Soaps without Lye and why they are bad for you

The only way you can get a soap like product without using lye is to add a surfactant like sodium lauryl sulfate to water. Surfactants create lather, so you’re basically just getting lathery water that will act as an industrial strength detergent. As mentioned, a lot of surfactants can be irritating and so strong that they are very drying to the hair and skin. This is the super cheap way big companies go about creating shampoo, dish soap, and other liquid soap-type things in our lives. These concoctions are not true soap, but since they’re mostly water, chemicals, and petroleum byproducts, they sure are cheap.