Best Sulfate & Parabens-Free Soaps: A Full Guide

One thing that we will never change our mind on is the inclusion of parabens in our soap. We would never do it.

There are some major reasons for this, which we are going to discuss on this page.

What is a Paraben?

Parabens are a preservative, most often used with beauty products. They were introduced in the 1950s, and they have been used heavily ever since then. 

Most skincare products on the market, including soap, will contain parabens. 

Parabens are a manmade chemical.

There are a few different types of parabens. However, they all boil down to the same thing. They were designed in a lab.

As a preservative, the job of the parabens is to help ensure that the product they are contained in will last as long as possible. 

Since the major soap manufacturers are producing soaps by the thousands, there will be some soaps that stay on the shelf for as long as possible.

Parabens are commonly found in the following items:

• Beauty category
• Body lotions
• Cosmetics
• Deodorants
• Moisture cream
• Shampoos

 In order to minimize the amount of waste from unsold products, the addition of parabens adds years to the shelf life of the product.

Who Would Benefit the Most from Soap Without Parabens?

Now, the idea of preservatives sounds good, right? A product that is going to last you even longer. But does a paraben benefit skincare items?

As you can probably imagine, chemical preservatives are never going to be a good thing. 

When battling a variety of skin ailments, it’s important to expose the skin to the least amount of potential irritants as possible.

This includes parabens.

A bar soap without parabens can deliver results for folks who are:

1. Prone to exceedingly dry skin
2. Prone to oily skin
3. Suffer from skin irritation from commercial brands of soaps
4. Dealing with skin conditions including:
   • Acne
   • Psoriasis
   • Rosacea

Basically, almost any sort of skin condition may have beneficial results from switching to bar soap or body wash without added chemicals.

 In fact, you may want to go beyond this and try and remove every product that contains soaps from your skincare regime. 

It is only going to be benefitting you in the long term. 

Although, of course, we only sell soaps here.

Are There Disadvantages to Soaps Without Preservatives?

Now, we are never going to be huge fans of chemicals in our soaps.

We never use preservatives and that results in paraben-free soap. Common ingredients to watch out for include:

However, as you might well know, the parabens are there for a reason. This is to help to increase the expiration of the soap.

With any bar soap or body wash that is truly all-natural, just keep in mind that the expiration will not be as long.

The all-natural items that MildSoaps sell offer a shelf life of only one year. Compare that to most commercial brands of soaps that can last3, to even 10 years inside the box.

This means that you probably won’t want to be stocking up on it in bulk. Instead, you should purchase the soap as and when you need it. 

Purchasing enough for 6 months at a time will provide great results, and give you another 6 months of wiggle room before it expires.

A Final Word on Going Paraben-Free

Keep in mind bar soap, body wash, or any cleansing alternatives that end up on your skin, a number of their contents will be absorbed.

Even though you’re technically washing away all of the soap from your skin, residual ingredients, including parabens if used,  will be left behind in the skin’s soft tissue.

Think about how much scent is left on your body after using commercial brands bar soap after showering.

This is not a rare occurrence [1]. One study indicated that it happens in nearly all cases. There have been studies suggest that parabens can cause breast tumors and breast cancer. 

The European Commission has even put a legal limit on how much propylparaben content can be included in skincare products and cosmetics.

It is believed that parabens may cause disruption of hormones including estrogen. However, there have been observational studies that show otherwise. 

The jury is still out.

Environmental Concerns

Paraben use is causing the chemical to seep into other parts of the world 

Let’s say you wash the parabens off of your body. Eventually, it is going to work its way into the water system. 

Numerous amounts of marine animals have been discovered with parabens contained in their tissues and surrounding water.

Since parabens are only manmade, the only way they could have possibly got there is through human use. 

Finding Paraben Free Soap

It can be tough to tell when soap is paraben-free. Companies are starting to realize that people would probably end up skipping out on their products if they knew that they contained parabens. 

Until we have a bit more legislation that says that companies have to say when their products contain a paraben, you can assume that they are always going to be burying this sort of thing deep inside of their ingredient list.

There are a lot of different types of paraben out there. The ones that you are, most likely, to encounter inside of your soap will be these:

• Butylparaben
• Propylparaben
• Methylparaben

Usually, the ingredient will contain the word paraben at the end of its name. Be sure to choose a soap product without these ingredients.

MildSoaps.com Ingredients List Are Always Paraben-Free

As we said at the beginning of this article, all of our products are paraben-free. We wouldn’t have it any other way. 

However, we figured that we would go through some of the other benefits that you will be able to enjoy when you purchase one of these soaps from us.

Truly Natural

When we say our products are natural, we genuinely mean that the products are going to be all-natural. This means that there are no chemicals included in the mix at all. 

This is different from some of the other natural soaps on the market. Many of the natural soaps on the market are not natural at all. 

Instead, they use synthetic or chemical fragrances. You’ll never find that here. Our products are 100% natural; both scented and fragrance-free.

The only fragrances MildSoaps.com use or recommends are essential oils, which are truly natural.

High-Quality Pressed Oils

Our products always contain pressed oils. We do not use oils that have been made from seeds.

This is because when products are made from seed-based oils, they need to use hexane. 

As you may well know, hexane is a product that is a major component of gasoline. 

Obviously, you do not want this added to your skin at all, right?

Our Secret Weapon…Oatmeal

Each bar soap we sell will always contain oatmeal. You likely won’t know that it is there, but it is. 

This is because oatmeal is easily the best natural skin cleanser that money can buy.

It is great at exfoliating the skin. It works wonders when it comes to drawing oils from the skin, and it is great for scrubbing dirt and grime away. 

Conclusion

We hope the benefits and details of paraben-free soap and other items have been made clear. 

On your journey for great health, we hope you join us on our stance against the inclusion of any parabens. 

The next time you go shopping, review the ingredients list on the shampoos and soaps you normally buy and see what’s in them.

Hopefully, as consumers gain awareness, packaging will be labeled with paraben-free advertisements making it easy to find the best things for your skin.

References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088928/