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As a person with both allergies and asthma, I am concerned about the chemicals commonly found in personal care items and household cleaners and their affect on the health of my family. I began to shop more at health food stores, not always finding truly natural products even though I was willing to pay more for them. It was disappointing to find many so called "natural products" contain ingredients that are questionable, at best and too many times known to be harmful. Turns out there is no legal definition for natural so almost anyone can make that claim about a product. After much research, I started making my own cleaners.

Cleaning is a mechanical action, though chemical companies would prefer we believe different combinations of chemicals are necessary to clean different parts of the home. This is not true as real soap is antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal due to the alkaline nature of soap.

Most commercial cleaners contain detergents that have been linked with allergies and other health issues. Sodium lauryl sulfate is used in health and beauty products for it's foaming action. SLS is a known irritant that increases as exposure increases. The fragrances used in commercial products often contain phthalates which have been linked to endocrine disruption, obesity and insulin resistance. After reading that the average American is exposed to 100 different chemicals just by bathing and getting ready for work in the morning, I decided no more garbage needs to come into my house.

I set out to replace as many personal care products and cleaners as possible. Since most commercial cleaners are formulated with surfactants, real soap is the natural choice to replace them with. Both soap and sodium lauryl sulfate are anionic surfactants. Soap effectively surrounds grease and dirt molecules and suspends them so they can be rinsed away with water.

Soap works very hard and relatively small amounts are needed. What better cleaner can you ask for than one that has been used safely for thousands of years? I set out to find real soap but I was disappointed in how few choices there were, and how expensive they cost. I decided I needed to learn how to make my own.