X SOAP: some will make you sicker X
(from a Care2.com article 'Bar Soap: Easy Greening')

Protect the environment and your health by learning how to avoid toxic bar soaps.
WHY? Today’s bar soaps bubble with toxic and irritating substances, including petroleum-based ingredients.

The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
has banned 11 ingredients
—meanwhile the European Union
has made a list of 1,100 ingredients
deemed too hazardous for use in
personal care products.
  It has become the American consumer’s responsibility to read the labels:
to make sense of the gobbledygook listed there and make an informed choice.

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3 synthetic components that you should avoid....

X Synthetic Fragrance X

• After World War II a chemical revolution occurred and synthetic fragrance bloomed. Natural fragrances are more expensive ... and were quickly replaced by synthetics.

The National Academy of Sciences reports that
95% of the chemicals used in fragrances today
are petroleum-based synthetic compounds,
including...
known toxins capable of causing

• cancer,
• birth defects,
• central nervous system disorders and
• allergic reactions.

So while our brain is registering ‘lavender�?our bodies are absorbing petroleum  X—isn’t that a nifty little trick?!

Manufacturers are only required to print "fragrance" on the label—it’s their free pass to tuck in some secret ingredients.

• BEWARE... a product marked "unscented" might contain a masking fragrance,
  it must be marked "without perfume" or “fragrance free�?/FONT>
  to indicate no fragrance has been added.
• Since fragrance is anonymous on most labels, the best thing to do is to buy soap made from responsible manufacturers. See our favorites below, also check out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics for a list of companies that have signed a compact pledging not to use hazardous chemicals in their products.

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• Cleanliness is incredibly important—and plain old soap wages an admirably potent fight against germs. More than just ineffective, these products are dangerous�?FONT face="Arial Black, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif" color=#cc0000>triclosan has been linked to a variety of health and environmental problems. When washed down residential drains (as 95 percent of it is) it is delivered to streams and rivers, where it destroys aquatic ecosystems by killing beneficial bacteria in soil and waterways. (Antimicrobials can’t differentiate between good and bad bacteria.)

Triclosan is persistent in the environment-- and has now even been found in 3 out of 5 women's breast milk. XX

• So as it turns out, the superhero antibacterial soap is actually bad for you, bad for the environment, and potentially bad for the population as a whole.
• Laboratory evidence suggests that if the widespread use of anti-bacterial soap continues, stronger strains of bacteria can emerge—and we could be introduced to antibiotic-resistant super germs.
• In fact,
  the World Health Organization has launched
  a global campaign against
  the overuse of antimicrobials.
• By trying to avoid a cold, we could be faced with something much worse.

On that note, let’s follow Cleopatra’s lead and cleanse with natural, luxurious ingredients. In addition to being all-around healthier products, makers of natural soaps do not remove the glycerine (as is done with many commercial soaps), resulting in a much gentler and less drying soap.

• A Wild Soap Bar 
• Pangea Organics bar soaps, e.g.:-  Indian Green Tea with Mint and Rose Petals Soap and Italian White Sage, Geranium and Yarrow Soap and Tunisia Olive Oil and Coconut Soap 
  (And make sure to throw out the box...in your garden: the packaging is made of 100% post-consumer paper and organic flower seeds and is meant to be planted.)
• The heavenly Lemon Calendula bar from Earth Dance