In the collective imagination, solid soap (Marseille or other types) has always been attributed the characteristic of being used in many contexts, including personal hygiene.
Company claims often highlight the addition of "active" benefits that stimulate the poorly informed consumer to purchase.
Let's be clear. Soap, in principle, has various functional purposes, certainly among these, personal hygiene. What is certain, however, is that solid soap, if used incorrectly, goes from becoming a good ally to an enemy of health...
Although it may not be very aggressive, we remember that solid soap, by chemical nature - like any other soap produced through a saponification reaction - has a basic pH between PH 8 and 10.
You know very well that the pH of the scalp is around 5.5. so when one of your customers tells you to wash their hair with Marseille soap or other solid soap, in the idea of doing a good thing they are actually causing "disasters".
Due to its ability to capture fats, soap removes sebum, but it also affects the hydrolipidic film that covers the skin, making it more vulnerable and dry, also partially damaging the keratin.
So we don't necessarily demonize soaps, but we promote a culture for conscious use.
Title note – Maybe you didn't know
A solid soap is such thanks to its chemical structure also held together by this molecule called amphipathic
A molecule amphipathic (also called amphiphilic, or amphiphilic ) contains both a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic group. These molecular characteristics mean that amphipathic molecules, immersed in an aqueous liquid, tend to spontaneously form a double layer, in which the hydrophilic heads face outwards and the hydrophobic tails face inwards. This particular composition gives rise, for example, to the cell membrane formed by phospholipids, i.e. amphipathic molecules. There are also another type of amphipathic molecules characterized by a single hydrophobic tail (apolar) which tend to form micelles.
If you like this kind of topic, know that the academy of trichology has a video course called X-RAY of the cosmetic product
If you want to see an interesting preview click here:
Ps: If you are already a student of the Master Trichology this topic is included in your training package