soaps for babies?

Yesterday there was a news item about bad chemicals from shampoo being found in babies' urine after having their hair washed. As parents to two eight-month-olds, my wife and I are a little concerned. Although we only wash our girls' hair once a week, we use baby shampoo on their bodies every day. So my wife suggested I ask here for good baby soap. Any suggestions? It needs to be gentle and non-irritating to the eyes.

 

I'd use Issy's 80% or 100% olive oil soap, it's natural and quite gentle to the skin.

 

What was the bad chemical?

We used to use a soap free baby wash. I forgot the brand. I don't know if it was bad chemical free, or just soap free.

Our kids use Johnson's baby shampoo for washing in the shower. They are 4 1/2 and 6 years old.

 

No matter what you do there will be bad chemicals in anything and everything you use. A few years ago my wife and I used Landers from the dollar store and it did an excellent job out son is none the worse for wear for the soap. Don't go around thinking you have to have a high end soap becuase of the chemicals used. Dollar soaps do the job eualy as well and don't cost anywhere near what the high ends cost.

These days we use Lucky's brand on him and it does great.

 

That is not true whatsoever. There are many choices out there that are chemical free and perfectly safe. Also I am going to say it now, Dollar store items RARELY if ever beat out alternatives you can get in the normal Drug store or speciality shops. They are cheap for a reason, mostly due to quality sacrifice. They may work well, but they do not beat out most quality items. This is not to say all expensive things are good.. but that is a discussion for another time.


Going back to the original topic, I hope Issy catches onto this topic and offers his advice. I would have to echo what was said earlier though and I don't think you can go wrong with a 100% OO soap like Issy offers. Issy himself only makes very good quality items and I know for a fact he avoid industrial/commercial products so the natural factor is extreme. For a young child I would think one of his bars would last a good long time too!

Also just a side note on my own personal thought on the constant medical reports streaming out, pay attention but don't go wild over them most of the time. Sadly we live in an age where things that work amazingly well and have for many years are all of a sudden unsafe for who knows what reason. It is always great to look for new options, just don't stake everything on a single report.

 

Here is a good example of something that was just released. Don't give yourself a heart attack.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/02/05/healthmag.creams/index.html

Like everything, moderation is required. I would add that I think Issy's 80% or 100% soap would be fine but maybe Issy should confirm that.

 

I do have to disagree there. Everything's chemical in life and even natural products can be hazardous/dangerous or cause allergies. There are even people who are allergic to olive oil (soaps). No matter what, there'll always be someone somewhere

 

Allergies are obviously not in the equation. You are just being difficult.. :angry037

 

Well, I didn't only mean allergies, but "natural" substances that can be harmful too. Think almond-oil for instance. Sounds natural but it's highly toxic.

 

Here's a link to the news story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22979800/

It does say there's no direct evidence of the chemicals (phthalates) causing harm to humans, but if it's easy to avoid this stuff then we'll do so.

 

that's what I meant

 

Yeah, I was a blurb on this in the paper when I got home last night. We went with soap free cleanser because both our kids got very dry skin with soap, even Gerber baby soap and the like. This isn't EO soap, mind you. I don't know if it had phthalates or not.

 

@tjgriffin: "soap free cleanser". Well, you know, those tensides in these soap-free liquid soaps can be harder to the skin than industrial soap, drying it out in an instant. Especially bad are sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. They have to put tons of artificial moisturizers in these products which ain't exactly what you want to let sink into your skin.

Superfatted soaps are far better for the skin than that. But, of course, each to his own

 

Yeah, you're probably right. Last time we used it was about a year ago. I don't know what was in it. It helped with the dry skin. But a 80% olive oil soap would probably have been better. They're pretty much over that problem at this age.

 

Both are gentle enough for a baby and ZERO chemicals. The superfatting is also great for the skin. I have given both to rad/chemo patients with flaky/cracking skin and if made all the difference in the world.

Issy

 

Thanks for confirming what I've always thought As soon as I deplete my current stock of bath soaps I'll place an order with you

 

I happened to be trifling through Target a few weeks back and saw that Burts Bees came out with a new line called Burts Babies (I think?). Either way, its a new line for babies. I know their products are all natural and rather wonderful. Maybe give them a try