Beauty bars often have synthetic detergents, which can be
less drying and irritating to the skin than their natural
counterparts. They often include mois¬turizers.
Superfatted soaps contain extra fatty substances (such as
cocoa butter, cold cream, petrolatum, or lanolin) to make
them less drying.
Transparent soaps, which contain fat and glycerin, are less
harsh than some other soaps. They also don’t lather
quite as well as opaque soaps and tend to melt faster.
Castile soaps, named for the region of Spain where they were
first developed, are prepared from olive oil and come in both
liquid and bar forms. Olive oil is a good moisturizer, although
another component in many castile soaps, sodium hydroxide,
may irritate some skins.
If it seems like there’s no perfect soap—well,
that’s true. By its nature, soap offers a tradeoff:
clean versus moisturized. As with all skin care products,
experiment to determine what works best for you. |
