One of the most frequently stated arguments for using handmade soap is that “supermarket soap isn’t soap, it’s synthetic detergent”. On plenty of websites and on soaping forums on social media this categorical statement is presented as if it were a well-known fact. And through frequent repetition it seems to become even more of a fact.
Having seen it said time and time again that supermarket soap isn’t soap, often on American websites, I decided to have a look in my local grocery store here in Cape Town to see what the labels on all those soap bars actually said.
Here in South Africa all soap intended for use on the body is considered cosmetic. And all cosmetics need to have their ingredients labelled and listed in descending order of predominance. In their labeling supermarket soap brands will use INCI (abbreviation for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) names for their ingredients. Chemically soap is alkali salts of fatty acids and in this nomenclature coconut oil soap made with sodium hydroxide is called ’sodium cocoate’, palm oil soap is called ’sodium palmate’, or sodium palmitate’, palm kernel oil soap is called ’sodium palm kernelate’, tallow soap is called ’sodium tallowate’ etc.
Bar soap is popular in South Africa and on the day of my reconnaissance mission my closest local supermarket carried 17 brands of bar soap. Sixteen out of those seventeen brands (94%) listed a salt of a fatty acid (i e soap) first among their ingredients. Only one listed a detergent other than soap first among their ingredients, but even that one brand then continued the list with a variety of alkali salts of fatty acids.
Next to this supermarket is a shop equivalent to Booths in the UK or Walgreens in the US. This shop carried 8 brands of bar soap. Of those eight, two listed detergents first on their list of ingredients and one of them appeared to be a pure detergent bar with no mention of any salts of fatty acids. But six out of eight brands (75%) were unmistakably soap.
Around the corner from my closest supermarket is an outlet for a more high-end supermarket chain. This shop carried 9 brands of soap of which 8 (89%) were regular soap and one listed a detergent first, followed by salts of fatty acids.
Based on this quick overview of the local supermarket offering, the claim that “supermarket soap isn’t soap” clearly does not apply in South Africa. By far the majority of the bar soap on offer here in South Africa is made of alkali salts of fatty acids. These soaps all have various additives like fragrance and colourant and may or may not have added synthetic detergent, but from a chemical point of view they contain soap and in most cases alkali salts of fatty acids make up the bulk of these products.
So, are things very different in the U.S. where many claim that supermarket soap isn’t soap?
I don’t often have the opportunity to browse American supermarkets, but in July I had the great privilege to visit New York. While working very hard at cramming as much sightseeing as possible into a few days, I also took the opportunity to do some local market research.
Irrespective of the true nature of supermarket soap, I’m in awe of Manhattan. The soaring high-risers, the rivers of yellow taxis, the thunder of the subway, the unapologetic face brick everywhere, the beauty vs the ugliness, the sense of boundless opportunity vs tough luck and the feeling of maelstrom gravitation towards the centre of the universe holds you in a spellbinding grip.
Having only just found my feet in the middle of this hustle and bustle on Manhattan I walked into the first supermarket I came across which happened to be a small shop on 6th Avenue. The food offering was high end but the soap offering seemed to be very mid range. Here eight brands were available and out of those, two did not list soap first among the ingredients. But 75% of the brands on offer were definitely soap.
So, maybe the little shop in an upmarket, touristy part of Manhattan had an unusual selection of soap? To broaden the perspective a little I decided to check the soap section in the local supermarket in the not-so-upmarket part of Brooklyn where I was staying for the duration of my visit.
This was a bigger store with a wider soap selection. Twenty brands were on offer and out of those four listed detergent rather than soap first among the ingredients. But again a whopping 80% of the brands on offer listed alkali salts of fatty acids first among their ingredients.
Later on my journey continued to the UK where I stayed in the town of Windsor. There I checked the soap selection in the closest big-chain supermarket and again seven of the nine brands on offer (78%) listed soap first among the ingredients.
If New York was lively and throbbing, England was charming and quaint..
Of course, my bit of market research was neither scientific nor scholarly. Firstly, I only checked bar soap since that’s where my main focus lies. Liquid soap may have a different profile. Second, to go by the first ingredient listed on the packaging is a bit random since that ingredient – albeit predominant – is by no means guaranteed to make up the bulk of the product. It may in theory be a small fraction of the product alongside lots and lots of other ingredients. However, in practice the bars that listed a salt of a fatty acid first would fairly consistently list a variety of salts of fatty acids all the way until ’aqua’, i e water, was listed. Since water will be kept down to a minimum in commercial bar soap, we can assume that the bulk of these bars was soap. And, of the brands that listed a detergent first, the brand with an avian name (which was on offer in all the randomly chosen shops on all three continents) lists salts of fatty acids second and third, ie it contains detergent, but it’s soap too.
I only checked the soap offerings in a handful of shops so no particular power in numbers there. On the other hand I don’t have any reason to doubt that the randomly chosen shops (they happened to be where I happened to be) are representative of supermarkets in general when it comes to bar soap selection.
To sum it up the notion that “supermarket soap isn’t soap” seems to be a myth, not just in Cape Town, but in New York and Windsor too.
So what about all the claims then that supermarket soap isn’t soap? Surely it can’t just be a question of handcrafters trying to denigrate supermarket products on false pretenses to promote their own products instead?
What lies behind the confusion could be the fact that soap has several definitions in the U.S. On the one hand there is the universal chemical definition of soap as alkali salts of fatty acids. On the other hand there are a number of U.S.-specific regulatory definitions of soap which can be found on the web pages of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to the regulatory definition a product can be labeled, marketed and sold as non-cosmetic soap if
- the bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the product’s detergent properties are due to the alkali-fatty acid compounds, and
- the product is labeled, sold, and represented solely as soap
A product may be labelled, marketed and sold as cosmetic soap if the product
- is intended solely for cleansing the human body, or
- is intended not only for cleansing but also for other cosmetic uses,
- has the characteristics consumers generally associate with soap, and
- does not consist primarily of alkali salts of fatty acids.
By the regulatory definition for cosmetic soap the brand with the avian name, along with all the other brands I came across, are soap. And as far as the chemical definition goes, if the product contains alkali salts of fatty acids it contains soap.
So, various supermarket soaps may not be non-cosmetic soap – not so much because they would contain synthetic detergents, which many of them don’t, but because they are marketed as e g skin-softening, rejuvenating, energizing or any number of other things that can be interpreted as cosmetic claims. But, they are still cosmetic soaps by U.S. regulatory definition and in a large majority of cases they are alkali salts of fatty acids as well. By the same regulatory definition a handmade soap made from oils, butters, lye and water that is said to have e g exfoliating or conditioning effect, is cosmetic rather than non-cosmetic soap. Instead of saying “supermarket soap isn’t soap” it would be more correct to say that some supermarket bar soap brands contain synthetic detergent as well as alkali salts of fatty acids and that a small minority of brands on offer contain no salts of fatty acids at all. But – that wouldn’t sound quite as catchy.
Well, having made my observations about supermarket soap on different continents I relaxed and stuck to sightseeing. This time around I had promised the family that I wouldn’t make soap while on vacation so I didn’t. But, I made up for that by taking plenty of soap pictures. The Travel Soap tin which always tagged along, either in my bag or pocket, was frequently hauled out and made to pose in likely and unlikely places. It saw more public rest rooms than it cares to remember, it got rained on in London, it almost dropped off the top of the Rockefeller Center in New York and I very nearly lost it to a peckish swan in Windsor. But it withstood all that and kept its contents nice and dry. And yes, it does feel great to be able to wash your hands with well-crafted artisan soap wherever your travels take you.
Susan
Loved the post! It was wonderful to see your Travel Soap traveling! 🙂 And of course it was fun to see the teenagers “embarrassed at Buckingham Palace,” because I am a mom! Thanks for the beautiful photography and interesting research.
Clara
Thanks! When the kids hit teen age it took me a while to get used to how embarrassing I am by just existing. Then I decided to enjoy it – while it lasts 🙂
Jean
Thank you! When explaining why homemade is better than store soap, I explain about the glycerin still in mine, but I will quit saying that store soap is detergent. I never thought to explore it myself. Love your stuff, by the way.
Clara
Thanks! It’s always nice if you can sell your products by highlighting their positive attributes rather than by talking down somebody else’s product.
Sly
When I first started making soap almost 3 years ago, I too, heard that claim about store soap. So the next time I was at a Costco, I read (and even took photos) of 4 brands of bulk soap. Two had Tallowaite in them, the others did not – my instructor had told me that this meant there was a bit of soap (as it was listed more than half way down the list.)
Now I need to go back and read it all much more thoroughly.
Thank you for the insights!
Clara
If you’re going to talk about supermarket soap, it’s a good idea to actually go into the shops in your area and spend a few minutes reading the labels first. Chances are you’ll find a range from pure synthetic detergent bars to bars that contain no synthetic detergent. Then when you do talk about the properties of supermarket soap it’s a good idea to specify what definition of soap you are going with.
Susan
Thank you for all your research around the world! Also your traveling soap tin pictures are just delightful-I feel like I had a mini vacation look at all your pictures. So enjoyable
Susan
Clara
Thanks – glad you enjoyed it! It was a fantastic trip.
Nikos
Did you observe how many soaps had sodium cocoate and how many had sodium palm kernelate instead? From my little research in my local supermarket (Athens, Greece) it seems that sodium palm kernelate is most preferred among commercial soaps as it is said to irritate lesser the human skin than sodium cocoate does.
Clara
My impression is also that sodium palmkernelate is more frequently used than sodium cocoate. I’m not sure though if that’s because it is more gentle or beneficial to human skin – or whether it’s because it’s cheaper.
Odette Handley
Oh what fun.
It looks like you had an amazing time.
Thanks for sharing this information.
Clara
Thanks! It was an epic trip and so worth it!
Marley
I have checked supermarket soap labels as well to find that the majority contain “soap”. The variety of fats used in supermarket soap are generally limited to coconut, palm & tallow. Often it is just Palm & PKO., especially in the alleged specialty soap section where you find mass-produced bars of soap wrapped up like they’re bricks of pure gold. You won’t see any specialty fats in those soaps. It is the litany of things that follow on that label (closer to the bottom) that you won’t find on a label of handmade soap. Plus the glycerin still exists in a bar of handmade soap. We don’t have the ability, nor the desire, to extract the glycerin and either sell it or use it in a higher end market.
Clara
Handcrafted soap differs from mass-produced supermarket soap in many respects. Synthetic detergent content may be – but is not necessarily – one of those.
Debbie Walker
I loved reading about both your trip and your soapy investigations, Clara!
When I first started making soap, I also came across these statements about industrial soap bars not actually being soap on various websites – so I did a similar evaluation in a few stores in France, where I now live. And lo and behold, most of it was actually soap! So I thought that with Marseille (and France in general) being so famous for it’s soaps, perhaps things were really different here.
Then on my next trip to SA, I had a long chat with my step-dad who worked at Levers Bro.s for many years, and he confirmed that the bulk of the bar soap produced by LB is actually soap. On our last trip out there, he loaned me a very well used (read battered!) book that he used as his soap-making “bible” from about the 50’s or 60’s when it was first published – which made interesting reading.
The key differences between our CP methods and the industrial methods used by most soap producers are that they “cook” the soap, and add the lye a little at a time to precipitate the soap out of the oils. He was absolutely horrified at the thought of superfatting soap, because of the risk of rancidity (especially in a hot climate) and therefore the limited shelf-life of the bars. And he was amazed at the long curing times we use – because curing for 4 weeks or longer just isn’t commercially viable when you’re producing millions of bars. His other comment about my recipes was that I don’t use palm oil or animal fats, which he thought that was crazy given the low cost and great hardness these oils would offer! So it has taken some time to explain to him that I was trying to “do the right thing” by the environment and create a natural, hand crafted, vegetable oil product that was great for the skin (with a good percentage of superfat and some more “luxurious” oils).
He’s gradually come around to loving my soap (although he still thinks it’s too soft!!), and always looks forward to seeing and trying what I’ve made recently when we visit. He’s amazed at the time that I invest in making “just a few” bars, and is in awe of some of the swirling techniques I’ve used – which just aren’t feasible in industrial soaps.
So I totally agree with you that there are plenty of great selling points for natural, hand crafted soaps, that don’t require us making blanket statements about the contents of store bought soap.
Clara
Thank you Debbie, thank you so much for your input and valuable insight. As makers of handcrafted soap I think we sometimes get stuck in our bubble; we know what we do and we do it well, but we don’t necessarily look much further than we have to. Yet, as you say, looking into the actual hows and whys of industrial soapmaking is very interesting. It teaches us a lot about soapmaking in general and by analogy it also offers insight into our own methods and products. The point that you make about superfat is one that a lot of soapmakers tend to ignore in this discussion; it’s a luxury that small-scale soapmakers can afford to add to their products, but one that isn’t feasible for many industrial soap manufacturers.
Heather Holland Wheaton
Loved your post, but feel the need to defend my beloved Manhattan. Based on your photos of soap sections it looks like you might’ve been in corner delis or bodegas. Larger supermarkets–especially Whole Foods–have a much better selection of soap–with a good smattering of handmade stuff. And we have quite a few shops completely devoted to handmade soap. We’re not all Dove and Irish Spring here.
Clara
You’re right of course. Manhattan has a large selection of fantastic shops selling fantastic products. When my kids were both under the age of two and life seemed like one never-ending boot camp we lived by Navy Pier in Chicago. My one treat was to pack the little ones into the double stroller at nap time and hike a couple of kilometres to the closest Whole Foods to rest my eyes and senses for a while. However, this time around I was more interested in what was on offer in average supermarkets. While Manhattan probably has the highest concentration per capita of Whole Foods outlets in the country, these luxury shops hardly count as average American supermarkets.
The Good Soap brand sold naked in Whole Foods is quite interesting when it comes to ingredients. On the pdf that you can download, titanium dioxide is referred to as ‘natural color’ and the first two ingredients listed are neither soap, nor detergent but shea butter and coconut oil. As soapmakers we know that a product containing more butters and oils than soap is not going to look like a hard bar of pressed soap like this one does. I’m assuming they are sold as non-cosmetic soap which means that the manufacturer or distributor is under no obligation to list ingredients and if they choose to do so, they can list them in whatever order they like.
I also walked into a very upmarket, chandelier-decorated shop for bath & body products with a name that sounds vaguely like ‘soap’ in some foreign language. They had unwrapped soap on offer which looked handcrafted and the nice young gentleman told me all about their cosmetic properties, but could not shed any light on what the ingredients were..
Heather Holland Wheaton
Ah, the Sabon stores. Yea, they’re not very forthcoming with ingredients. We have a Rain store here now too–which I love, but ingredients are also hidden.
Clara
Yes, I just read somewhere last week that Rain has a shop on Manhattan. South Africa’s most famous soapy export!
Cary
This is wonderful piece of reading! Thank you! I like your travel soap tin photos! They make me smile! 🙂
Clara
Thanks! Glad you liked it 🙂
Pam
I loved this blog post! Sweet and funny and creative!!! Great photos and your soaps are STUNNING!!!!!
Clara
Thank you, glad you liked it! 🙂