What Is Dove Soap Made Of?
In this guide, we will examine Dove soap and list what exactly the product is along with the major ingredients that are in it and what each ingredient is designed to achieve.
What is Dove Soap? Dove soap is sold as “hypoallergenic”, as Dove does not contain dyes or perfumes known to be irritants to those having sensitive skin. The soap also contains moisturizers such as glycerin and mineral oil.
Dove soap comes in many forms including bar soap, body wash, hand soap, and others. Dove soap has been known to be seen on many of your favorite television shows. The soap provides moisturizers and nutrients to the skin. It is non-comedogenic which means it won’t clog pores so your skin can stay smooth and healthy-looking without blemishes covering it up.
Below I have itemized what ingredients Dove soap has and what those ingredients achieve…
What Are The Active Ingredients In Dove Soap?
Dove soap has been produced since the 1950s using a similar process to that of traditional soap, though it is more cost-effective. The soap is made of synthetic surfactants (manufactured products), vegetable oils (such as palm kernel), and salts of animal fats (tallow), with a small number of essential oils added for fragrance.
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Oleate, Lauric Acid, Water, Sodium Isethionate, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Glycerin Sodium Laurate, Tetrasodium Edta, Sodium Chloride, Kaolin OR Titanium Dioxide.
The use of synthetic surfactants has allowed a reduction in the reliance on animal fats, which have traditionally been used in soaps. It also allows for longer shelf life and easier portability.
Let’s take a look at each ingredient and see what it does…
What Is Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate?
The sodium salt of lauroyl isethionate is present in many shampoos, body washes, bar soaps, toothpaste, liquid soaps, cleansers, scrubs, lotions, creams, make-up products, and hair styling aids. The Food and Drug Administration considers it to be safe for use in these products.
So What Does Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Actually Do?
You can’t make quality soap from just any kind of oil. You need to start with a fatty acid, and there are only so many of those: stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and so on. Then you need to add something that will turn the fatty acid into soap: sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide or, as in Dove soap, sodium lauryl sulfate.
- Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate is an alkyl ether carboxylic acid. It occurs naturally in the human body. Unlike many synthetic ingredients, Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate helps your dry skin stay smooth and comfortable, is easy to rinse off, and works naturally in combination with soap.
- Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate is a cleaning agent also known as a surfactant. Surfactants have a hydrophilic group, meaning they attract water, and an oleophilic group, meaning they attract oil.
- When these groups are combined into a single molecule called a micelle, the attractive force between the two types of molecules causes it to bounce around in solution, which improves the dispersal of the soap into the water you’re cleaning with it.
A surfactant helps disperse one liquid into tiny globules within another liquid. In this case, it disperses water into tiny bubbles within other liquids i.e., oil or fat present on your skin pores to clean them thoroughly.
What Is Stearic Acid?
Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid. It is a common ingredient in soap and can be derived from a variety of sources including palm, vegetable, and animal fats and oils. It is a fatty acid and a major component of stearic acid and its salts is used to make film form when it is combined with other compounds.
So What Does Stearic Acid Actually Do?
It is used to give softness and body, and also to condition the skin. Soap made with stearic acid as the primary ingredient will lather well and have a long shelf life. It generally produces a mild, creamy lather that won’t dry out skin the way that bar soaps made with harsher chemicals such as sodium or potassium can.
- Stearic acid gives your soap that creamy rich lather that makes bathing fun! It also adds smoothness to your skin and helps moisturize.
- Stearic acid doesn’t feel very oily or greasy; it has a texture like wax.
- Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid. It is a waxy or solid fat at room temperature, and it is typically used as a hardener in soaps and candles.
- It can be found in some lotions which are applied to the skin to relieve mild forms of eczema called atopic dermatitis, which usually affects the face and causes the skin to become dry and cracked.
Stearic acid, which is refined from animal fat, makes the soap smoother and more gentle than other soaps. It is also used in face creams to remove wrinkles and other signs of aging.
What Is Sodium Oleate?
Dove soap is made of a lot of things, but one of them is sodium oleate, which is the main ingredient of olive oil. It’s also one of the main ingredients of human skin. Soap is made by reacting to oil with an alkali to create salt and glycerin, which is what soap is mostly. The alkali most commonly used in making soap is sodium hydroxide, which is lye. So sodium oleate is lye reacted with olive oil.
So What Does Sodium Oleate Actually Do?
Sodium oleate is a surfactant, which means it helps lift dirt and oil from your skin and hair and carry it away in water. Dove’s formula also contains glycerin, which moisturizes the skin.
- When combined with water, sodium oleate produces a thin, yellowish liquid that has a chemical cleansing action similar to that of soap. A by-product of this reaction is glycerin, a thick, syrupy liquid with a sweet taste and a high melting point.
- Sodium oleate is a skin moisturizer and helps spread the cleanser throughout the body.
- Sodium oleate is a vegetable-based fatty acid that is derived from plants. It is extracted through the process of saponification, which means that fats or oils are converted into soaps, and then into sodium oleate.
- Vegetable-based substances like sodium oleate help form lather when added to water and can help clean skin and hair.
Sodium oleate is from a group of chemicals known as surfactants. Surfactants are a type of cleaning agent that reduces surface tension, which allows for the dissolution and breakdown of oils and dirt. It is a natural material that serves as a cleansing agent.
What Is Lauric Acid?
Lauric acid is a medium-chain fatty acid found in milk and coconut oil. It is metabolized to monolaurin, which is used by the immune system as a cell-killing agent against pathogenic organisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses.
So What Does Lauric Acid Actually Do?
Once there is a high lauric acid content in a soap, it will have a longer shelf-life. In fact, lauric acid is one of the two long-chain fatty acids that keeps our skin smooth and soft.
- Dove soap, made with lauric acid and coconut oil, helps give you soft and smooth skin.
- Lauric acid is a fatty acid found in coconut oil, and it’s one of the reasons that people prefer to use soap with coconut oil.
- It also has been shown to inhibit fungal growth and kill several types of bacteria, including E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella enterica.
- Lauric acid is used in hair conditioner, lipstick, liquid hand soap, liquid body wash, facial cleansers, bath oils, toothpaste, shaving cream, sunscreen lotions, bubble bath, and irons for steaming clothes.
Lauric acid is also found in breast milk. If you have ever wondered why mothers are always being told to feed their babies breast milk that is one of the reasons.
What Is Sodium Isethionate?
Sodium isethionate is a frequently used additive in personal care products such as shampoos, lotions, and bar soap. Sodium isethionate is a mild, water-soluble chemical and is an aromatic sodium salt of isethionic acid.
So What Does Sodium Isethionate Actually Do?
Dove soap products use sodium isethionate as part of their formulation for many reasons. First, it works to make your skin softer and more absorbent. Second, it helps to prevent excess drying of your delicate skin. The result? Your skin still feels softer after you rinse your Dove bar or bodywash off, but not overly dry or rough
- Sodium isethionate is a mildest, gentlest cleanser that works as a surface softener and delivers deep-down cleaning.
- Sodium isethionate helps keep Dove soaps from causing bubbles. Glycerin and other sugars in soap react with air to form bubbles. These bubbles are what make the soap feel slippery and bubbly when you use it.
- It is used in personal care products to improve the quality of the product while still maintaining the product’s base formula.
- It is a gentle cleansing agent that creates creaminess and is easy to rinse away.
Sodium isethionate is a cleaning agent found in most shampoos and soaps, including Dove. It’s used in small amounts to help thicken the texture of the product and prevent ingredients from separating.
What Is Sodium Stearate?
Sodium stearate is a chemical compound that is a combination of sodium and stearic acid. It is often found in many common household items, including soap, detergents, and even foods because it has been known to be an anti-caking agent for powdered chemicals. In fact, sodium stearate is the main ingredient in Dove soap bars because it helps make the bars smoother and therefore more appealing to consumers
So What Does Sodium Stearate Actually Do?
Soap manufacturers use sodium stearate because it produces the same smooth texture while also softening skin and hair follicles. The result is that hair does not get as easily tangled and skin feels softer and smoother.
- Sodium Stearate is a naturally occurring fatty acid found in plant and animal fats. It has long been used as an industrial additive, even dating back to the time of World War II.
- Sodium Stearate is also known as Stearic Acid, and it is commonly found in many soaps, detergents, cosmetics, and lubricating oils.
- Sodium stearate is an ingredient used in the manufacture of Dove soap. Found naturally in animal and vegetable fats, sodium stearate is there to act as a surfactant (wetting agent) that helps the soap lather.
Dove is made using sodium stearate, which is an agent used to help bind the soap ingredients together. The purpose of binding the ingredients together is to form a solid soap that rinses off easily. Dove’s unique foaming technology allows for an abundant amount of lysozyme, which contains natural moisturizers, to be released into the soap to help moisturize your skin.
What Is Cocamidopropyl Betaine?
Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) is a synthetic chemical compound used as a surfactant and emulsifier in cosmetics and personal care products. It belongs to the family of amphoteric surfactants. CAPB is derived from coconut oil and it is also known as coconut amphoteric surfactant.
So What Does Cocamidopropyl Betaine Actually Do?
CAPB is considered to be very mild and gentle to skin and hair, which makes it an excellent choice for products designed for babies and those with sensitive skin. It forms clear gels and produces good foaming effect.
- It helps to enhance viscosity and foam stability in shampoos and conditioners and keeps formulations transparent and free-flowing.
- Cocamidopropyl betaine is used in personal care products like body washes and shampoos to condition your hair and leave your skin smooth. It’s often used in combination with other ingredients, like when combined with sodium lauryl sulfate for its foaming properties.
- It helps provide glide and thickness to the product.
- It cleans without drying your skin. It also helps to restore the natural pH balance of your skin and hair by acting as a mild acid/base (pH) adjuster and allowing other ingredients, like moisturizers and emollients, to better penetrate the surface.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a synthetic, anionic surfactant. Surfactants perform the function of wetting by lowering the surface tension of liquids. This leads to better cleaning, performance, and durability in products used for personal care, household cleaning products, and washing of fabrics.
What Is Glycerin Sodium Laurate?
Glycerin sodium laurate is a mild ingredient found in both bathing bar and body wash products. In addition to forming a nice lather, this ingredient is great at cleaning the skin by drawing dirt from the surface. Glycerin is a moisturizer, derived from fats or oils. This moisturizing substance is combined with sodium laurate to create the bars of soap presented in Dove Body Wash.
So What Does Glycerin Sodium Laurate Actually Do?
Glycerin is a natural humectant which increases moisture levels in the skin and helps retain it so your skin will feel softer and smoother. Glycerin is an important component of soap, because it makes soap milder and more moisturizing than soap made without glycerin.
- Glycerin is a by-product of soap products that are used in very small amounts to help produce a creamy, smooth lather.
- Being less dense than water, glycerin has a similar chemical composition as water and allows the soap to float on top of the water.
- This unique property helps to protect your hands from drying out during use.
- Glycerin also plays an important role in maintaining oil-based products because it acts as a moisture barrier that helps other ingredients preserve their properties for longer use.
- It is one of the most widely used moisturizers in skincare products because it aids in retaining moisture in the skin.
- Glycerin also helps attract water to facial tissues and skin cells.
Glycerin is a mineral and pure vegetable derived. Glycerin helps to dissolve dirt and oil off your skin and increase emolliency or softness of the skin. Soap that contains glycerin leaves the skin feeling softer and more supple than soap that does not contain glycerin.
What Is Tetrasodium Edta?
Tetrasodium Edta is a cleaning agent used in skincare products because it helps dissolve fats and acts as a preservative in products in which fats are used. It also helps prevent the formation of clogs in the pores.
So What Does Tetrasodium Edta Actually Do?
Dove soap and other similar products (and many others) contain Tetrasodium Edta (Tetrasodium Etidronate) in small amounts. The reason for the presence of this substance is to reduce the risk of skin irritation.
- Tetrasodium EDTA is also used as a food additive that keeps metal ions from coagulating proteins in food products.
- It’s used in beer to keep hop flavors from being absorbed into the liquid during fermentation.
- It’s also used in foods with high-fat content to prevent rancidity
Tetrasodium EDTA is a sequestrant and antioxidant that helps maintain freshness and improves the image of the product. It also acts as a chelating agent, which means that it binds to metal ions in hard water, such as calcium and magnesium, and keeps them from interfering with the cleaning process.
What Is Sodium Chloride?
Sodium chloride is NaCl. It is also known as table salt. NaCl is the most common compound on earth. It has been found in meteorites, and it is present in traces on Mars. It is so common that it is not known to exist naturally as a pure compound; it can only be found combined with other elements.
So What Does Sodium Chloride Actually Do?
Sodium Stearate is used in soap making for several reasons. Stearic acid itself makes a hard white bar of soap but it must be mixed with an alkali to saponify. The sodium portion of the salt dissolves in water releasing sodium ions that bind with the stearic acid to form the soap.
- Sodium Chloride is used in the production of soap as it helps dissolve fats and produces a softer soap with better lather.
- In soap, it acts as an exfoliant, helping dissolve dead skin cells on the surface of your skin to reveal the soft, smooth skin underneath.
- Although it is typically associated with the taste of salt, this ingredient has no flavor of its own. It does, however, boost the foaming quality that helps to create a rich lather when combined with other ingredients in soap.
Sodium Chloride is defined as salt. It is a transparent, odorless salt that gives mildness to the soap. It gives the soap an alkali reaction that helps it lather more easily on your skin. This reaction also helps neutralize the naturally occurring acids in your skin, which are responsible for making you feel that itchy, tingling feeling when you get out of the shower.
What Is Kaolin OR Titanium Dioxide?
Kaolin and titanium dioxide are finely ground minerals that serve as skin protectants. Kaolin is derived from clay and is used to make quick-drying, pearly soaps like our Pomegranate Noir Soap. Due to its large particle size, kaolin helps remove extra oil that clogs pores and creates body odor.
So What Does Kaolin OR Titanium Dioxide Actually Do?
Kaolin is a naturally occurring white clay. It is the primary element of all white, translucent ceramic ware. Kaolin’s excellent absorbency is what makes it so frequently used in soaps and cosmetics. Titanium Dioxide is regularly found in sunscreens to protect the skin from exposure to harmful UV rays
- Kaolin is an abundant, white clay. Titanium Dioxide occurs naturally in the earth’s crust. They are two common ingredients found in Dove Bar soap.
- The main thing that makes Dove soap different from other soaps is its whiteness. This comes from two ingredients: titanium dioxide and kaolin.
Kaolin also makes Dove white. It is the clay that makes up about a third of the volume of the soap. The kaolin gives it its opacity. Kaolin is white because it is almost pure aluminum hydroxide.
Further reading: Is Rae A Good Brand? (Rae Wellness ) Vitamins For Women, Is OGX A Good Brand? (Popular Budget-Friendly Hair & Skin Care), and Can You Use Foil In Breville Smart Oven? We’ve Been Foiled Again
In summary, Dove soap has many ingredients and of course one of the major ingredients is water. Water cleanses your skin by removing dirt and oil.
You may also be interested in… Is Dove A Good Brand? (Soap, Body Creams, Antiperspirant)
