Question 1

How much of the coconut oil, palm oil, and table salt are actually in this soap? Individual percentages please

Accepted Answer

Just so that we’re clear on this point, there is zero coconut oil and palm oil in the finished soap.  Some customers object to there being a slippery oil in a soap.  After all, oil is Comedogenic (clogs pores). How can that be? It’s because the palm and coconut oil get converted during the manufacturing process by way of a process called saponification.

As a first step in the manufacturing process coconut oil and palm oil are converted into Sodium Palmate (a sodium salt of fatty acids derived from the oil palm), Sodium Cocoate (a sodium salt of fatty acids from coconut oil with lauric acid being the primary component), and Sodium Palm Kernelate (a sodium salt of the fatty acids derived from the oil of the palm kernel).  73.74% of our soap is made up of these substances.  Too much lauric acid in a formula can feel drying unless properly balanced with high superfat and/or high unsaturated fatty acid content. We cannot break down our recipe further than this because the formula is proprietary (e.g. if we gave away the percentage breakdown of these ingredients a competitor could make our soap).

I’m just guessing that this question has something to do with an objection to palm oil.  Let’s dig into that a wee bit.  DermaHarmony uses sustainably and responsibly sourced palm oil.

Palm oil is a type of edible vegetable oil that is derived from the palm fruit, grown on the African oil palm tree. Oil palms are originally from Western Africa, but will flourish wherever heat and moisture are abundant. Palm oil is grown throughout Africa, Asia, North America, and South America, with roughly 85% of all palm oil globally produced and exported from Indonesia and Malaysia. While only 5% of the world's vegetable oil farmland is used for palm plantations, palm cultivation produces 38% of the world's total vegetable oil supply.

Palm oil production at one time occurred (and still does occur) at the expense of biodiversity and ecosystems in the countries where it is produced (e.g. cutting down rain-forests).  That’s not the case any longer for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil. Palm oil that is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) respect criteria that reduce the negative impacts of palm oil cultivation on the environment and communities. Is RESPO palm oil perfect?  No.  In fact, most anything manufactured or grown outside of the developed world (those countries that care about the environment) hare negative impacts on the planet.  The problem here is that many oils just cannot be cultivated in the USA. Using other vegetable oils might seems like a practical solution to help the environment.  But, using other oils would create similar environmental and social impacts.  So the best course of action - in our opinion - is to source RESPO palm oil.

Palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, and it is in about half of all packaged products sold in the supermarket.  It is also the most used oil in soaps.  If you object to soap (which is always made from oil) then your other alternative is a Syndet bar (known as a cleansing bar). The word “syndet” is derived from “synthetic” combined with “detergent”. Technically it refers to the binding that occurs between different detergents, also called surfactants or tensioactive agents. Syndet’s are full of chemicals.  Right now consumers are slowly move away from chemicals, chemical processes and the surfactants widely used in Syndet soap manufacturing. ‘Natural’ is what folks want.

We start with oil and end up with a rich triple milled soap base. Certified oil is imported in the USA and we process the oil into a soap base. And because of the soap making process, none of the original oil is left behind after the transformation.

The soap has 0.25 (1/4 of one percent) table salt.

Question 2

Why isn't the sulfur percentage and salicylic acid percentage listed on the product label?

Accepted Answer

When we reworked the label to comply with the April 2017 federal standards for labeling, we put the ingredients in descending order according to the amount of ingredient. Our compliance team would not approve percentages on the product label because that could signal that our product is an OTC and not a soap (that would change how we're able to market the product). We're selling a soap. This is a well loved and popular soap for cleansing.

Question 3

Is this sulfur soap safe to pack in a checked bag on a plane?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  You should not have any issues from TSA with Sulfur & Salicylic Acid bar soap. The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.  I typically cut-off a small section of the bar or travel with a used bar that is smaller. Smaller is better when dealing with the TSA.

Question 4

Are brown spots in the soap normal?

Accepted Answer

Brown spots in our 10% Sulfur soap is normal.  It is caused by small flakes of sulfur.  There is no harm in using this soap.  It's natural. There is a product photo on the listing page that shows a bar with spots.

When we're packaging the soap into the doboy wrapper we reject bars with too many spots.  These bars are cut-up and used to make new bars.

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10% Sulfur and 3% Salicylic Acid Bar Soap 3.7 oz (2 Bars)

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