Tempestt Henderson Addicted to Eating Soap

A rare medical condition has left Tempestt Henderson, from Florida, eating up to five bars of soap a week – and washing powder too.

‘It tasted so sweet, and salty’: Tempestt claims that the first time she ate washing powder, it just felt right.

‘I remember the first time I dipped my fingers into the washing powder,’ she said.

‘I dabbed the powder onto my tongue and it tasted so sweet, and salty…it just felt so right. I was hooked straight away.’

The nursing student says she knew eating soap was dangerous, but ignored the warning labels on the box in favour of licking the deadly powder daily, from the minute she woke up in the morning.

Soon she had moved onto licking the bubbles of soap in the shower, too, a habit that was getting her through up to five bars of soap a week.

‘In the shower, I like to lather up a green bar of soap, and lick the bubbles. And as the soap disintegrates, I pop a tiny amount of the soap into my mouth and suck it. It’s heavenly.

After six months of eating soap, unhappy Tempestt decided to be brave and seek medical advice. She was diagnosed with a rare disorder called PICA, which doctors told her is characterised by an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive.

Today, she faces a long road of recovery, but says she hopes she’ll never have to eat soap ever again.