INGE HAS ISSUES…

about how you’re washing your face

Hold the front page! The humble bar soap, beloved by nans and aunties the world over, is making a comeback, thanks to its dazzling ecocredentials (it takes less water and packaging to produce than liquid cleanser). But is your face ready for it? Won’t it turn my skin to dust? Indeed. Your average soap bar is very alkaline, meaning it murders nasty bacteria (good), but also strips skin’s protective acid mantle (bad: that’s what makes skin vulnerable to dryness and irritation). Is vegetable soap better, then? Sounds mild, but isn’t. Soap bars (even organic ones) are made by ‘saponifying’ natural fats (palm, olive, hemp oil, etc): this means mixing them with caustic soda, an alkaline industrial chemical. It then evaporates, so the resulting soap is perfectly safe, but not mild: soap’s pH is about an alkaline 10, while skin’s acid mantle is no more than 5.5. What about soap-free bars? They’re made with mild synthetic detergents and no saponification. Gentler than soap, they’re meant to have a ‘neutral’ pH of 7: the same as water, but still not close enough to the skin’s pH! I give up! Don’t – the first natural, non-saponified, skin-neutral (pH 5.8) soap has arrived: Gallinée Cleansing Bar isn’t drying and helps grow beneficial bacteria while killing the bad ones. So treat your body to a nice eco-veggie soap if you like, but for the face (and, er, your lady parts), opt for this patent-pending block of goodness.