Many brand-name "soaps" aren't soaps at all. If you start looking at the ingredients, you'll realize they're much more similar to chemical detergents! During the soap-making process, a byproduct is created called glycerin. Large companies, for the sake of mass-production and cost efficiency, will replace glycerin with chemicals. Glycerin is worth more than all those chemicals combined, providing the sought-after soothing and moisturizing properties that you're looking for in your soap!