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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH and I disagree about Soap 😳

630 replies

anotherdaytosmile · 13/06/2026 12:27

DH has put a fresh bar of soap out today, his trusty Imperial Leather. He thinks it’s a classy soap based on his childhood perspective in the late 1970s. I think it’s one step up from carbolic. I want Jo Malone soap 😢

AIBU - imperial leather is pure luxury
AINBU - what next, waxy toilet paper?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
14
MonsterasEverywhere · 13/06/2026 16:13

My partner and I each have a bar of soap. Works much better.

OhThePotential · 13/06/2026 16:10

gamerchick · 13/06/2026 12:31

Why can't you have both?

Husband loves IL but we won't buy it as the cat goes mad licking the bath after his shower. Doesn't happen with any other soap.

Mine too! OP, it seems getting a cat might be the answer to getting it banned from the house.

I grew up in the 70’s with Imperial leather. Always hated how the little badge would stay there stuck in the soap getting mankier and mankier until the bitter end so yanbu.

I love a ‘perfumed’ soap and like to collect (and use) all different rose scented ones.

UnderMirkwood · 13/06/2026 16:08

CorneliaStreet · 13/06/2026 15:49

I love soaps from Future Primitive, they smell amazing.

https://futureprimitivesoap.co.uk/collections/handmade-soap

Failing that, Nesti Dante or some other Italian soap from TK Maxx.

Ooh, those look lovely, I'm definitely going to be ordering some, thank you.

Ponderingwindow · 13/06/2026 16:07

Both are leaving harmful residues on your hands. Get a minimalist soap that just does the job of cleaning.

ThatBlueJumper · 13/06/2026 16:06

We clearly live in pure luxury all have our own soap dish…! It’s the way to go. No more disputes over which soap to buy…! I agree with you on the imperial leather. If you want fancy soaps, pick one out from TX maxx!
Soap is so much better for one of my children’s exzema and liquid soap doesn’t really clean you properly and just leaves you feeling a bit gross. Can’t beat soap and a flannel!!! Especially in summer when you’re so sweaty etc…

Grammarnut · 13/06/2026 16:05

Soap is soap. Occasionally I will buy fair trade or hand made soaps, but if I want soap I look at the price since I am running it down the sink. Usually I would buy Simple soap. What's so great about Jo Malone? It's soap.

MrsShawnHatosy · 13/06/2026 16:04

I use L’Occitane shower gel or oil, the bottles I take back to the shop for recycling.

UnderMirkwood · 13/06/2026 16:02

PinkTonic · 13/06/2026 15:54

I’m shocked at the number of people here who are making a choice to contribute to the plastic problem because either they think soap is too old fashioned or unhygienic or because they’ve got their heads up their arses and never think about anything at all. Depressing.

Totally agree. I would have thought the younger generation (I'm pretty old) would have been much more aware and proactive about trying to cut down and avoid single use plastics, but it seems not. It is very depressing when you look at the devastating effect plastic is having on our environment and particularly our oceans.

Whyhaveibeencutoutofmamsnot · 13/06/2026 15:59

MabelAnderson · 13/06/2026 15:56

I have a few bars of pre reformulation Pears stacked away just to sniff.
My favourite childhood one was Knight’s Castile, anyone remember that ? It smelt wonderful.

We always had knights castille when I was a child.
I do like imperial leather as the label bump stops the soap going manky in the dish

MabelAnderson · 13/06/2026 15:59

I even have a special little shelf in a cupboard just for my lovely soaps, and I feel happy just looking at my stack.

pizzaHeart · 13/06/2026 15:59

We only use bar soap if everyone likes its smell and we can afford it.
posted too soon - we go through a lot of soap so price does matter.

ForDeftBeaker · 13/06/2026 15:58

Imperial Leather is fine for hand soap. For a shower? You deserve better. Meet in the middle. Go for something like Method or Baylis & Harding.

CocSoc · 13/06/2026 15:57

PinkTonic · 13/06/2026 15:54

I’m shocked at the number of people here who are making a choice to contribute to the plastic problem because either they think soap is too old fashioned or unhygienic or because they’ve got their heads up their arses and never think about anything at all. Depressing.

I think it’s the latter

MabelAnderson · 13/06/2026 15:56

I have a few bars of pre reformulation Pears stacked away just to sniff.
My favourite childhood one was Knight’s Castile, anyone remember that ? It smelt wonderful.

PinkTonic · 13/06/2026 15:54

I’m shocked at the number of people here who are making a choice to contribute to the plastic problem because either they think soap is too old fashioned or unhygienic or because they’ve got their heads up their arses and never think about anything at all. Depressing.

ClaudiaWankleman · 13/06/2026 15:54

steff13 · 13/06/2026 15:52

So do y'all use the same shampoo and conditioner and everything? We've always had our own preferred toiletries, I thought that was common. It's what my family did growing up, too.

Who wants 4 people's separate body wash, shampoo and conditioner bottles clogging up the shower? You'd be tripping over 12 bottles.

DisforDarkChocolate · 13/06/2026 15:53

We have a soap saver bag so use our own soap for washing (mine is always nicer but it's not Jo Malone).

If it's for hand washing you don't need fancy, Imperial Leather is fine.

UnderMirkwood · 13/06/2026 15:53

I quite like the smell of imperial leather and would happily use it if I had nothing else. I love bar soap and never really stopped using it. I did have a brief flirtation with shower gel during the nineties and early 2000s, but switched back to bar soap exclusively to try and cut down on single use plastics.

I have recently discovered the green Pears soap which is very good value when bought in bulk online and has a lovely sort of clean herbal smell and I use this in the kitchen (or washing up liquid if my hands are greasy) and utility room. For the downstairs loo I use these guest size bars - 10 x 25g Argan Oil Fragrances from La Maison du Savon de Marseille which smell gorgeous and are the perfect size for the 1980s style porcelain magnetic soap holder over my tiny basin.

For the bathroom I like soap from Neste Danti, Bronley, La Savonnerie Marseillaise and The Devon Soap Co. I keep my scented soap bars in my chest of drawers so my underwear, nightwear and t shirts smell gorgeous.

I take my bar soap choices very seriously ☺️.

BashfulClam · 13/06/2026 15:53

I prefer bars soap at shower gel doesn’t really clean your skin as well.

steff13 · 13/06/2026 15:52

anotherdaytosmile · 13/06/2026 12:36

I genuinely never thought of that. You should work in the diplomatic core

So do y'all use the same shampoo and conditioner and everything? We've always had our own preferred toiletries, I thought that was common. It's what my family did growing up, too.

Poshjock · 13/06/2026 15:52

Gosh this thread has taken me back! I am a Dove girl myself these days but back in the day...

I was obsessed with Cussons Pearl, it had a shiny holographic box. I also loved Pears, the smell and the fact it was translucent.

My dad used Shield, there was a bar of it by the kitchen sink, he was a mechanic and came home in his working clothes and stripped to the waist and washed his dirt ingrained hands first with Orange Swarfega and then top half, including hair, with Shield. He had his own dark blue "work" towels too. He was a tank of a man, happy memories.

JulietteNichols · 13/06/2026 15:50

We have bar soap in our only bathroom, we all (4 of us) use it. Also in the downstairs loo, it's so much nicer, the kitchen sink is a glass bottle dispenser I refill from the health food shop.

I don't like shower gel and the amount of plastic it brings.

At the moment it's Palmolive but the husband buys whatever is on offer.

I try not to use anything with sls or propylene glycol.

CocSoc · 13/06/2026 15:50

HoskinsChoice · 13/06/2026 12:44

You're both unreasonable. Who uses bars of soap in the 21st century!?! Makes me feel a bit nauseous. 🤢

Better for the environment. Less plastic

ClaudiaWankleman · 13/06/2026 15:49

Allseeingallknowing · 13/06/2026 15:47

I think it’s a beautiful. fresh smell.

I've never assembled a group of 80+ year old men and done the smell test, but each to their own... Wink

KnittyKnotty · 13/06/2026 15:49

I use bar soap all the time if I want squeaky clean hands for doing certain crafts.

DH always uses liquid soap although the bottles are currently filled with shower gel as we inherited about 3 million bottles from MIL 🤫.

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