Jen’s Soap Story
In 2020, I eliminated all detergents from our home. I was motivated by my younger son’s health challenges, which included severe skin reactions, but much to my surprise, everyone in my family noticed significant improvements in the health of our skin.
My husband, who always had a few patches of eczema—particularly during the winter—stopped getting eczema. And he stopped getting sunburns in the summer, even if he skipped sunscreen during a day at the lake. (He primarily credits our change in laundry routine.)
I used to think I suffered from dry skin and would slather on lotion, lip balm, and other moisturizing products. But when we ditched detergents, I no longer needed any of those products, even during the dead of winter, and even with frequent hand washing.
The causal effect was confirmed when my older son started school and used the detergent-based “hand soap” at school. His hands became so chapped that they cracked and bled. I sent his own soap—a true soap—to school with him, and the problem was completely resolved—his hands were back to normal, with no lotion needed.
For my younger son with sensitive skin, the effects of detergents are even more obvious.
Our experience is not an anomaly—I have heard similar reports from others. A friend summed it up when she said, “I mean, I don’t want to say it’s ‘life changing,’ because it’s just soap, but it’s kind of life changing.”
In fact, there are families that report completely resolving their children’s eczema by eliminating detergents from their lives. If you are not familiar with eczema, it can be a devastating, debilitating condition, and in those instances, discovering a path to healing is nothing short of miraculous. Families also report successfully managing asthma by eliminating detergents. You can read more about this at solveeczema.org.
Unfortunately, detergents are everywhere. Even products that have “soap” in the name are often detergents in disguise. Common detergent-based products include: hand “soap,” dish “soap,” dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, lotion, shampoo, body wash, toothpaste, cleaning products, makeup, lip balm, deodorant, and just about anything else you find in your bathroom or under your kitchen sink. Detergents are even found in lawncare and pet care products.
Given the pervasive nature of detergents, it can be daunting to make the switch to a true soap.
I know this, because I set out to completely eliminate detergents from our home in May 2020 when we were at a significant low point in my younger son’s health challenges. I was overwhelmed—I thought I needed a new hand soap, a new dish soap, a new dishwasher product, a new laundry product, a new body wash, a new shampoo, a new lotion . . . the list went on and on. Desperate to find relief for my son, eliminating detergents felt like an impossible, yet essential and urgent task.
Rather than dwell on that dark period of time, I’ll lighten things up and cut to the chase—I did it. And as it turns out, it’s not hard, and you don’t need to buy dozens of new products. A true soap can replace nearly everything you currently use to clean your home and the people in it.
Although eliminating detergents was not the panacea for my son’s maladies—it has been a longer, less linear, and more complicated story than that—I can tell when he comes into contact with a product other than the ones that we use in our home. So I know that eliminating detergents (and all the junk that goes with them) is one less stressor on his immune system, and that makes it an important step on his path to healing.
During the darkest times in my son’s health challenges, I told myself that if I managed to get through it, I would share my experience and my learnings with as many people as possible. And now, here we are! This is my passion, and I am excited to share it with you. Let’s start with soap.
