Why Using Soap for Psoriasis Skin is Destructive

Depending on the types of cleaners you use, washing your face can often cause more harm than good. Much of the problem stems from how we were taught to wash and the feelings we associate with cleanliness. When you have psoriasis, there could be nothing worse you could use than soap on your dry, irritated skin. However, most people with the skin disease are unaware of just how troublesome soap can be.

Soap vs. Psoriasis

In the past, we were often told that good skin care meant having tight skin after a proper wash. By achieving this, we knew for sure that we had stripped off all of the nasty dirt and oils that could block our pores. This would not be the biggest concern when washing skin that suffers from psoriasis, though, so what are we meant to do to clean and soothe this skin problem?

This routine on paper sounds pretty good until, of course, the day the obvious happens: we start to realize our skin is not only dry, itchy, and inflamed from psoriasis, but now the skin is tight from using soap, creating an even bigger issue.

Now is the time to start recalibrating our thinking and to take a good, hard look at how soaps actually affect our skin. Soaps and facial cleansers are designed to remove dirt, sweat sebum, and oils from the skin. They also aid in the skin’s natural exfoliating process by removing dead cells from the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin).

Surfactants have many different functions: they act as detergents, wetting agents, foaming agents, conditioning agents, emulsifiers, and solubilizers. In addition to soaps and facial cleansers, surfactants can also be found in lotions, perfume, shampoo, and a multitude of other hair and body products.

While the surfactants found in soap are meant to leave the skin feeling fresh and clean, it’s not always the case. Some surfactants have an adverse effect on the outermost layer of the epidermis called the stratum corneum, not only causing the three signs of damage (dryness, redness, irritation) but undermining the skin’s natural barrier function.

By doing so, toxins, bacteria, and other unhealthy substances are able to penetrate deeper into the skin where they can do long-term harm. For psoriasis prone skin, this could be one of your biggest nightmares to have to deal with on top of the already frustrating symptoms and physical treatment needed for it.

Soap-based cleansers also tend to have a pH level of around 10, making them much more alkaline than syndets, which typically have pH of 7 or lower. By their very nature, higher pH levels lead to irritation by causing an imbalance with skin’s own natural pH of 5.5. Therefore, take serious caution when purchasing soap and possibly consider removing it all together from your skin care routine.

Wild Naturals Soap-Free Products

Choosing the right cleanser for your face shouldn’t be a chore, but it sometimes is. As a rule of thumb, it is usually best to ditch the traditional bar soap, particularly if you have dry, sensitive skin, or skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. At Wild Naturals, all of the natural skin care and hair care products contain zero soap, or fragrance, dyes, or preservatives, plus is pH balanced to match the skin’s own pH levels. This will help immensely to avoid further irritations and inflammation that psoriasis triggers. For your body, the Wild Naturals Eczema & Psoriasis Body Wash would the perfect solution to swap out harmful soap for when washing your hands or full body in the shower.

In the end, the more gently you treat your skin, the more you help it retain its natural softness, resiliency, and moisture. Take a look at the Wild Naturals online store for the full line that you should be using to help relieve your skin from psoriasis!