Why This is Green

A bar of soap seems like a simple enough thing. Soap has been around for millennia. But not all soaps are created equal. Like most conventional cosmetics, soaps can contain a number of synthetic chemicals that have been linked to everything from cancers to hormone disruption to birth defects to skin or eye irritation.

While hand soap formulations vary brand to brand, they tend contain multiple controversial petroleum-derived ingredients. They can also contain beef fat (tallow) from factory-farmed animals, dyes, and harsh chemical foaming agents. Perfumed soaps often contain synthetic fragrance, which the Environmental Working Group deems a high hazard due to its links to allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress, and potential effects on the reproductive system.

Some soaps have unnecessary and dangerous antibacterial chemicals, including triclosan, which, according to the American Medical Association, may encourage bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Triclosan is known to produce toxic chlorinated substances that aren’t biodegradable—when it washes down the drain it gets in our waterways and interferes with aquatic life. The medical community agrees that soap and water is all that is needed when washing hands.

Natural soaps made of vegetable oils and perfumed with essential oils are a safer bet.

Learn More

• EWG.org: Wash Those Hands, But Avoid Triclosan
• FDA.gov: Triclosan -- What Consumers Should Know
• EWG.org: Triclosan No Better Than Plain Soap
• DrBronner.com: An Overview Of Soapmaking
• The Environmental Working Group Skin Deep Cosmetics Database
• Must Watch: The Story Of Cosmetics
• GoodGuide: Liquid Hand Soap