another soapbox rant

[RocknRoll]

Wow, with all this misrepresentation going on... someone needs to hire the "Soap Police" ~lol!

 

[melstan775]

My point was that by Lush's motto of "Fresh Handmade Cosmetics" and mention of small handmade batches, the intimation (IMHO) is that their soap is CP and that was also what I was plainly told while in the store. I never disputed that ingredient lists were available (but I've only seen them online and in the catalog, not on the physical soap)...which was why I questioned if it was CP soap after purchasing some and then looking up the ingredient list out of curiousity since it smelled divine but dried my skin out. You are absolutely correct that Lush makes zero claims to be "all natural", but that was not the source of my confusion. I'm no soap guru, but I didn't and still don't understand what these ingredients are doing in a cold processed soap. BTW, I know it's hard to tell from a typed message, but I'm truly not being a smart*ss. If I'm wrong about this then I owe an apology not only to Lush, but to everyone else as well.
Here's the ingredient list for Lush's signature soap Karma:
Water (Aqua) , Propylene Glycol , Rapeseed Oil , Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera) , Sodium Stearate , Sodium Lauryl Sulfate , Fragrance , Patchouli Oil (Pogostemon cablin) , Sweet Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis) , Lavendin Oil (Lavendula hybrida) , Pine Oil (Pinus sylvestris) , Lemongrass Oil (Cymbopogan flexuosus) , Elemi Oil (Canarium commune) , Glycerine , Sodium Chloride , EDTA , Tetrasodium Etidronate , Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides) , *Citral , *Geraniol , *Citronellol , *Limonene , *Linalool , FD&C Red No. 4
#2 ingredient - Propylene Glycol: used in antifreeze.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol
#6 ingredient - Sodium Lauryl Sulfate: used in laundry detergent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_lauryl_sulfate
Those were the main two ingredients that made me question the CP claim.

Propylene glycol is used in cosmetics because it stabilizes cosmetic materials. It's a type of preservative that really holds color, water, and oil uniformity. Propylene glycol increases product stability so the product can travel through heat and cold without melting or freezing because the water content is stabilized. Propylene glycol is like the embalming fluid of cosmetics. I imagine it's added to soaps so soaps can travel well, not dry out over time, and keep their shiny luster.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a common additive in all sorts of soaps, shampoos, and detergents to increase lather. Surfecants break the surface tension of water so oil can be absorbed by the lather then be carried away from the skin.

Are these ingredients necassary in soap? Probably not, but once again Lush is a commercial company and they need their products to perform. Probably their soaps are cold processed with additives added at trace, or they are milled to a fine powder after curing, with additives added during the second batching. Their soap products have a lot of oils in them, so they are likely cold processed for saponification to occur. Unless someone here has ever worked for Lush though, I guess the truth is we will never really know how they are made!