Soap-Free Skincare: Affordable Natural Options That Can Actually Work

Hey friends, welcome back to *Becoming Natural*! I’m your host, Penny Sampler—mom, occupational therapist, chronic illness warrior, and someone who’s thrown out more half-used bottles of body wash or bars of soap than I care to admit.

Today we’re talking about something that might cause a stink….literally…and that’s body soap…in any form….liquid or solid.

Yep. That lavendar-scented, creamy, lathery soap I LOVED sniffing as I rocked my babies to sleep. How clean and precious those babies smelled. I don’t know about your, but I grew up in the late 70s and early 80s on orange Dial Soap. No flavor options. Just Dial soap. Always. And I also have fond memories of that smell as well. I’m not saying goodbye just for the crunchy vibes, but because I’ve learned what’s actually in it, what it’s doing to our skin, and why my body will be far happier than ever when I stop scrubbing it into oblivion.

No one wants to stink or feel dirty, especially after a hard work out or being “soaking dirty” as my middle son used to say after being covered in mud from playing in the yard. BUT what truly gets our bodies clean and clean the “right” way without robbing our bodies of its natural sebum or layer of healthy oils and cholesterol that protects our immune system and helps balance our hormones. What soaps pull the GOOD oils from our Sebum out of our bodies and strip us of the good healthy skin barrier God gave us? Only to have to lather up in more lotion to restore the oils we just removed unnecessarily? I don’t think I am wrong to say that everyone listening to this podcast probably uses soap. I would love to say I’ve quit using soap entirely. Cold turkey. I haven’t. I am weening off soap as it is as much of a mental change as it is a physical change. Just like when I kicked deodorant. I AM shifting, however, as I examine ingredients, often using simply Apple Cider Vinegar to clean myself with water and experimenting with a variety of non-soap options, yet still have good hygiene so people can actually stand next to me. But as a small reflection back to detoxing my body of deodorant….it was a ROUGH 1-2 weeks as the aluminum detoxed from my body. I stunk and my armpits BURNED….but not because I wasn’t properly applying deodorant. It was because I wasn’t applying deodorant to keep the cycle going to cover the stink created by the deodorant. What a madhouse of a dilemma. Only then did I realize that the aluminum and various other ingredients in deodorant were still in my body and actually creating the stink? Can we say same song 10th verse? Laundry soap and softener left in our clothes holds on to the stink in the fibers creating that vicious cycle which we resolved in the Vinegar episode a few weeks ago. I have yet to discuss it, but when we clean our carpet I have ALWAYS been told not to use carpet cleaner with soap because the soap that remains in the carpet (because it always will) actually grabs and holds future dirt and will create another darker spot, defeating the entire purpose and effort. Common denominator in our armpits, our skin, laundry and even carpet is SOAP! Whoever thought? And as I type this, I really think if you are going to kick soap, you gotta go cold turkey. Just like the deodorant. Our skin needs to detox the yuck just like our armpits had to detox the yuck. But we are smarter now! We know ways to help ourselves. Lets dig in.

If you’ve ever wondered:

* What’s really in that bottle of body wash?

* Why does my skin still feel dry after lotion?

What should I use instead to feel clean and balanced?

And my favorite question, what is the history of soap and when did we start using it?

Then friend, this episode is for you.

🧼 A Brief History of Soap:

🏺 Ancient Beginnings (: 2800

Soap-like substances first appeared in Babylon, made from a simple mix of animal fats, wood ashes, and water. But back then, soap wasn’t used on skin—it was mostly for cleaning textiles….ie their clothes and fabrics.

� Egyptians, Greeks & Romans (: 1500

Egyptians made alkaline pastes from oils and salts, sometimes for healing.

🧫 The pH Scale (0 to 14)

pH Level

What It Means

Examples

0–6.9

Acidic

Lemon juice, vinegar, stomach acid

7

Neutral

Pure water

7.1–14

Alkaline (Basic)

Baking soda, soap, bleach

Greeks? They didn’t wash with soap—they scraped oil and dirt off their skin using strigils (think metal squeegees). STRIGGLES

Romans were all about public baths—but again, not soap. They used oils, heat, and scraping, reserving soap mostly for their laundry.

💡 Fun fact: The word “soap” likely comes from Mount Sapo, where Romans sacrificed animals. Fat and ash mixed in the fire, ran into the river below, and women noticed their laundry came out cleaner. Can we say Divine laundry intervention?

🌿 Early Soap Making (7th Century AD)

It was actually Arabic chemists who refined real soap. They created solid bars using plant oils and lye, and they added beautiful natural scents like rose and herbs. This was the first time soap became a personal hygiene product.

–: 1500

Here’s where it gets... medieval.

Bathing wasn’t very popular. Some believed that dirt protected you from disease and sin. 🤷‍♀️ But in places like Castile (Spain) and Marseille (France), luxury soap made from olive oil was being produced—mostly for the wealthy.

⚙️ Industrial Era (: 1700

Things shifted with the Industrial Revolution. Scientists discovered how to make lye from salt, and soap became widely accessible. In 1879, Procter & Gamble launched Ivory Soap—“99 and 44/100% Pure.” P&G claimed that Ivory Soap was:

Free from impurities (dirt, extra chemicals, etc.)

Made only with clean ingredients (like fat and alkali)

And yes, at that time, many soaps included things like animal tallow remnants, lye residues, or harsh additives, so Ivory was mild by comparison.

But that 99.44% number? It came from a lab test comparing Ivory’s ingredients to other soaps. The remaining 0.56%was a mystery blend of fragrance and trace residues.

🎯 Why It Mattered in Marketing?

In the late: 1800

Moral virtue

Godliness

Health and respectability

So saying a soap was “pure” gave it a kind of holy halo—and people trusted it blindly. And at the time, why wouldn’t they?

But… it was still made with animal fats and alkaline lye—not exactly the gold standard for gentle skin today.

A little note about Lye (also known as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) is a super-alkaline chemical used in traditional soap making.

On the pH scale, lye is around 14—the very top, meaning it’s extremely caustic and corrosive.

🧪 What Lye Does:

It breaks down fats and oils through a chemical reaction called saponification (which turns them into soap).

But on its own, it can burn right through skin, eyes, tissue, and even metal.

It’s literally used in drain cleaners for melting hair and grease.

😳 Let that sit for a second.

🧬 How It Affects the Body (When Not Handled Properly):

Skin contact = chemical burns, blisters, permanent scarring

Eye contact = severe damage or blindness

Inhalation = lung irritation, coughing, and throat burns

Ingestion = potentially fatal, causing internal tissue damage

⚗️ But Isn’t It in Soap today?

Yes—but here’s the key: In properly made soap, lye is neutralized.

When soap is made correctly:

Lye + oil = saponified soap + glycerin

(and no lye should remain)

🧼 Is Lye Still Used in Soap Today?

✅ Yes… but not in the final product (if the soap is made correctly).

Lye—aka sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH)—is still essential for making traditional soap. It’s what allows saponification to happen.

🔬 What is Saponification?

It’s the chemical reaction between fat or oil + lye that creates:

Soap (cleansing agent)

Glycerin (a natural moisturizer)

When this reaction is complete, there should be no lye left in the final bar.

That’s why well-made soap is technically lye-free—even though lye was required to make it.

Soaps labeled as:

Castile soap

Goat milk soap

Tallow soap

Cold-process handmade soap

…are all made with lye. It just gets transformed, like flour in bread—you can’t make it without it, but it’s no longer flour once baked.

🧪 So Why Does Lye Get a Bad Rap?

Because:

Pure lye is caustic and dangerous on its own like I mentioned. But when made with proper ratios, the lye should disappear during saponification

🧪Fast forward to the World Wars in the 20th Century. Natural fats were scarce, so chemists created synthetic detergents. These were:

Cheap

Long-lasting

Foamy (thanks to sulfates)

And packed with fragrance

They replaced traditional soap—but also started damaging our skin, our hormones, and our microbiome.

🧴 So lye free?

If something says “lye-free” on the label, it’s probably not actually soap. It’s likely a syndet bar—short for “synthetic detergent.”

These are made with:

Surfactants (like sodium lauryl sulfate)

Binders, thickeners, and foaming agents

Fragrance chemicals

They're often sold as:

Dove "beauty bars"

Glycerin-based clear soaps

Most drugstore or hotel soaps

So yes, you avoided lye… but at the cost of loading your skin with questionable chemicals instead.

THE DIRTY TRUTH ABOUT SOAP]

Let’s start with a disclaimer: I’m not saying *all* soap is evil. But most commercial body soaps—especially the ones you’ll find in big box stores—contain ingredients that do more harm than good.

Here are a few of the worst offenders:

**1. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) / Sodium Laureth Sulfate**

These are foaming agents. They make that luxurious lather we all grew up loving. But they’re also used in degreasers—like the kind that clean garage floors.

They strip your skin of its natural oils and damage the skin barrier, which can lead to chronic dryness, eczema flare-ups, redness, irritation, and premature aging.

**2. Fragrance**

“Fragrance” is a catch-all term for hidden chemicals. Companies don’t have to disclose what’s in it. Many fragrances include phthalates, benzene derivatives, and synthetic musk—linked to reproductive issues.

These aren’t just irritating—they’re endocrine disruptors. Which means they mess with your hormones at a cellular level. We are going to go deeper on this in the next episode, so I am going to keep it high level here. Anything with a fragrance should be avoided. Bottom line.

**3. Parabens**

Used as preservatives, parabens mimic estrogen in the body. They’ve been found in breast tissue samples and are linked to hormone-sensitive cancers. Parabens are synthetic preservatives used to stop the growth of mold, yeast, and bacteria—sounds good, right?

But here’s the catch:

They’re endocrine disruptors, meaning they mimic estrogen in the body and can interfere with hormone balance—even in small doses.

And they’re everywhere.

🔍 Common Personal Care Products with Parabens

Body lotions and moisturizers

Shampoos and conditioners

Body wash and soap (especially liquid kinds)

Facial cleansers

Deodorants

Shaving gels and creams

Makeup (especially foundations, concealers, and mascaras)

Lip balms and glosses

Sunscreens (check both spray and cream versions!)

Toothpaste and mouthwash (yes, even oral care)

And don’t even get me started on:

Baby wipes

Feminine hygiene products

Anti-aging creams

“Fragrance” blends (parabens often hide inside that umbrella term)

**4. Triclosan**

This antibacterial additive has been banned in hand soaps, but it still shows up in some body washes. It disrupts thyroid function and can breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

**5. Alcohols and Preservatives**

Many soaps contain drying alcohols like ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. They’re meant to kill bacteria, but they also strip away your natural oils and microbiome.

\[WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE STRIP OUR NATURAL OILS?]

God designed our skin to produce sebum—a waxy, oily substance that protects, nourishes, and lubricates our skin.

That sebum is part of our skin’s acid mantle, a thin protective layer made of:

* Natural oils

* Sweat

* Friendly bacteria

When you use harsh soap every day:

* You strip that protective layer

* Your skin panics and either overproduces oil or dries out

* You try to fix it with lotion, which may contain more drying ingredients

It’s like trying to water a garden by first setting it on fire.

There are Clean alternatives to soap

🌿 Clean Alternatives to Soap (That Still Leave You Feeling Fresh)

Let’s be honest: we’ve been trained to associate that tight, squeaky-clean feeling with being “clean.” In the same way we’ve been taught that we need to be 99.9% bacteria free. Need I remind you to jump back to the episode on anti-bacterial products and only 1% of bacteria actually makes you sick? We don’t need 100% of our body bacteria free because there are good bacteria. We also don’t need 100% of our body squeaky clean because there are good oils in our natural sebum. When you hop out of the shower and feel the need to immediately put on lotion…

It usually means your acid mantle and natural oils have been stripped. 😬

The good news? There are plenty of ways to cleanse your skin naturally—without lathering up in synthetic suds. These alternatives not only work, they help heal, balance, and restore.

“I know you’re probably wondering—‘Okay Penny, if I stop using soap… what do I use instead?!’ Don’t worry—I’ve got you. This week, I’m changing things up a bit.

“There ARE gentler ways to get clean—some I bet you already have in your kitchen. Oils, clay, honey… they’ve been used for centuries. But instead of squeezing them all into this episode, I’m going to walk you through each one in bite-sized mini episodes over the next few days.”

I hope today’s episode opened your eyes to what soap is really doing to your skin—take notice to how you care for your body. But I didn’t want to throw a ton of solutions at you all at once. Some of these solutions are new to me as well and worth taking a minute longer for each solution to understand the why and how to use them. So this week, I’m inviting you into a little soap-free journey with me. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be dropping a special mini podcast series where I’ll share simple, natural alternatives with some of my favorite gentle, natural ways to cleanse without stripping your skin. We’ll talk about different oils that truly define oil cleansing, honey masks and its connection to blood flow and healing, clay powders and herbal pastes, and so many more ideas that will blow your mind. So make sure you're subscribed and ready—because each one of these might just change your whole skincare game.” All the while, uniquely created by God to multi-task in our bodies. While one ingredient may cleanse, it may also help with inflammation. Our skin is our largest organ in our body. It only makes sense that we treat it with the utmost of care. I cannot wait to share these solutions with you over the next 6 or 7 days. These mini pods will be short, sweet and informative. I will also pull together a printable with solutions and “recipes” for lack of a better term. On that note…working on the website….Its going to be amazing once I settle into my home and new office and have time to work!

So, not even going to say good bye because im going to be right back here tomorrow and the next day and the next with the remainder of this fun little mini podcast series. I can’t wait to hear what you think!