Seriously, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to turn a discussion of soap into something with the passion of a Jackie Collins novel, the drama of a Tolstoy novel or the riveting action of a John Grisham novel. It’s soap.

Still, despite the fact that we take soap for granted there are important things to understand about soap. Our hard earned dollars are often coaxed right out of our wallets on the say so of marketers. With a little soap knowledge in hand the feasible, the plausible and the utterly ridiculous are more easily discernable.

All “soap” is made by combining fat of some sort, either animal fat or vegetable oil, with lye. This process is called saponification. When done correctly, the lye expends itself and no alkalinity is left in the soap and it has a nifty by-product, glycerin, that draws moisture into the superficial layers of the skin. Contrary to what leading manufacturers would have you believe, intact soap does not dry the skin. The most popular brands of soap do dry the skin because they remove the glycerin and use it for other products.

Basically, soap gets you clean by bonding the oils in the soap to the matter on the skin and, theoretically, rinsing away the oil with the trapped matter off of the skin. A caveat to this process is in highly acidic water that contains high levels of calcium, iron and/or magnesium. The other big exception results from synthetic additives to soap. These additives create chemical compounds that leave residue on your skin. If there is residue on your skin, then the purpose of the soap has been defeated. You end up with dirt attracting oil beckoning to particulate and microbial matter fixed to your skin.

A great bar of soap will have retained glycerin, balanced ph, no synthetic additives and only additional additives that are necessary to cope with the needs of your skin. Additive colors and perfumes offer additional opportunity for irritation to the skin. Everything that lives dies and goes horribly horribly bad.

We have the tendency to want things to last forever, or until we get around to them. Try to resist that urge to purchase products that cater to this desire. Remember Dr. Frankenstein. Distraught over the death of his brother he wanted to reanimate the deceased. Each time you are tempted to go the preservative route instead of deliberate consumption, think of Igor collecting body parts from the grave yard and bringing home the “abbie normal” brain. (Sorry, I couldn’t help that. I laughed myself silly at Young Frankenstein) Avoid purchasing preservative laden products. They do bad things.

In short, (I know it's a little late for that) Be good to your skin. Don’t look at the pictures, read the label.

Dawn Worthy, owner of Fresh From the Farm, offers a complete line of biodegradable, vegan friendly, organic botanical soap. What is in the soap is good. What isn't in the soap is better. There are no artificial ingredients. There are no manufacturing, coloring or fragrance additives. It's simple, Aunt Ann's Garden Soap is naturally good. We invite you to see for yourself at http://www.FreshFromtheFarm.Us

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