SFIC Soap

Once upon a time I attempted to create a fragrance-free skin care business. Due to a number of factors I was never able to get that business off the ground. One of the products I sold was SFIC soap and it is the bar soap I use today. I try many varieties of fragrance free soaps. Dr. Bronners is my favorite liquid, and this is my favorite bar. SFIC is the soap of choice for crafters who use melt and pour bases to make their own creations. They take very well to colors and scents, but I obviously prefer the bar in it’s natural fragrance-free state. There are no synthetic ingredients in these soaps. The are 100% pure soap and they come in a variety of kinds: Aloe Vera, Clear, White, Olive Oil, Castile, Goats Milk, Oatmeal, Shea Butter, Hemp Seed Oil and Cocoa Butter just to name a few.

The clear soap formula ingredients are Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan oleate (emulsifier), Soybean protein (conditioner).

The complete list of formulas can be found here:

The one problem with SFIC is their minimums are high for the average customer. They specialize in bulk sales, private labeling and custom soap blending. I placed an order and my minimum was 250 lbs. I figured out that I will have enough soap for 20 years, but according to the company their soap has an indefinite shelf life, so I am good with this.
If you would like smaller quantities, go to wisterialane.com. They sell SFIC soap in with no minimum quantity.

I highly recommend SFIC soap. It is soft, luxurious, and lathers very well.

SFICSoap.com
Photo credits: SFICSoap.com

Vanicream

Photo by Vanicream

Vanicream’s line of fragrance-free personal care products are some of the first products I used after I became chemically sensitive.  All of their products are “free of dyes, fragrance, masking fragrance, lanolin, parabens and formaldehyde.  In addition, they’re all gluten-free.”

The line contains skin cleansers, moisturizers, sunscreens, hair care and shave cream.

Cure Care Conditioner

Cure Care is my go to hair conditioner and I will be very, very sad if they ever discontinue this product one day.

When I was a child, my family used to use Unicure.  My mother thought the product was discontinued because our local stores stopped carrying it.  I have since learned that they are still in business and you can order Unicure here

Now I use Cure Care.  I found Cure Care at Sally’s Beauty Supply several years ago and it is my favorite conditioner of all time.  It contains no fragrance or dyes.  It is a rich, creamy silky feeling conditioner that is so moisturizing.  It is sold in 20 oz bottles and gallon jugs, which is the one I buy because the price is fantastic.  The 20 oz bottle costs 2.99 (with a Sally’s beauty club discount card) and the gallon jug costs 7.79 after the discount.  I buy several gallons at a time.

Cure Care does contain parabens, which I’m not thrilled about, but we all have to pick and choose how non-toxic we want to go.  If you are not comfortable with using parabens, I think this is still a good conditioner to recommend to family and friends who are willing to explore being scent-free.

You can also use Cure Care as a skin cleanser.  I even use it in place of shaving cream.

Available at Sally’s Beauty Supply.  Gallon jugs are only available in stores.

Alba Un-Petroleum Jelly

I grew up in a household where both my parents sung the praises of Vaseline. It was a cure all for cuts, scrapes, ashy knees and my mother even used it on her face as a moisturizer. While petroleum jelly is fragrance-free, I’ve had my doubts for a while on whether I wanted to continue using it, especially when the smell really started to drill the point home that this is a petrochemical waste product. See, petroleum jelly is a byproduct of oil refinery.
In 1859 Robert Chesebrough discovered that he could distill the unrefined black rod wax into a light colored gel. Chesebrough traveled around New York demonstrating this jelly’s ability to heal burns and open wounds on his skin that he inflicted upon himself as part of his demonstration. Now that’s some belief in your product.

I, on the other hand, am not so convinced that petroleum jelly is a great option. Although I have had dermatologists tell me they have never seen ANYONE have a reaction to petroleum jelly, I prefer to stick with a more natural product.

I really like Alba Un-Petroleum Multi-Purpose Jelly. I use it for everything I would use regular petroleum jelly for. I mostly use it for my chapped lips and it works great to remove eye makeup.

Ingredients: Ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, beeswax, hydrogenated castor oil, tocopheryl acetate and tocopherol (Vitamin E).

Free of: Petrolatum, paraffin, mineral oil, artificial fragrances and parabens.