Body Wash VS Soap. Is Body Wash Just As Effective As Soap?
Body wash vs soap.
The eternal debate. Is one more effective than the other?
When it comes to cleaning your body of bacteria, oils, airborne pollutants and all the other elements that contributed to the unhealthy skin conditions, chronic infections and shorter life spans suffered by our ancestors, both are, if you’ll pardon the pun, a wash.
Whether one or the other is ‘better’ depends on personal preference, but also your unique biology, which will respond to various products in very different ways.
One of the main attractions for popular body washes is the wide variety of scents to choose from.
That’s great if you don’t have MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), i.e., hypersensitivity to strong perfumes, fragrances or scents. But if you’re reading this blog, chances are very good either you have MCS, or you’re shopping for someone who does.
This is why Pure Non-Scents exists...to provide unscented body wash and other safe, ethical, cruelty-free personal care products that won’t give you or those around you a migraine or trigger an asthma attack.
Even fragrance-free soap can strip the natural moisture in your skin unless it’s formulated with moisturizer, which many body washes already have. If it’s got a higher pH than your own natural one (customarily 5.4 - 5.9) it can dehydrate your skin, making it potentially flaky and prone to rashes.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, evaluated skin and hair care bathing soaps and shampoos and found most products available on the market do not disclose their pH. Most of the shampoos tested fell into the 6 - 7 range and the soaps between an eye-opening 9 - 10 range.
Although this particular study didn’t examine body washes, other studies indicate many products on the market aren’t any better.
One perception of soap is that it’s covered with germs once you start using it, especially in a household with multiple people. That’s not nearly the concern you think it is if it’s stored in a clean, dry area when not in use, preferably a rack, so water, soap scum and mold can’t collect. With enough moisturizers and properly balanced pH, soap isn’t any riskier than body wash squirted into your hand or washcloth.
Removing the chemicals and pollutants in your environment that cause your physical distress isn’t always possible, but you have that power when choosing which products to use.
Our founder Donna learned the hard way just how difficult it is to find unscented personal care products when she developed hypersensitivity after head trauma and went scent-free hunting. People with MCS must become armchair chemists to determine what’s in the products they’re considering. Because we can’t just look for unscented skincare products, we have to consider how they’ll treat our skin. It’s great if it’s not making us hack and sneeze, but not so good if we develop dermatitis.
Pure Non-Scents’ fragrance-free body wash Just Says No to chemicals and additives harmful to sensitive human skin. Parabens, phthalates, and sulfates are just a few of the list of suspicious elements you won’t find in any of our products. On the other hand, we love natural ingredients like chamomile flower extract, white willow bark extract, and cannabis Sativa seed oil (don’t worry, it won’t get you high! It’s CBD-based which is the health & wellness cannabinoid with zero psychoactive effects).