Real soap is 100% a natural thing. I make it myself using lye, fat/oil, and water. I mix these the the correct amounts, stir the shit out of them, and wait a couple weeks to cut them into bars. Lye is a byproduct of putting ashes in water. You end up with potash(potassium) which is great in the compost pile, and lye.
So, yeah, the ancients used ash, plus oil, and eventually figured out how to combine the two into a single useful product.
The easiest way to avoid tooth decay is to avoid sugar. Protein and fat aren't food sources for the bacteria that cause tooth decay, only carbohydrate, sugar. I still use real toothepaste however. I tried making my own and it wasn't a good time. Maybe I'll try again some time.
Glycerin doesn't attack the scalp, it dries it out, as does hard water(water with important minerals like Calcium and Magnesium). That's why both soaps and non-soap detergents so often include a moisturizer. I tend to use Jojoba oil to increase moisture in my vegetable based soaps.
My bacon soap, doesn't need it. Animal fats are the best.
Deodorants are perfumes. Anti-perspirants are what really use the potentially dangerous chemicals most, specifically aluminum. There are new deodorants that replaced it with activated charcoal, which seems to do the trick. I tried my hand at making this too, but my formulation was too dry and crumbled during application.
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