I love how folks these days are so quick to push the panic button. Growing up, you bathed with SOAP and water. Not body wash with eleventybillion moisturizers, not Bath gel that is all squishy and doesn't lather, but honest to goodness soap.
You can't have saponification without lye(NaOH, also called Sodium Hydroxide or caustic soda), period. If it's soap, it's got lye in it. You can make it out of wood ash, but most people have lost the art. Rebatching(a popular way to make soap these days) takes pure unscented cured soap chunks, and adds natural ingredients like Goat's Milk, Coconut and olive oils, and oatmeal, then colours and scents. It still has lye in it, but the main work has already been done.
Many "non-toxic" bath products have this, and it's cousin, Potassium hydroxide(which is supposed to be less caustic)used in many liquid soaps and washes.
Has anyone taken HS chemistry and seen what sodium and potassium in it's raw forms do in water? It's the way one blends it with other natural ingredients that make it INERT. Simple science. People for centuries have been washing "potty mouth" out with soap, and as far as I know, nobody has ever died from ingesting a bit of lather.
I have a few insect allergies. I have used for decades(on the advice of my grandparents and great grandparents), Fels-Naptha soap. Most folks say it is caustic(due to it being used in hand washing laundry). It has White Camphor and Citronella oils in it, making it ideal for washing clothes when camping, as well as your body, and has the benefit of keeping bugs like mosquitoes away. I also use Kirk's Coco hardwater Castile. I have sensitive skin, and can use it easily, and it has a lovely lather. I've washed my son with both at one time or another. I find that it cleans more effectively than body wash.
I do make a nice skin balm to remoisturise our skin after bathing, which has ZERO chemicals, and is CHEAP, and EASY to make(a recipe which I have posted many times here, and will give away whenever someone asks).
I find that washing with body wash cleans less effectively than soap, as the things that are supposed to eliminate the need for lotions negate the "soap" you scrub with.
For both kids and grownups, places like LUSH are both eco and vegan friendly. They break down in great detail where they get their ingredients, and how they are hand made in small batches. Now if a place like LUSH can make Vegan safe products and do use things that you consider "toxic", what does that say about your information on toxicity? They've never as far as I have researched, been told they have false advertising, and I can reproduce several of their products in my kitchen with what I have in my fridge and cabinets, so I'd be tempted to believe it's as advertised. I also buy some of their things because I like their business philosphy.
I have another question for you to think about and answer for yourself--Do you wear perfume or use hair styling products? If they are not handmade in small batches(which makes them sometimes different from batch to batch), what's in them? Do you still use it? Will you still use it? Are you willing to make it yourself so that you guaranteed KNOW what's in it?
I have a friend that read labels, and was under the heading of, "If I can't pronounce it, I'm not gonna eat it". Ordinarily, it's fine, but sometimes it's ridiculous. Case in point. She read a common ingredient in children's cereal, "pyridoxine hydrochloride". She found it in TONS of foods, and decided to not eat anything with it inside. I told her she'd be very unhealthy in a very short time. When she asked me why, I told her it's crude name was.....wait for it...
Vitamin B6.
Lots of healthy, good for you things have chemical names, due to scientists that have broken them down to their chemical scientific compounds. Truth in advertising means they put what's in it, and often use the scientific names. Vitamins have long, often hard-to-pronounce names(they often don't post that they are vitamins. They are not required to do that.)
Now I'm all for natural and eco-friendly, but sometimes we need to research and do smart shopping, and just plain think with the common sense our Mama's raised us with. Remember, these guys are the new Snake oil salesman--it's their JOB to make you so good and truly scared you want to buy some new-fangled products. The only TRULY NATURAL body care products are the ones YOU MAKE IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN.
Less is more, I always say.
Agree, or disagree, as always, it's...
Just my 2cp.