too?
My own experience
Prior to using my own soap, I used commercial soaps. Some of them did leave my skin feeling squeaky clean, tight and a bit itchy, however, it never prompted me to seek alternatives, I took is as a fact of life. I have applied moisturizer since I was young, and it seemed to counter balance the extreme cleansing effect of the commercial soap.
I hardly ever wear make up, so I did not need a make up remover type of cleanser everyday, the soap seemed to do the job good enough. My skin is on the dry side, I relish getting pimples for the pleasure of popping them out, weird, I know! Which is probably why it is good my skin is dry, otherwise it would be very scarred!
When I first started making soap, I found recipes specific for facial soap bars. And I made a couple of them. I got great feedback from those who received them and I have no complains myself. I have also read of great feedback stories stories on different facebook groups.
Why should I question soap then?
A couple of months ago, I read in a blog about the disadvantages of using soap to wash my face. I was actually looking for natural deodorant recipes, when I run into this blog post from Humble bee and me (A blog I love, By The Way). In that post she explained, among other things, the disadvantages of using a high PH cleanser on our skin. (Soap being one of them). So I clicked on most of the sources she cited, some seemed convincing, some did not. So I did some google searches myself, and I paid especial attention to those who were authored by official/medical research sounding sources.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
The climate:
My skin feels usually good in the high humidity city I live in. I can tell the effects of winter right away, my lips start cracking and my skin feels rough and unhappy. Sometimes, we have no one to blame for our skin issues but the weather!
What we drink and eat:
In my own experience, I know that when I drink lots of water, my skin feels very smooth and nice. Regardless of what I use to cleanse it. I experience also nice skin condition when I do the Daniel fast (which I used to do with the church I attended, and it consisted of eating only vegetables and whole grains for three weeks, drinking only water. No sugar, no meat or pre-packaged food).
Artificial vs “natural”
Though I wanted to try, for the sake on experimentation, an “acidic cleanser” this usually means a detergent based cleanser. I was hesitant to buy a facial cleanser from the drugstore though, because I knew it would probably have lots of artificial ingredients, Syndet stands for Synthetic detergent after all. So I did not. Especially after being reassured of this by this article, it talks about the side effects of putting all these artificial ingredients in our bodies. A phrase that caught my eye was this one:
“When looking for skin care products, follow the same rules that you follow for a healthy diet: hunt for unprocessed ingredients, without any harsh chemicals or anything artificial! Basically, the closer to the nature the natural skin product is, the more your skin will know what to do with its beneficial ingredients in order to improve your skin’s health” Jillian Levy, CHHC
I am well aware that whatever we put on our skin, gets processed by the liver to rid our bodies of toxins. So I thought if I could control what goes on the facial cleanser, I would perhaps diminish the negative effects of it. So in the end, I decided to buy coconut derived ingredients to make my own low ph cleanser. I have yet to make it though, but it is on the bench of future projects to do. I will have family members test it as well when I do, so I can come back and give you an update on it.
If you have any experience you want to share about this, I would love to hear it!
Soaps by Glenda 