Ida's Soap Box

I love reading labels! I began reading product labels with the word “vanilla” in their title. What surprised me was how many products claimed to be made with “vanilla essential oil.”  Vanilla beans need a solvent to release their aromatic compounds! So, they CANNOT be called essential oils. There are vanilla extracts, infusions, absolutes, and fragrance oils—but no vanilla essential oil!

Every day we produce on average one quart of sweat. Our skin contains millions of glands and some produce sweat. We have between 25,000 and 50,000 sweat glands and millions of bacterial in our armpits alone. Sweating and body odor come from secretions of two types sweat glands, eccrine glands and apocrine glands.

It seems that the questioning began when some manufacturers began labeling their baking soda as “aluminum-free.”  It makes sense that if one brand of baking soda is “aluminum-free,” then other brands must contain aluminum. However, that is just not true. Baking soda does not and never has contained aluminum.

Shea Butter, also known as African Karite butter, comes from the fruit kernels of the Karite Nut (Butyrospermum parkii) tree found in the savannahs of central Africa and has been used across the African continent for centuries. But, all Shea Butter is not created equal! Let's Find Out Why.