If you suffer from a dry skin condition, such as eczema, you may have noticed you experience reactions when your skin comes into contact with certain products. Many soaps contain chemicals that are doing more harm than good, drying out your skin and triggering skin sensitivities. While they may work to clean your skin, these chemicals can cause serious reactions. This can leave the skin irritated, dry and cracked.

At Grahams Natural, we specialise in natural products for this very reason. We’ve noticed that when you experience skin irritations and problems, it’s highly likely that it’s chemicals in your everyday products that are causing this. Over the course of 16 years, we have developed a range of natural skin care products to try and rectify this situation, we want to avoid the chemicals that cause skin reactions and focus on nourishing your delicate skin.

Many people in the service industry such as hospitality, mechanics and beauty will often have skin irritations from the constant use of chemical products on their hands, which is why we recommend using a natural soap to clean and nurture the body.

Ingredients

How do you know if a soap is safe to use? Read the ingredients label! There are a range of ingredients you should avoid, and others you can look for that are great for your skin.

Ingredients to avoid

The following ingredients are ones you want to avoid! While they won’t kill you, they can trigger skin reactions and irritate the skin:

• Formaldehyde
• PEG-6
• Scent
• Dioxane
• Sodium tree sulfate (SLS)
• Parabens
• Triclosan
• Diethanolamine (or DEA)

Ingredients to look for

Knowing what to avoid is a great place to start, but there are also a range of ingredients that have huge benefits for your skin! These include:

• Manuka honey (antibacterial properties)
• Palm oil
• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Neem

These ingredients are great for people with dry and sensitive skin, which is why we always recommend them for people with eczema, psoriasis & dermatitis.

When purchasing soap, make sure you read the back of the label! Many companies market their products as ‘natural’ but actually contain some of the harmful ingredients listed above. Also be mindful that some companies also use special names for ingredients, so if there’s something on the label you haven’t heard of, Google it!

Research

Our top tip for buying natural skin care products is to do your research before you go to the store. Businesses spend millions of dollars each year on marketing their products so they sound better than they actually are. Most people will see a brand with a 50% discount and instantly buy it, before looking at the ingredients.

If you have an idea of the soap you would like to purchase, you can research it here on the EWG database. They list all of the ingredients and also give you a rating of the ingredients based on thorough testing and research.

What would we recommend?

Not to toot our own horn, but our Cleansing Bar is one of the best soaps on the market. We developed this soap to achieve one goal; to make a 100% natural soap that works and smells great. Our soap has been on the market for years and is available in a range of natural health food stores and pharmacies. Take a look here and you will see why - these ingredients will actually benefit your skin!