The Best Organic Hand Soap

Buying Guide

Did you know that 80% of communicable diseases are passed from person to person via the surfaces they touch and that every half hour you are exposed to as many as 840,000 germs? Proper handwashing is your best defense against getting sick, so you’ll want to make sure your house is stocked with plenty of hand soap. Organic hand soap is your best bet, as it doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals that dry out skin or cause irritation.

As you browse available organic hand soap brands, look for product labels that let you know if the soap is gluten-free, vegan-friendly, biodegradable or made using all-natural ingredients. If you have sensitive skin, you’ll also want to keep an eye out for the word “hypoallergenic.”

Check the organic hand soap’s ability to soften skin. With ingredients like aloe vera, vitamin E, coconut and sea salt organic hand soaps are super moisture-rich for your skin. These ingredients are important if you wash your hands often. Otherwise, your hands could become dry and cracked after frequent washes.

Look at the organic hand soap’s cleaning power next. You need a soap that will remove all the dirt and germs you’ve come into contact with. Essential oils play a huge role in removing dirt and germs. Some oils are anti-septic while others are anti-bacterial.

Consider the soap’s scent. You don’t want a hand soap with synthetic fragrances, but rather a soap that emits the naturally pleasant aromas derived from essential oils and botanical extracts, like the Thyme Essential Oil found in the Brittanie’s Thyme Organic Hand Soap. Other organic hand soaps have fragrances like vanilla, coconut, strawberry, lime, apricot and lemongrass. Some even offer a combination of these scents, like coconut strawberry.

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You’ll find organic hand soap comes in either bar or liquid form. Both work equally as well, so it’s a personal choice as to which form you’d like to use in your home. Bar soaps look nice when placed on a decorative soap dish by the bathroom faucet, while liquid soaps have the convenience of a pump. Some sinks even have built-in pumps that you can refill with liquid soap.

When shopping for organic hand soap, it’s good to have a grasp on the main ingredients in both chemical soaps and organic soaps, so you know that you’re making the best choice for your family.

Here are the top three ingredients in chemical hand soaps:

• Parabens: Manufacturers use parabens in their soaps as a preservative. Unfortunately, this ingredient actually disrupts the endocrine system, messes with your hormones, and can even cause breast cancer. It may surprise you to learn that countries like Denmark have actually banned the use of parabens.
• Sulfates: Sulfates actually cause skin irritation, as they are commonly used as pesticides and herbicides. Do you really want to use a product to clean your hands that also kills plants and pests?
• Artificial Fragrances: To produce a pleasant scent, most chemical hand soaps utilize artificial fragrances. These synthetic scents typically contain ingredients that can cause allergic reactions, headaches, respiratory issues and even brain fog.

Here are the top three ingredients in most organic soaps:

• Vegetable Glycerin: Vegetable glycerin is actually a naturally occurring molecule found in plants. It stabilizes and preserves organic hand soap, as well as prevents the loss of moisture from your skin.
• Aloe: In addition to soothing dry and irritated skin, aloe has natural antioxidant and antibacterial properties. It’s even been found to help wounds heal faster.
• Oatmeal: Since oatmeal has anti-inflammatory properties, it works well to reduce the itching and redness associated with certain skin disorders, like eczema and psoriasis. Oatmeal also does a great job of balancing the pH levels of your skin and restoring moisture that is lost from spending time in the sun.

For fun, you can actually try your hand at making your own organic soap. Start with 1/4 cup of a natural base soap, like liquid castile soap, and add a tablespoon of vegetable glycerin. Pour a tablespoon of aloe vera juice in the bottle and then add 10 drops of your favorite essential oil. Lavender essential oil is a great choice if you’re looking to reduce anxiety, as it’s naturally calming. Tea tree oil is best if you want to add anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties to the soap. Finish the organic hand soap with 3/4 cup of distilled water. Shake to mix all the ingredients and you’re good to go.

• Look for any special acknowledgments, awards or certifications that let you know the soap is well-made. For example, you may find the brand has a USDA Biobased 97% Certification, a Cruelty-Free Certification or a U. S. EPA Safer Choice Certification.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend washing your hands before, during and after you handle food, after you use the restroom, after you pet an animal, after coughing and sneezing and after taking out the trash.
• When you wash your hands, you’ll need to place the organic hand soap on the palm of one hand and then rub your hands together to create a lather. Continue to rub your hands together for a minimum of 20 seconds, being sure to cover the area from your fingertips to your wrists. Afterward, rinse your hands clean and towel dry. The temperature of the water you use isn’t important, so you can adjust it to your liking.
• Hand sanitizers are not meant to replace washing your hands with soap and water, so make it a practice to only use this product when you can’t get to a sink. An example of a good time to use a little hand sanitizer is when you get back into your car after spending time in a public place, like a grocery store. The shopping cart and other store surfaces may have been touched by multiple individuals before you, and since you don’t know if any of them were sick, it’s a good idea to apply a little hand sanitizer.
• As you compare prices for organic hand soap, don’t forget to take into consideration the number of bottles in each set, as well as how many ounces of soap are in each bottle.