Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).
Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).
Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).
Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).
Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).
Seedsquatch bar soaps all include organic extra virgin coconut oil (rich bubbly lather, antibacterial, deep clean), organic castor oil (cloud-like lather, denser bubbles, humectant — draws moisture into skin), and we use real food grade lye (real soap — zero lye in finished bar, natural glycerin retained, hydrates & softens).

The Dirty Truth About Industrial Grade Lye

Part 7

The Full Year:

What a Hypothetical American Consumer Might Absorb

Now let's talk about the big picture.

Let's build a hypothetical profile of an average American consumer who:

  • Showers once per day, every day (consistent with the habits of approximately two-thirds of Americans)[^14]

  • Uses a commercially formulated soap or body wash containing average concentrations of the most common concerning ingredients

  • Does NOT use food-grade lye or mica-based colorants in any product that comes into contact with their skin

  • Is simply living their normal, unassuming, totally reasonable American shower life


Here's the ingredient cocktail we're describing.

These concentrations are representative of what's found in a broad category of mainstream personal care products:

Ingredient

SLS/SLES

(Sulfates)

Typical Concentration in Product

~1%

Documented Health Concerns

Skin barrier disruption

SLES often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen

Ingredient

Parabens

Typical Concentration in Product

~0.2%

Documented Health Concerns

Estrogen mimicry

hormonal disruption; fertility concerns; dermal absorption 36–75%

Ingredient

Synthetic Fragrance

Phthalates

Typical Concentration in Product

~1.5%

Documented Health Concerns

Endocrine disruption

reproductive harm; classified as "fragrance" to mask full disclosure

Ingredient

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde-Releasing Preservatives

Typical Concentration in Product

~0.1%

Documented Health Concerns

Carcinogen

Known human carcinogen; absorbed through skin; linked to cancer and allergic reactions

Ingredient

Synthetic Dyes

Typical Concentration in Product

~0.05%

Documented Health Concerns

Bladder Cancer

Heavy metal contaminants (arsenic, lead); azo dye aromatics linked to bladder cancer; skin absorption confirmed

Ingredient

EDTA

(Tetrasodium/Disodium)

Typical Concentration in Product

~0.5%

Documented Health Concerns

Skin Penetration

Skin penetration enhancer; disrupts calcium barrier; synthesized from formaldehyde

What This Means for You

(And Why We Started Seedsquatch)

This is why we started making soap the way we do.

Not because we think everyone else is evil — that would be exhausting and frankly uncharitable — but because the numbers are numbers, and they don't care about good intentions.

Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. Parabens have been shown to mimic estrogen, linked to hormonal disruptions, fertility issues, and increased risk of breast cancer. SLES carries documented contamination with 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen linked to organ toxicity. Synthetic dyes derived from coal tar may contain heavy metal salts including arsenic and lead that deposit toxicity onto the skin. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are present in over half of personal care products used by some demographic groups, and a 2025 Columbia University study found them in shampoos, body soaps, lotions, and even eyelash glue.

And yet there they are, on the shelves of every drugstore in America, trusted because the packaging is pretty and the lather is satisfying.

At Seedsquatch, we use food-grade lye. We use mica for color — a naturally occurring mineral that's been safely used in cosmetics for centuries, unlike coal-tar dyes. We don't hide chemicals behind the word "fragrance." We don't add EDTA to hold the door open for the bad guys. We make soap the way soap was supposed to be made: with ingredients that clean you without quietly signing you up for a long-term chemistry experiment.

You deserve to know what's in your soap. You deserve to know that the bar someone handcrafted with good intentions and hardware-store lye might be carrying heavy metal impurities into your bloodstream every other morning. You deserve to know that EDTA in your commercial body wash is actively making your skin more permeable to the parabens and phthalates sharing the same bottle.

And you deserve a soap that smells like a mythological creature's idea of a good time — without the toxins.

Clean enough to pass for human. That's the standard.


Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)
Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)
Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)
Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)
Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)
Seedsquatch Soaps: No formaldehyde (CANCER!), no 1,4-dioxane (LIVER DAMAGE! KIDNEY DAMAGE!), no phthalates (HORMONE DISRUPTION!), no parabens (FOUND IN BREAST TUMORS!), no SLS (SKIN DAMAGE!)