Olivella Bar Soap ($3.50, OlivellaLine.com) is one of the best products I have ever found for under $5.
You may notice that I don’t recommend many products under $15 on FutureDerm. It isn’t that I don’t like a value. I enjoy a good bargain as much as anyone, but I won’t recommend anything on this site that isn’t high-quality, with superb proven ingredients, a great formulation, and performance.
Fortunately, Olivella Bar Soap fits the bill. This natural olive oil bar soap contains no animal fats, no harsh man-made chemicals, no dyes, and no color additives. Based on a patented technology, Olivella Bar Soap is filled with the natural vitamins and nutrients of olive oil, including resveratrol and polyphenols. It has just three ingredients: olive oil, water, and glycerin!
For more, read on!
Olive Oil
Olive oil is a soothing, hydrating, anti-aging, UVA/UVB protection-boosting antioxidant.
Topical application of extra virgin olive oil has been shown in a 1998 study in Carcinogenesis to stop or slow the process of tumor developoment in mice.
While it has been proposed in the journal The Lancet Oncology that olive oil may protect against cancer because it contains three classes of protective polyphenols (simple phenols, secoridoids, and lignans), it was proposed by another study that olive oil has anti-carcinogenic properties due to its natural inclusion of skin-protective squalene. Olive oil also contains resveratrol, which may promote the activity of sirtuins, agents that are currently suspected to prolong the life of fibroblasts (collagen-producing cells) by turning off gene expression for unnecessary tasks.
Whatever the reason, olive oil has been demonstrated to have protective properties against cancerous tumor formation and free radicals when applied topically.
It has been proposed in the journal Toxicology that regular use of olive oil-containing products (food and topical skin care) may protect against UV-induced skin damage, as does use of vitamins C (as L-ascorbic acid) and vitamin E (as tocopheryl acetate).
Glycerin
It may not sound all new and impressive, but glycerin is one of my absolute, hands-down favorite moisturizing ingredients. It functions in multiple ways.
First of all, glycerin is a natural moisturizing factor (NMF), mimicking the skin’s structure and function.
Secondly, glycerin is also a humectant moisturizer, binding with several times its weight in water from the environment (Dr. Leslie Baumann, M.D.).
Finally, glycerin strengthens the skin barrier by speeding up skin cell maturation and turnover (International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2003).
Like agents like mineral oil or petrolatum, glycerin also makes the skin less vulnerable to transepidermal water loss (TEWL) by expanding both skin cells called corneocytes and intercellular lipids within the skin (Treatment of Dry Skin Syndrome: The Art and Science of Moisturizers).
Personal Use and Opinions
I remember it fondly from Organic Chemistry in college:Â Like binds like.
Most bar soaps and cleansers contain water-based detergents into which some dirt and debris binds to or dissolves easily. But many detergents deplete the skin almost entirely of oils, leaving it feeling too tight or irritated. Still other detergent-free cleansers don’t dissolve oil and sebum enough at all.
Olivella Bar Soap is primarily olive oil, so you will dissolve excess oils as you lather up and then rinse away. It leaves no oily residue on the skin. Best of all, there are no harsh detergents, so you aren’t eradicating your skin the oils it needs — only the excess surface oil and sebum that dissolve into the olive oil-based lather.