Most people blame weather, pollution, or hormones when their skin starts acting up.
The truth is simpler and less comfortable: your daily soap is often the real culprit.
Chemical surfactants like SLS, SLES, and ALS are added to soaps for one reason foam. They strip away oils to remove dirt, but they don’t know the difference between grime and your skin’s natural protection. That “squeaky clean” feeling people love? That’s your skin barrier being damaged.
Your skin barrier isn’t just surface-level. It’s a protective system made of natural oils, ceramides, beneficial bacteria, and moisture-locking lipids. Its job is to keep hydration in and irritants out. When this barrier is weakened, problems follow: dryness, redness, sensitivity, acne, itching, and faster aging.
Harsh surfactants damage the skin slowly but consistently. They remove essential oils, disrupt the microbiome, and increase transepidermal water loss (TEWL) meaning your skin loses moisture faster than it can recover. This creates a cycle of dryness, heavy moisturizers, and more product dependency.
Over years of daily use, the barrier doesn’t just weaken it breaks down. What people call “aging skin” is often skin reacting to long-term chemical stress.
The alternative isn’t complicated. Your skin doesn’t need aggressive cleansers. It needs gentle, plant-based formulas with ingredients like aloe, neem, charcoal, cold-pressed oils, and pH-balanced soaps that clean without stripping.
Your skin barrier is like a wall.
Harsh surfactants remove a brick every day.
Switching to gentle cleansing isn’t a trend.
It’s basic skin maintenance.
