Determining the right soap for your psoriasis is an important part of any skincare regimen. We use soap every single day, and if you have psoriasis, you'll need something that will hydrate your skin while being non-irritating and not stripping your skin's natural oils.

Finding a good product to use on your psoriasis can be a difficult task, there seem to be so many types of natural soaps to choose from. Hopefully, with the information we've put together, you're able to find something that will help you make a well-informed decision.

Does using a good soap matter to your psoriasis?

If you don’t use gentle and natural soaps, you could be making your skin even worse. Soaps with a lot of fragrance, harsh chemicals, detergents, sulfates, lathering agents, and artificial ingredients can be quite irritating to skin that's already irritated by psoriasis.

Most of these soaps also contain anti-bacterial agents, these agents are the main offenders in compromising the outer layer of your skin. The skin surface has a particular structure, that is designed to protect what’s underneath from damaging things like germs and other pathogens. The prime defensive components in the outer layer of skin are called lipids, these are the main reasons that you shouldn’t and don't need to use antibacterial soaps. Lipids are, by nature, antimicrobial. By acting as a moisture barrier, they help your skin retain natural hydration. You can see why these are especially important if you live with psoriasis. Artificial and antibacterial soaps consist of compounds that deprive your skin of all good bacteria and prevent your skin from absorbing vitamin D naturally.

 

What makes natural soaps so great for psoriasis?

While many psoriasis sufferers may choose to abandon soap altogether, they often turn to moisturizers to clean their skin. This can create more irritability for your skin and using a natural soap for your psoriasis is a much better alternative that can bring serious benefits and enhancements to the condition of your skin. Natural soaps will not contain severe drying chemicals, and any fragrance they may have is usually a result of essential oils chosen specifically for their medicinal or therapeutic value. Unless you are immune sensitive to a particular ingredient of the natural soap, you won’t have any negative reactions or worsening effects to your psoriasis. If you have concerns about your skin's sensitivities or how it may react, begin with the gentlest soap you can find and look for soaps that contain only one or two ingredients. As with anything you are trying for the first time, it's important to test on a small area of your skin first. This way, you can see if you may have any adverse effects before adding it to your daily skincare regimen.

How to Select a Soap for Psoriasis

Finding a natural soap for your psoriasis can be a difficult task. With there being so many products on the market, many of which promise varied results, it can be overwhelming to figure out what works best for you. Rest assured, it doesn't have to be that difficult. The main thing you need to know is that the best soaps for your psoriasis will have several things in common:

 

 

•  These soaps will contain a natural oil, such as almond, coconut, jojoba, olive, or castor oil.
•  These soaps may contain essential oil.
•  These soaps will not contain any fragrance other than what is offered by the essential oil.
•  These soaps may contain goat milk, dead sea salt or mud, shea butter, cocoa butter, or honey.
•  These soaps will use only natural ingredients for colors, such as  turmeric, beet root, or cinnamon.
•  These soaps may contain clays like fuller’s earth or silica for cleansing.
•  These soaps may contain glycerin.
•  These soaps will contain a high degree of fatty matter (40%-60% or   more).

 

 

So Now You Have Found a Soap What's Next?

Most of us will fall into one of two camps, shower person or bath person. Regardless of which side you fall on, by following a few simple rules, you can make dealing with your psoriasis more bearable.

Whether it's bathing or showering, keep the water lukewarm, as hot water can cause your skin to dry out and become more irritated, making already inflamed skin feel even worse.

 

 

Showering or bathing too often will increase the amount of moisture you lose through your skin. When possible, try limiting baths to no more than 15 minutes and showers to 5 minutes.

Adding coal tar, ground oatmeal, or essential oils to bathwater can help remove some psoriasis scales. This is done without being detrimental to the underlying skin or worsening individual lacerations.

Using a coal tar blend in your bath can help ease itching and scaling and reduce some of the inflammation of psoriasis.

Essential oils in the bath help to moisturize the skin, while oatmeal, moisturizes by sealing the cracks in dry skin. 

 

It may be tempting to use a loofah or scrubbing beads to rub off unwanted psoriasis scales, but abrasive materials and vigorous rubbing can lead to enlargements of the areas which have psoriasis. Instead, use your hands to apply your soap lather. 

 

 

If you have scalp psoriasis, ask your doctor or dermatologist if they can recommend a medicated shampoo that contains coal tar. Like soap, rubbing is not ideal, massage the shampoo into your hair, then rinse. 

Once you’re done bathing, avoid rubbing your towel on your skin and hair. Pat yourself dry, leaving your skin damp. To further avoid irritating your skin, wash your towels in a fragrance-free detergent.

 

Now’s the time to lock in the moisture by applying your prescription topicals, favorite salves, or thick creams, to the affected areas. You may want to consider using oil if your skin is extra dry. Many moisturizers and ointments created for psoriasis contain coal tar, this is to help reduce inflammation and gently remove plaques.

 

 

Though bathing can feel good and relaxing, it can only do so much for your skin during flare-ups, you must continue with prescribed medications if you have any, and consult your doctor or dermatologist if your psoriasis is getting worse or you’re not seeing any improvements over time.

I hope this gives you some useful information to help find the right soap for you.

 

AF27Skincare is a small family-run business which offers a steroid and cortisone-free psoriasis salve. It is 100% safe for all skin types, including young infants. In our blogs, AF27Skincare products are what will be promoted and discussed, as well as many facts and tips about psoriasis and the problems it can cause that we hope can aid our followers in some way. Though we can not guarantee our products will help/relieve everybody, we hope our blogs can provide insight and helpful tools to anyone who may need it. Typically, if you don't see results in the first 72 hrs, unfortunately, it probably isn't going to work for you. If that's the case, maybe we can help in a different way! Feel free to send us an Email regarding any topics or questions you would like covered and we will always do our best to please you!