Sky Organics

African Black Soap Bar

A face and body soap that effectively cleans, softens, and soothes skin for oily or blemish-prone skin to help combat blemishes without the fragrance or harsh sulfates that can irritate skin

Uploaded by: adds8 on 04/12/2021

Ingredients overview

Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Kernel Oil, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Plantain Skin Ash, Water, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Natural Sodium

Warning: This ingredient list contains several ingredient names that do not follow the INCI nomenclature. Read here for more detail.

Highlights

Key Ingredients

Antioxidant: Tocopherol (Vitamin E)

Other Ingredients

Emollient: Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Kernel Oil, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter

Perfuming: Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil

Solvent: Water

Skim through

Ingredient name	what-it-does	irr., com.	ID-Rating
Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Kernel Oil	emollient
Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter	emollient	0, 4	goodie
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil	emollient, perfuming	0, 4	goodie
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter	emollient		goodie
Plantain Skin Ash
Water	solvent
Tocopherol (Vitamin E)	antioxidant	0-3, 0-3	goodie
Natural Sodium

Sky Organics African Black Soap Bar
Ingredients explained

Elaeis Guineensis (Palm) Kernel Oil

Also-called: Palm Kernel Oil | What-it-does: emollient

We don't have description for this ingredient yet.

Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter - goodie

Also-called: Cocoa Seed Butter | What-it-does: emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 4

Theobroma means "food of the gods" in Greek though probably "treat of the people" would be more spot on. The cacao fruits and especially the seeds in it need no introduction as everyone knows them as the magical raw material of the magical sweet treat, chocolate (the flavour is composed of more than 1200(!) substances, and the exact chemical nature of it is not really understood, so it's indeed magic. :)).

As for skincare, cocoa butter counts as a rich emollient that can moisturize and nourish even the driest skin (think chapped hands or lips). It's solid at room temperature and melts nicely when you smear it on. It's loaded with good-for-the-skin things: it contains fatty acids, mainly oleic (35%), stearic (34%), and palmitic (25%) and it also has antioxidant vitamin E and polyphenols.

An ex-vivo (made on human skin but not on real people) study examined the cocoa polyphenols and found that 0.5-0.75% of them improved skin tone and elasticity and had a similarly positive impact on GAGs (important natural moisturizing factors in the skin) and collagen synthesis than a commercial high-end moisturizer (it was an Estee Lauder one).

All in all, cocoa butter is a goodie, especially for very dry skin.

Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil - goodie

Also-called: Coconut Oil | What-it-does: emollient, perfuming | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 4

There is definitely some craze going on for coconut oil both in the healthy eating space (often claimed to be the healthiest oil to cook with but this is a topic for another site) and in the skin and hair care space.

We will talk here about the latter two and see why we might want to smear it all over ourselves. Chemically speaking, coconut oil has a unique fatty acid profile. Unlike many plant oils that mostly contain unsaturated fatty acids (fatty acids with double bonds and kinky structure such as linoleic or oleic), coconut oil is mostly saturated (fatty acids with single bonds only) and its most important fatty acid is Lauric Acid (about 50%). Saturated fatty acids have a linear structure that can stack nice and tight and hence they are normally solid at room temperature. Coconut oil melts around 25 °C so it is solid in the tub but melts on contact with the skin.

The saturated nature of coconut oil also means that it is a heavy-duty-oil ideal for dry skin types. A double-blind research confirmed that extra virgin coconut oil is as effective in treating xerosis (aka very dry skin) as mineral oil. Another study found that coconut oil is more effective than mineral oil in treating mild to moderate atopic dermatitis (aka eczema) in children.

So when it comes to dry skin, coconut oil is a goodie, no question there. The question is if it is good or bad for acne-prone skin. Its main fatty acid, Lauric Acid has some research showing that it is a promising ingredient against evil acne-causing bacteria, P. acnes but at the same time, both Lauric Acid and coconut oil have a very high comedogenic rating (4 out of 5). Though comedogenic ratings are not very reliable, anecdotal evidence (i.e. people commenting in forums) shows that people have mixed experiences. While some claim that it worked wonders on their acne others say that it gave them serious blackheads and zits. Try it at your own risk.

As for hair care, coconut oil has pretty solid research showing that it can penetrate into the hair very well (better than mineral oil and sunflower oil) and it can prevent hair protein loss as well as combing damage. If you have problems with damaged hair, split ends, coconut oil is worth trying as a pre- or/and post-wash treatment. Labmuffin has an awesome blogpost explaining in more detail why coconut oil is good for your hair.

A couple of other things worth mentioning: coconut oil might help with wound healing (promising animal study), it has some antifungal activity (against dermatophytes that cause the thing known as ringworm) and it also works as an insect repellent against black flies.

Overall, coconut oil is definitely a goodie for the hair and dry skin. If that warrants for the magic oil status it enjoys, we don't know.

Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter - goodie

Also-called: Shea Butter | What-it-does: emollient

Unless you live under a rock you must have heard about shea butter. It's probably the most hyped up natural butter in skincare today. It comes from the seeds of African Shea or Karite Trees and used as a magic moisturizer and emollient.

But it's not only a simple emollient, it regenerates and soothes the skin, protects it from external factors (such as UV rays or wind) and is also rich in antioxidants (among others vitamin A, E, F, quercetin and epigallocatechin gallate). If you are looking for rich emollient benefits + more, shea is hard to beat.

Plantain Skin Ash

This ingredient name is not according to the INCI-standard. :( What, why?!

Water

Also-called: Aqua | What-it-does: solvent

Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.

It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.

Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.

One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.

Tocopherol (Vitamin E) - goodie

Also-called: Vitamin E | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0-3 | Comedogenicity: 0-3

Primary fat-soluble antioxidant in our skin
Significant photoprotection against UVB rays
Vit C + Vit E work in synergy and provide great photoprotection
Has emollient properties
Easy to formulate, stable and relatively inexpensive

Read all the geeky details about Tocopherol here >>

Natural Sodium