I've been wondering about this for a while now. Many mass market bar soaps in supermarkets and drug stores are actually labeled as beauty bars or other terms. Actual soap seems to be rare to find for the masses. Which readily available soaps in physical stores are actually soap and not beauty bars? I'm thinking about brands like Ivory, Dawn, Coast, etc.
Kiss My Face also makes bar soap which I think is real soap. But, I'm not sure how available it is in B&M locations.
You want to look for an oil and/or a fat plus a caustic (typically sodium hydroxide and/or potassium hydroxide). You also do not want to see a detergent such as sodium laurel sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), and a few others. Some of the so-called natural soaps also use SLS under a different name claiming that it's natural. The chemical is the same, it's just a different name and from a natural source.
Some type of oils (coconut oil, olive oil, tallow, etc.) they should be the first ingredients in the soap and then sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide (the Lye).
Right now I'm using a Costco body soap. Here are the ingredients: Sodium Palmate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Water, Glycerin, Potassium Myristate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Laurate, Potassium Stearate, Stearic Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Fragrance, Ceteareth-20, Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulfonate, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate. After reading a few posts here this looks to be more of a beauty bar and not real soap, correct?
No, it is a real soap. The main oil of the soap is Palm oil These are oils that have been saponified: Sodium Palmate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Laurate, Potassium Myristate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Laurate, Potassium Stearate,
Would all natural 100% vegetable based soaps be included? Shugar Soapworks/Venezia brands are just that. Besides buying them at retail stores, they can be found at Dollar Tree and other discount stores. And they usually come in 7oz-8oz bars.
As long as it uses some type of oil or fat and a caustic agent to saponify the oil or fat it is indeed soap. It doesn't matter if it is strictly vegetable oil or animal fat.
I've been using those brands for years, excellent quality and long lasting. Plus some of the proceeds go to charity and they donate many of them to different organizations.
Here are the ingredients for Coast Pacific Force. It's labeled as a deodorant soap. How is that different? Would that be actual soap since it has palm oil? Ingredients Soap (Sodium Cocoate [Contains One or More of These Ingredients], Sodium Palm Kernelate [Contains One or More of These Ingredients], Sodium Palmate [Contains One or More of These Ingredients], Sodium Tallowate [Contains One or More of These Ingredients]), Water, Talc, Coconut Acid (Contains One or More of These Ingredients), Palm Acid (Contains One or More of These Ingredients), Tallow Acid (Contains One or More of These Ingredients), Palm Kernel Acid (Contains One or More of These Ingredients), Fragrance, Glycerin, Sorbitol, Sodium Chloride, Pentasodium Pentetate and/or Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines, Chromium Hydroxide Green.