Ingredients
Activated Charcoal in Soap: What It Does and What It Does Not
Charcoal soap is sold as a detox. The real story is smaller and more useful: what activated charcoal does in a rinse-off bar, and which claims to ignore.
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Ingredients
The oils, clays and Indian botanicals that go into a bar, with tradition and evidence kept apart.
Ingredients
Kaolin, Pink, Green and Bentonite: Cosmetic Clays Compared
Cosmetic clays differ mainly in how much oil and water they absorb. Here is how the common ones compare, which is gentlest, and which suits which skin.
Ingredients
Manjistha (Indian Madder) in Soap: Colour, Tradition and Evidence
Manjistha is Rubia cordifolia, the Indian madder root that dyes a soap rose to red-brown. Where it comes from, what it does in a bar, and what is only tradition.
Ingredients
Tangedu (Tanner's Cassia): The Flower Behind a Telangana Soap
Tangedu is Senna auriculata, the state flower of Telangana and a fixture of Bathukamma. What the plant is, where its name comes from, and what we can honestly claim.