Less Is More: Why Your Skin Might Need a Break (And a Bar of Persimmon Soap)

I'm sure you have your own bathing routine. One you've stuck to for years or even decades. You may be pro-bath or pro-shower or swear by a refreshing morning shower or an evening bath. Great! Keep doing that! What I'm going to say next is not meant to change your routine or even question it. I've simply been researching the following questions for my own benefit and thought I'd share what I've found.

• How Often Should I Bathe?
• Should I Bathe More or Less as I Age?
• What's The Deal With Persimmon Soap? 

From what I've read, and from just common sense, how often you bathe really comes down to how dirty and sweaty you get. Naturally if you do hard work or exercise daily, you'll probably want to bathe daily. However if that's not your lifestyle, then bathing less could benefit your skin.  Your friends and family might disagree, but cleansing 2-3 times a week in warm (not hot) water is often plenty.

Normal, healthy skin has a protective layer of oils and good bacteria that protects your skin from dryness and germs. Bathing too often in water that's too hot, scrubbing too hard and using a harsh soap can remove this protection and leave your skin dry, itchy, and irritated. As we age our bodies produce less sebum, the protective layer of oil, and our skin gets thinner and more fragile so bathing too often could leave the skin dry and cracked opening it up to germs.

What about odors though? Nobody wants to smell and unfortunately, we can't always rely on our own sense of smell to inform us if indeed we do. This phenomena, known as nose blindness, happens when your brain stops noticing familiar smells. Your brain desensitizes itself to frequent, familiar scents so it can detect different scents as a survival instinct.

Additionally, starting around 40 years of age, our skin's oils and fatty acids start to break down and oxidize. This occurs with aging because older skin has fewer antioxidants in the skin that help neutralize fatty acids and stops oils from breaking down. Additionally, aging changes the chemical makeup of your skin, creating higher levels of omega-7 fats, specifically, palmitoleic acid which oxidizes more quickly.

When our skin's oils interact with oxygen, they break down into a chemical known as 2-nonenal. This chemical is what causes that musty, grassy, dusty scent. Because 2-nonenal is a waxy, oil soluble fatty acid, it does not dissolve in water. Normal soaps and cleaners simply wash around it. To truly remove it, you need to attack its chemical makeup. This is where persimmon soap comes in.

Persimmon extract contains tannins that naturally bind to and break down 2-nonenal molecules. Persimmons aren't the only source of tannins but the specific kind of tannins in persimmons, known as kaki shibu, are structurally resilient enough to survive the soap making process and remain effective deodorizers. 

After researching all of this, I decided to try my hand at making my own persimmon soap. I love a good technical challenge, and adding fruit to a batch provided a great excuse to experiment with the chemistry of soapmaking. Luckily, persimmons are in season this time of year and I was able to pick up a few at my local grocery store. 

Besides, these deodorizing tannins, persimmons and pretty much all fruit, are high in natural sugars which can speed up saponification—the chemical process that turns fats, oils, and lye into soap. To offset this some, I froze my persimmon extract (blended persimmon fruit) and added it last in the soapmaking process.

I'm quite pleased with the final result and the bars naturally cured to a warm, orange-brown hue.  I chose to scent these bars with a blend of lemon, orange and eucalyptus essential oils. These are not goat milk soaps. I removed the goat milk in favor of the persimmon extract, however, all the other skin soothing ingredients I use in all my bars are still present; olive oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. 

These soaps will make a fantastic addition to any skincare routine, whether you want them for their targeted deodorizing benefits or simply love a luxurious, nourishing bar!