These days, many of us don’t use soap in the shower or bath anymore. Instead, we lather up with bath foams, shower gels, facial washes and scrubs, all of which rely on complex detergents (often the same ones used in heavy industry) to wash away simple dirt.

I recently came across this analogy, which really highlights an important point that bears repeating: The difference between soap and detergent is like the difference between cotton and nylon.

Soap and cotton are produced from natural products with (in most cases) little modification. Detergents and nylon are produced entirely in a chemical factory. If you use mainstream commercial brands (even so-called “Premium” brands), what you basically get is the same detergents and surfactants (foaming agents) that are found in your household cleaning products, only in a much lower concentration. Many of these harsh surfactants deplete natural fats and phospholipids from the epidermis that weakens the skin allowing toxins and bacteria to invade.

If you have sensitive or perpetually dry skin, discontinue using liquid soaps or body washes that contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). These surfactants (foaming agents) are among the most commonly used foaming agents in shampoos, cleansers, body washes and even toothpastes and mouthwashes, because they are extremely cheap. They work by lowering the surface tension of water, which unfortunately, also dissolves your skin’s natural oil and strips it of its protective layer. SLS, particularly in shampoos, penetrates very easily through the hair follicles on the head, and assists other chemicals to more readily penetrate as well. It can cause skin damage, flaking, drying, cracking, roughness, and breakdown of the skin’s protective barrier.

Other ingredients to be concerned about in your liquid soap, body wash products, and shampoos: Cocamide EDTA (or similar compounds ending with DEA, TEA or MEA) along with formaldehyde-forming substances such as Bronopol, DMDM hydantoin, Diazo-lidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea and Quaternium-15. These are ingredients that have been known to react with other nitrogen-based ingredients to form cancer-causing nitrosamines after absorption.

And one of the worst offenders of all … Triclosan – a commonly used ingredient in many of those anti-bacterial soaps that’s also a derivative of Agent Orange! It’s considered highly toxic by the EPA and is measured in parts per billion. In addition to the toxic exposure to your skin and body from using soaps with this ingredient, scientists believe that as a result of making its way down drains and into landfills and streams, this ingredient may be leading to the proliferation of Super Bugs – i.e. bacterial strains that are highly resistant to antibiotics!