No Dishpan Hands
If you’re old enough to remember Madge, the nail technician on TV commercials, then you’ll remember Palmolive dishwashing liquid. She had all of her clients soaking their nails in it.
“But Madge,” the client would exclaim in mock alarm, “won’t that cause dishpan hands?” Wisecracking Madge would explain how gentle Palmolive was on hands.
Oh, Madge! Did you know that Palmolive’s “gentle” formula actually has a high chronic toxicity to aquatic life? And that it contains formaldehyde?
Sadly, not much has changed since the 1960’s. If anything, it’s gotten worse. Take, for example, America’s favorite dishwashing liquid, Dawn. Proctor and Gamble promotes this product with images of ducks and seals on the labels. The implication, of course, is that it cares about wildlife.
Dawn Dish Soap Ingredients
Triclosan tops the toxic list of ingredients here. It’s been linked to heart disease and heart failure, as wells as impaired muscle function. What’s more, studies show it’s a potential endocrine disruptor.
That means it could cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other developmental disorders.
Then there’s sodium bisulfate. If you ingest this, or your baby decides to taste Dawn, it can cause life-threatening side effects.
Quaternium 15, yet another toxic ingredient, releases formaldehyde, which is a skin and eye irritant. This chemical can cause non-reproductive organ toxicity. The European Union is not impressed with Quaternium 15, and has deemed it unsafe for use in cosmetics.
Lastly, the ingredients on Dawn’s label list "fragrance" as one of the ingredients. However, there is no breakdown of what is in the fragrance. Why is that anyway? No one knows.
So much for the environment and your hands.
The Science Behind Dishpan Hands
Dishpan hands, or irritant contact dermatitis, can show up a week after washing dishes. Or, it can take years. Some people are more sensitive, triggering the familiar irritation and inflammation more quickly.
Generally, only people with a history of allergies or an allergic tendency will suffer from it. Here are the four main factors that cause this painful condition:
Soap
Water
Perspiration
Food remnants on the dishes
Using rubber gloves, if you aren’t allergic to latex, is a good option to halt the progression of dishpan hands. But it also begs the question, why use such a harsh, toxic chemical at all?
And to think, all you wanted to do was wash the dishes!
Eco-Friendly Options for Washing Dishes
With all the doom and gloom around food and cleaning products, It’s enough to make you rant and declare, “I give up! There’s just nothing safe anymore!”
Au contraire. You just need to know where to look.
And look we did. After an extensive search and testing, Jewell’s Naturals found Virginia First Tea Farm in Newport, Virginia. And what a treasure it is!
Abby, our office manager, was the major tester for the company’s products because her hands are so sensitive. When Virginia First Tea Farm passed the test, Abby was thrilled!
The company has as its main ingredient, green tea. The dish soap, called simply, Natural Dish Soap, is made from 100% plant sources including not only green tea, but green tea extract. Biodegradable and non-toxic to anyone, plant or animal, it is gluten-free, vegan, and never tested on animals.
So the product is definitely an eco-friendly dish soap. But to be truly effective, the product has to deliver on results, and it does. You can wash 3 or 4 sink-fulls of dishes before you have to change the water! The bubbles disappear pretty quickly, but the degreasing power really lasts. (Bubbles aren't really effective at cleaning anyway, that's just marketing hype.)
Because it’s made with green tea, Natural Dish Soap has antiviral and antibacterial properties.
That’s great, but what about protecting your hands?
A big thumbs up there. Natural Dish Soap contains anitoxidants and anti-inflammatories that enrich your skin.
Think of it as Mother Nature’s unique nourishment and vitality contribution. And we love her for it!
We also love the fact that the green tea for Virginia First Tea Farm is farmed in the US by families. It’s really the type of business you can feel good about through and through.
Please stop by Jewell’s Naturals and see for yourself. Oh, and by the way, there is no mystery fragrance to Natural Dish Soap. The fragrance is a result of the green tea.
We think Madge would use this product in her salon, ditching that nasty Palmolive.
