by Shannon McKenna

Created on: April 12, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

The long aisle of wrapped bars in your grocery store look like soap, and some may even claim to be soap, but few probably are the "real" thing. True soaps, by definition, are a product of the reaction (called saponification) between animal fats and/or vegetable oils and an alkali. The United States Food and Drug Administration states in the Office of Cosmetics Fact Sheet (February 3, 1995), "Most body cleansers on the market today are actually synthetic detergent products," many of which are called bath bars or beauty bars.

While "true" soap is regulated by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, synthetic detergent products used to clean the body fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA, neither which require ingredient labeling. If, however, a product (true or synthetic) makes a cosmetic or drug claim, such as "deodorizing" or "antibacterial" it must meet the FDA's requirements. Soaps claiming cosmetic properties must list all ingredients, while those making drug claims must list the active ingredients. "With the exception of color additives and a few prohibited ingredients, a cosmetic manufacturer may, on his own responsibility, use essentially any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without approval," according to the FDA's Cosmetic Handbook. The FDA also allows some manufacturers to retain "trade secrets" if an ingredient/process is proven to create a unique quality and is little known throughout the industry. Trade secret allowances are very limited, though, as they require much research and must pass many tests.
Manufacturers of cleansing products use synthetic materials for the typical reasons: they are cheap, easy to obtain, and produce stable, consistent results. In this way, they are able to mass-produce their bars and bottles and know that their performance will remain the same, no matter where they are and what type of water they are used in. Colors, fragrances and other materials are added as the manufacturer desires, to attract customers and differentiate their products from the many other synthetic bars on the shelves. And as long as no claims are made, their contents, for the most part, will continue to remain a mystery....

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