Need Dish & Hand Soap Urgently!

[raisin]

I need to find a safe soap & dish wash liquid ASAP.

It must be dedicated gluten-free with no chance of even the smallest CC.

Is Palmolive produced on a dedicated line?

Their dish-washing liquids are supposedly all gluten-free, and work as hand soap.. but It's friday night and I cant not wash my hands for a whole weekend while I wait to contact them.

* I feel weird posting so many topics the past week.. I am in one of those "recheck all of your items because your sick" stages.

[raisin]

I seem to be fine with the dish soap.. but now my shampoo is making me sick.

Yes, that's right, the shampoo I was not previously reacting too. I had stomach problems today right after showering (again) once after I wasn't sure I rinsed my hands well enough before eating an apple, my skin burns and gets pink/red spots all along the backs, and my face started breaking out again. It can't be something I'm eating, because for the 48 hours I used the dish soap, my eczema started to clear and I was feeling much better.

I don't want to use the dish sop as hand soap and shampoo, too, it's pure chemicals!

In case anyone can shed light on it, here are the ingredients, as listed, in each of the three products I reacted to :

• DishMate : Water, coconut oil derived surfactants*, almond oil and cherry oil. * Does not contain SLS.
  
• Sav Castille Hand Soap : Water, Coconut oil, Olive fruit oil, Castor seed oil, Potassium hydroxide, Sodium borate
  
• Sav Shampoo : Distilled water, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, panthenol, PEG 150 pentaerythrityl tetrastearate, propylene glycol, diazolidinyl urea, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate. (I don't know what a single one of those means.)
  

[raisin]

Aah man. It took some major internet researching of the weird chemical names.. But I found the offending ingredient in the shampoo.

"Like many surfactants, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate is originally derived from coconut."

Open Original Shared Link - Savonnerie's company didn't even know that was coconut, and the staff member I spoke to was a nurse with a good deal of knowledge on allergies and eczema.

I theorize I didn't notice a reaction before removing the dish and hand soap because it is such a minor ingredient in the shampoo by comparison. The same thing happened when I came off gluten - I didn't react to trace amounts until all other gluten was eliminated. Sadly, this explains my reaction to many laundry detergents and fabric softeners.. Which also commonly contain "surfactants."

Now I need to also find laundry supplies that are Gluten, Soy, and Coconut free. I'm worried now. This is the first allergy I've had that isn't one of the top 10, and it's hard enough to get strait answers from companies on those, and this is a pretty severe allergy, my tonsils even swell!

[Gentleheart]

I recommend you get a good 'from scratch soapmaking book' from your local library. It is totally possible to hand make a small batch of natural bar soaps for yourself in your own kitchen from 3 simple ingredients: distilled water, pure sodium hydroxide (lye) and extra virgin olive oil. You could go to a health food store and easily buy such bars, but you will have a VERY hard time finding any soaps made in dedicated factories AND not containing coconut oil in some form. The reason is that coconut oil is what gives all soap its suds. So your nice little homemade bar of pure olive oil soap may not suds very well. But if made correctly, it will be very safe and pure, pleasant to use, versatile and still clean even without the suds. You can use other oils too, but I believe olive to be the least likely to cause an allergic reaction, if you can't have coconut. Check out more than one book and educate yourself on the technology of it all before you start.

To do dishes or laundry, you would shred off some soap from your handmade bar with a cheese grater and dissolve it in very hot distilled or softened water. Add it to your dishwater or washer and you are all set. I will say that you will probably find it necessary to use naturally soft or softened (water softener) water to most effectively use this type of soap. Other than that, it really has no other negatives and lots of positives. Detergents that we now use so profusely were only invented in the 40's. They are great for use in hard water, but cause a lot of people dry skin and allergy problems as a side effect. Prior to that, handmade soap like I've described was all there was for centuries. They used collected rainwater for clothes, dishes and bodies because it was naturally soft.

If you absolutely are not the crafty type and don't want to do it, then try using Kiss My Face UNSCENTED 100% olive oil bar soap. I can't guarantee that it won't have CC issues. But I'm pretty sure they make a bar that is just olive oil, sodium hydroxide and water. Nearly every other brand will include some coconut or palm (same plant family) because of the suds issue. And by the way, coconut is not a minor ingredient in commercial soap, shampoo or detergent products. It's frequently the MAIN ingredient whether the label looks like it or not. So if you are very sensitive to coconut, it's no wonder you are having trouble.

Hope that helps.

[raisin]

Thank you so much!!

I have been on the phone and emailing companies for days now, and the companies couldn't even name an organic detergent source other than coconut. This includes allergen-avoidance companies like Kirkman Labs/Kleen, and Nutribiotics (though they were very helpful and told me some hidden sources of coconut). Online, the only recipees I could find incldued some extremly harsh chemical made by Dail that many medical reports claimed was toxic and should not be used as a typical laundry ingredient or personal care soap.

My skin likes olive oil, and I certainly eat it enough, this should be great. Kiss My Face gives me strong gluten or soy reactions. I can't go near the stuff. But if they have the bars clearly it can be made.

[raisin]

Aah I suspected as much. After removing all direct coconut products from my life, I started reacting to the Palmolive (which I strongly suspect uses palm oil.) My stomach is upset, again, and my hands burned when I did the dishes, again.

When it comes to crafts.. I can handle nothing involving mixing or stove-tops. My significant other is the chef, and loves making anything old-school from scratch (food or otherwise). He (ironically) sprained or broke his ankle today and cannot make the soap until healing.

I'm going to see if I can find a friend to help. :c But in the mien time, I found this :

Open Original Shared Link Sungold soap never contains essential oils, food, gluten, soy, corn, or any derivatives of soy or corn, no preservatives, flowing agents, phosphates, colorings, parabens, synthetics, fat derivatives, pH adjusters are utilized, and, of course, all the products are ALWAYS FRAGRANCE FREE and perfume free. No ingredients are used with the intent to scent or color. What little aroma (or natural color) in our soap is naturally occurring and is incidental.

Moreover, our unscented soap will never experience cross contamination. Because we produce only unscented, fragrance-free soap, unlike most soap companies, there is no risk of any unscented soap that you may purchase coming into contact with any scented products. All products are environmentally friendly, "green", and biodegradable.

I am also looking into Lava hand soap.. being the opposite of "sensitive people soap," I thought it may not contain coconut.

[Gentleheart]

I'm afraid there is still some misunderstanding. There are hundreds of wonderful handmade soap companies, like even perhaps the Sungold you mentioned here, who make all natural unscented bars of soap. But if I am understanding your situation correctly, the issue with you isn't just lack of scent or the naturalness of a product. You have said you have a serious sensitivity to coconut products, which would also include palm. What I am saying is that nearly ALL soaps, even the natural handmade ones, contain coconut oil. They contain it because it makes them sudsy and that's what customers want. There are some out there made from all olive oil or all some other kind of oil, but you have to very specifically look for them. And then you have to call or email them to ask how and where they are made and if they would likely be contaminated with gluten or anything else you are allergic to. Once you master the making of your own, you will know absolutely for sure what is in your soap. But in the meantime, you can try to find someone else who already makes something that will temporarily work for you.

Try googling "100% olive oil castile natural handmade soap" and see what you get. I can't guarantee the quality of any product or the integrity of any company you might find online. But you can look over the choices and see what you think.

Just because a soap is natural or unscented or even gluten free, doesn't mean it will not contain coconut oil or palm oil or something else you are allergic to. You have to be a real detective and ask, ask, ask.

Hope you are successful.

[raisin]

Oh I forgot to mention.. Their soaps are coconut-free, but don't directly state it in that list. Oops.

They also list the fallowing on each main soap product page :

* SOY FREE

* CORN FREE

* COCONUT FREE

* NUT FREE

* DERIVATIVE FREE

* DEA FREE

* ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

* TEA FREE

* SLS AND SLES FREE

* ALS AND ALES FREE

* SMS FREE

* NATURAL SOAP PRODUCT

Still, it is expensive.. And very cheap to make yourself. I plan to normally make it myself, but just can't try it the first time without help. The seemingly-simple directions make little sense to me.

--

I should also point out a great cheap remedy for a dry/irritated/sensitive scalp reaction to allergens in shampoo, it's labeled a "dandruff remedy" but makes my head feel better right away, sense it strips oils and residue : Open Original Shared Link

* Baking soda

* Water

What You Do:

1. Get your hair wet.

2. Then, take a handful of baking soda, and rub it into your hair and scalp.

3. Rinse your hair thoroughly.

4. Continue to use baking soda to wash your hair, avoiding regular shampoo all together.