Thank you very much for everyone's answers!
I tend to overcomplicate and overthink things, especially at the beginning. Maybe my research was not without bias, when you focus on an assumption (even if it is a false one), you will find articles that will confirm that assumption.
It was comforting to read through your answers - I didn't plan to stop making soap because I really enjoy it, I was just really curious about your opinion and experiences on this topic.
And along with that. this from the article: "Setting aside the fact that these assertions come from people who make their living selling soap, which makes them a touch biased". In other worlds, do as I say, not as I do because clearly the person is making a living selling books and recipes and classes and whatnot.
Do or do not...it's just that simple. But understand that everything must be taken with a grain of salt and that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I remember when eggs were good for you, then eggs where bad, then it was only the yolk was bad and the white was good, but then the white was bad too and now eggs are good again. And they did the same with butter. Any "diet" that requires that you take supplements is not good for you...that's just common sense.
So let's talk about the article itself which is about baking soda and soap (lye-based).
Of course baking soda on the face is bad and it has nothing to do with the pH. You have to understand that the skin on your face is very thin as opposed to the skin on your arm or leg, which is thinner than the skin on the bottom of your feet. Baking Soda is naturally abrasive. Got something burnt in the bottom of your pot, toss a cup of water and a couple of tablespoons of baking soda and let it simmer on low for an hour. Go ahead and mix up your bath bomb ingredients without gloves, the baking soda will strip the polish from your nails in no time. Baking soda is also very drying...make a paste of it with some water and slap it on bug bites and poison ivy/oaks...works great.
Then comes "soap". While the author talks about 'traditional soap' (castile, cold processed, hot processed, etc.), it makes no distinction between Commercial and Artisan Soap...they are simply lumping all 'lye' based soap together and you can't do that because you're trying to say it's apples and oranges when in fact, it's apples and onions. And trying to compare a lye-based soap with syndet-based product (you can't legally call it 'soap', at least in the US) is like trying to company apples and...corn.
I grew up using Ivory Soap...Mom liked it because it floated and thus it was easy to find when bathing us kids, and it was easy to find when we started bathing ourselves. Mind you, I'm old enough that I didn't have my first 'shower' until I was 12 (getting sprayed down with a garden hose doesn't count), at which point having a 'floating' soap was moot and so we used a lot of different brands after that...whatever we had coupons for and/or was on sale. And let's not forget Noxzema...I used that from the time I was 14 to about 28 and only quit using it because it was 'bad' for you. By that time I was using Jergens Soap until I was around 45 or so when I discovered Goat Milk Soap and 'natural skin care'. OMG...what a difference! I used GMS for about five years and then Dottie retired and I didn't like the new goat lady's soap so I moved over to body wash since I moved to a place without a tub. And I tried a lot of different ones...Dove, Neutrogena, Caress, Aveeno, Olay, SoftSoap, Dial, Jergens, Sauve, etc and for all their claims, it was all the same...wash, dry, slather on the moisturizer afterwards.
So I started making soap over three years ago. I make it with Olive, Palm, Coconut and Castor Oils, and Cocoa and Shea Butters and a little Kaolin Clay and Sodium Lactate. Hubby likes extra bubbles so I had a little Sorbitol to his soap. I have no freakin' clue what the 'pH' of my soap is, either when it's fresh out of the mold or eight weeks later (my preferred cure time) or three years later and honestly, I don't care. What I do care about is how my skin feels after I bathe or shower, or am just washing my hands. And it feels good. Instead of using a large bottle of body/hand lotion and a bottle of moisturizer every month, said bottles will last a good six months. In fact, I've gone to smaller bottles because 'natural' products will break down faster than synthetic laden products. Sadly, when we moved our office two years ago, we went from a private bathroom to a public bathroom and so now I have to wash my hands with that foaming stuff...and then use hand lotion because it dries my skin out so bad.
Of course I have skin in it by encouraging folks to quit using commercial soaps, because it's a business for me, but I also use Palm Oil in all my soaps and I used Goat Milk and even use Lard and will still recommend using artisan soap.
