Clearly Natural glycerin soap review

I knew that these companies did not create all natural products and decided to take a look at their websites. Here I discovered the magic of marketing. Especially the billion dollar words "naturally inspired". This simple phrase has lead the world to believe that their products were natural.

If you think about these words, they really imply that you have been inspired by something in nature . . . that's it. Marketing and its strategic wording, written and created by experts, has let us believe a multitude of things. Hiding behind their selection of words and phrases and our lack of linguistic degrees is advertising that misleads.

A perfect example is that I could actually name my soap company the "Totally Organic Soap Company", but the name of a company is just that - a name. It is not a declaration that the soap I make is organic. Clearly Natural operates by the same rules of business.

This Clearly Natural glycerin soap review contains the advertising copy from their website, and about the soap bars:

"These transparent bars provide gentle all-over cleansing bar for face, hands and body. Our mild, all-vegetable formula is ideal for all skin types. · high glycerine content (25%) · non drying; will not leave skin dry or itchy · rinses off easily; leaves no sticky film on your skin or your tub · all-vegetable formula (no pore-clogging animal ingredients) · hypo-allergenic and dermatologist recommended · biodegradable — from making it to using it, these glycerine soap bars don’t harm the environment · attractive, transparent style · affordable price and wide variety"

The term "hypo-allergenic" simply means that that are no ingredients that are scientifically proven to cause skin reactions. "Dermatologist recommended" means that somewhere, a dermatologist has recommended this bar to someone. "Biodegradable"?, yes, BUT before any synthetic fragrance is added. Once that chemical with the pretty green apple scent is added, the entire bar is not biodegradable. Laboratory synthesized chemicals are still chemicals whether they smell like "naturally inspired" green apples or strawberries or cucumber.

"Ingredients: Natural and vegetable derived cleansers, vegetable derived glycerin, and saponified vegetable oils, natural essential oils and fragrances."

The ingredient list above does not follow the INCI format, which is the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. In the US, soap bars are not considered cosmetics, and therefore, are not required to have proper and exact ingredient lists. Yet when these bars leave the US for foreign markets (Canada, UK, etc) there would have to be different labeling or additional labels to disclose all ingredients. Which leaves Americans wondering what is really in those bars.

This is the ingredient list taken directly off of their Facial Bar label: Glycerin (from vegetable sources), Palm Stearic Acid, Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Vegetable Oleic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Fragrance, Natural Color.

The above list is definitely a little different from the one off the website.

"Does Not Contain: Animal Ingredients or By-Products, Parabens, Preservatives."

Pretty standard statement. This usually implies that animal fats are not used, nor gelatin or milk. Although some companies (not this one) will still use honey or wax and claim no animal ingredients, which would then be a lie. "Parabens" are generally used as fixatives for scent, and as a preservative, and should always be avoided, so far so good here. And no "preservatives", well, I should hope not, soap generally does not have a preservative.

The term "natural essential oils and fragrances" may lead someone to believe that the word "natural" also applies to the word "fragrances", which unfortunately is not true. "Saponified" means that the oils have been blended with water and lye, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide to create a soap base. I know that the word "lye" tends to scare people off natural soaps and why people will buy these glycerin type bars, thinking that there is no lye, but the lye is still in there. Clearly Natural's ingredient list leaves out some information.

"Additional Ingredients: Vitamin and Botanical Additives: Vitamin E, Vitamin C and Aloe Vera are added when specified in the variety name."

Yes, nothing wrong with that statement, other than they may have it sound like those would be the only things ever added.

"Fragrance: If you have sensitivity to fragrances, we suggest you use our UNSCENTED bar which contains no fragrance."

This statement always amazes me, "fragrances" is such a benign word, when it is really the chemicals that you would be reacting to. And in some bars, not Clearly Natural's per se, there is a chemical that is placed in fragrance free bars to give them no scent. You just can't win here.

Sometimes the act of marketing is avoiding a direct answer, like the examples below taken from the Clearly Natural Website. Q: What is in Clearly Natural bar soaps?

A: Clearly Natural uses a natural base of vegetable derived cleansers, vegetable glycerin, saponified vegetable oils, and natural essential oils and fragrances.

(uses a 'natural base of', yes, then they may add synthetics scents, and what oils?) Q: What types of "cleansers" do you use? Do they contain any SLS? Any SLES?

A: Our natural cleansers are made from corn, coconut, and/or sugar.NO SLS and NO SLES are in the Clearly Natural bar soaps.

(the SMS that they use is considered safe, it is a sodium salt of sulfated ethoxylated myristyl alcohol, which sounds worse than it is)

Q: What does "saponified" mean?

A: It is the traditional way of making soap from vegetable oil.

(Here, the word 'lye' is avoided)

Q: What kinds of fragrances are used in Clearly Natural bar soap?

A: All of our fragrances are natural essential oils and fragrances. Some people are allergic to natural essential oils. If you have any concerns, use Clearly Natural Unscented bar soap

(Side stepping the question here. If the fragrances were all natural essential oils then they would not need to add the word fragrances, hence the answer would then be "All of our fragrances are natural essential oils." Period, which leads me to believe that the fragrances are from natural essential oils AND fragrances. THEN focusing on allergies to natural essential oils thus diverting your attention to allergies from chemical fragrances.)

Q: Are there any chemicals in your soap?

A: Actually, water is a chemical. But, rest assured there are no harmful chemicals in Clearly Natural bar soaps.

(Good answer, make the customer look stupid. And use the water analogy to make benign the chemical issue. The wording "no harmful chemicals" does not mean that there are no chemicals, just none that are deemed harmful from some regulatory body.)

Granted, given a choice I would use this soap over other soaps, as their products are definitely an improvement over any national store brand product. But like other companies, they still dance around the natural issue allowing you to believe that their products are 100% natural. When you make your own soap, you can test this theory yourself. Unscented bars do naturally have a scent, a soapy scent.

From the "clearly natural glycerin soap review" page to checking out more bath product comparisons....

Read a little more here about melt and pour/glycerin soap base like the one Clearly Natural uses.