Is Castile Soap Better for Children?

Many parents are vigilant about shielding their children from unhealthful and possibly harmful ingredients in food as well as the everyday products they’re exposed to. Products with all-natural ingredients are high on the list of what parents want their children to use, and Castile soap fits that category. For both children and adults, it’s touted as a healthier choice -- because of what it doesn't contain -- than conventional soaps.

Castile Soap Ingredients

• “True” Castile soap, which originated in Spain, is made from olive oil and contains no artificial ingredients. Today, although the name “Castile” encompasses any soap that’s made from vegetable oil – coconut and jojoba are commonly used – it’s still free of chemicals and animal fats. It’s used to wash skin and hair in bar form. In liquid form it's used as shaving cream, laundry and dishwashing soaps and pet shampoo.

Conventional Soap Ingredients

• Conventional soaps incorporate chemicals to create lather.

  Conventional soaps, including those designed specifically for babies and children, contain additives and preservatives. Two of them -- parabens and phthalates -- may have an effect on the body’s hormone levels, according to early-childhood expert Dr. Harvey Karp, who notes that parabens and phthalates are absorbed through the skin and have been found in children’s urine.

Scientific Data on Harmful Ingredients

• There’s no scientific evidence that the chemicals in conventional soaps affect children’s development. Whether they can irritate children’s sensitive skin is a different matter. Chemicals also used in heavy-duty cleansers and engine lubricants are used in conventional soaps. Possible side effects of these chemicals -- anionic surfactants -- include eczema and rashes. More often than soap, shampoo is the culprit in many allergic reactions. According to the Natural Health Care Centre, the Food and Drug Administration receives a significant number of complaints about eye and scalp irritation and swelling of the face, hands and arms that are possibly caused by the sodium lauryl sulfate used in shampoo -- and soaps -- to increase lather.

The Chemical-Free Choice

• Unless they're allergic to its ingredients, Castile soap is a safe choice for your children, and if you don’t want to expose them to potentially harmful chemicals, it's a better choice than conventional soaps. Whatever soap you choose for your children, dermatologists and pediatricians recommend that it be used sparingly. Babies don’t need to be washed more than three times a week, and to get older children clean, it’s not necessary to soap the entire body. Use soap only in “cracks and crevices”: under the arms, the groin area and between the toes; the rest of the body can be gone over with a wet facecloth. And because Castile soap in bar form can be used to wash hair, you’ll decrease the likelihood of allergic reactions caused by conventional shampoos.