I dont like using animal products and i recently found out that soaps also have animal products. this has made me really worried
2006-11-04 04:54:31 · 7 answers · asked by h100 1 in Food & Drink ➔ Vegetarian & Vegan
The soap can have an animal fat base or it can have a vegetable fat base but contain animal ingredients such as milk (goat's milk soap is fairly common) or lanolin. But MOST of the big commercial soap brands (Dove, Irish Spring, Lever, etc.) are tallow-based soaps.
The best thing to do is to shop for a bar soap with very few ingredients! Often the base ingredients will be preceded with "sodium" so tallow will be on the label as "sodium tallowate." Instead look for palm oil ("sodium palmate"), coconut oil ("sodium cocoate"), or an olive oil based soap (often sold as "Castille" soaps).
The good thing is that in addition to some commercial brands (Kiss My Face is a good one), there are many hobby soapmakers who make vegan soaps. You can probably find some at a local craft fair or farmer's market, or online. You could even make your own soap!
2006-11-04 15:02:25 · answer #1 · answered by anne_s 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most of the commercial soaps and soap products Canada and USA now a days are vegatable oil based and chemical emulsifiers, in the olden days, tallow was plentiful and the old way of converting the fat with wood ash lye to make lye soap was a poineer or pre 1900's way, now they are not able to use it as it takes days for it to be broken down, treated and processed, there was an BBC program called "The World's Worst jobs, and "The Victorian Ages Worst Jobs" the commentator, went through a museum in Britain and witnessed the old way of producing soap from Lamb fat, the most common it that time, the man showing him said that no soaps are made in Britain in this manner today, as I said before it take 3 days to clean, melt and treat the fat with lye to get it ready for soap making, so check the labels or go to the websites of Colgate or Proctor and Gamble and request an answer to the product that may or still contain tallow.
2006-11-04 08:15:49 · answer #2 · answered by The Unknown Chef 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Tallow is usually the only one (tallow is made from fat), and it can be used to make candles and cooking oils too. Olive oil can be used in place of tallow for soaps as can glycerin.
Obviously, you should shop for soap at a place like Whole Foods or Wild Oats. Both stores have a wide selection of animal-free soaps.
2006-11-04 04:58:15 · answer #3 · answered by sq 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
any soap could contain tallow, lard, emu, or a variety of other aninal oils. Many of these would be listed by their INCI names. My wife makes soaps and lotions and uses many of these in her soaps. The over the counter soaps use the same stuff for the most part. There are soaps without it though.
2006-11-04 05:11:33 · answer #4 · answered by demozast 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Other people have already mentioned potential ingredients to watch out for, but I just wanted to recommend a great place to buy veggie friendly soap - Lush. You can find out if there are any near you or mail order at www.lush.com .
They are against animal testing, only produce vegetarian friendly soaps and also clearly label whether or not their merchandise is suitable for vegans also - here is a link to their vegan products: http://www.lush.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=47
Apart from being quite good ethically, they also make amazing products, well worth trying if you haven't already!
2006-11-04 15:38:16 · answer #5 · answered by lauriekins 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
dove and cleenex i dont think they contain any animal ingredients in them.
2006-11-04 05:02:40 · answer #6 · answered by nommie 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
this is a good site to find that kind of info
http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net
2006-11-04 06:01:14 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋