If you see the words “sodium tallowate” or “sodium lardate” on your soap label, it contains animal fats.

Sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, sodium tallowate, sodium stearate, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, sodium cocoate, PEG-20, sodium isethionate, petrolatum, sodium isostearoyl lactylate ...

Triclosan, sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, sodium tallowate, sodium stearate, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, sodium cocoate, PEG-20, sodium isethionate ...

(That’s sodium tallowate in mass-market parlance.) Cheap soaps do banish dirt; the trouble is they mess up the skin’s pH (acid/alkali) balance, which keeps skin supple.

And it must be the sodium tallowate or the titanium dioxide that make the grill so clean. Or, as my dad taught me, elbow grease.