You may know Earth Mama Angel Baby as a company dedicated to producing natural, organic, zero toxin products for mama and baby, such as their Milkmaid Tea, or Nipple Butter, but you may not be aware that they also offer a variety of soaps made with the same standards. In the following interview, Melinda, creator of Earth Mama Angel Baby, offers TLB readers a mini lesson about the difference between soaps and detergents, and a chance to enter a soapy giveaway.
TLB: So far, you’ve presented The Leaky Boob community with your breastfeeding related and baby health/pampering products, which we happen to love. For this giveaway, you are interested in focusing on your line of soaps. What prompted you to start making soaps?
Melinda: I have always made herb-infused soap for myself, and to me it remains the simplest, purest way to clean your body. It seemed like a logical step for Earth Mama to give people pure, safe options so they don’t have to use toxin-laced detergents on fragile baby skin, or on their pregnant bodies, or for anyone in the family!
TLB: Okay, you are obviously very knowledgeable when it comes to the sudsy stuff! How about if we have a mini lesson about soap and detergents? To start us off, what’s the difference between soap and detergent? Aren’t they basically the same thing?
Melinda: What a great question! Nope, they aren’t the same! True soap is very simple stuff, and very simply made. Soap is the end product of blending pure fats or oils (acids) with an alkaline base (like potassium or sodium hydroxide) solution. Allow this acid/base solution to sit and stew while the acids and bases neutralize each other. The oils are saponified, the scary-sounding stuff no longer exists, and you are left with a balanced, naturally sudsy soap, with a natural pH high enough that it doesn’t require the addition of synthetic surfactants or preservatives.
TLB: OK, so what is detergent?
Melinda: Detergents were originally manufactured to be effective cleaners for clothes, dishes and countertops. They are synthetic blends of surfactants (surface acting agents) intended to reduce the surface tension of water to penetrate and strip away the grease from your pork chops and leave your dishes sparkling clean. They cut through the mud on the knees of your kid’s jeans and wash it away in the laundry. Because they are a liquid, that means they also require an emulsifier to keep the ingredients evenly blended, and preservatives to keep them from going bad. Detergents also often contain artificial fragrances to keep your clothes and countertops smelling “clean and fresh.” And in order for it to kill germs they need to add an antibacterial pesticide like Triclosan. As you can see, detergents can be a very toxic stew!
TLB: Does soap have any of that stuff?
Melinda: Nope, true soaps require none of these additives. True soap is naturally foamy so it doesn’t need an added surfactant. It is naturally preserved, so it needs no added emulsifiers or preservatives. It kills germs naturally, so it doesn’t need an antimicrobial pesticide. Especially if you get a castile soap made from organic oils, true soap is one of the safest, purest, most economical and versatile cleaners out there. You can use it for safe household cleaning and for your kids too!
TLB: So how did detergents get into my soap?
Melinda: Detergents started being used in some personal care products, like shampoos and body washes, because the blend of synthetic chemicals is a less costly way to achieve lathering and cleaning/stripping properties. But we don’t want any of those other dubious side “benefits” that come along for the ride in our baby’s tub! So we manufacture pure, organic, liquid castile soap. If you really add it up, a pure, organic castile soap gives you a lot of safe, worry-free cleaning in a little squirt.
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Earth Mama Angel Baby is giving away one Castile Soap Bundle to 3 lucky Leakies.
Winners’ choice of flavor: Angel Baby, Calming Lavender, Happy Mama, Non-scents.
Retail Value: $43.88
Currently Leakies can find safe, pure castile soap and other organic skincare items on the Earth Mama Angel Baby website
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Good luck to everyone! Please use the widget below to be entered. The giveaway is open from July 17, 2013 through July 23, 2013. A big thanks to Earth Mama Angel Baby for their ongoing support of TLB and all breastfeeding women; please be sure to visit their Facebook page or follow them on twitter and thank them for their support of TLB and this giveaway opportunity. You can also find Earth Mama Angel Baby on Pinterest and Instagram.
This giveaway is restricted to U.S. residents only.