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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
Tezza1 · 14/06/2026 03:19

UhOhRatPoo · 13/06/2026 12:35

Your husband should know that the properly classy 1970s soap was Camay, not Imperial Leather. I used to love those ads with the ladies all covered in foam!

NO, NO, NO: "New Camay brings out the woman in you" or something like that was the slogan (or at least here in Australia). The poor husband is probably terrified what the side effects of Camay could be.

EBearhug · 14/06/2026 03:06

Granny always had Pears -which was see-through! How exciting was that! But they have reformulated it.

Coal tar soap has also been reformulated, because actual cosl tar is a carcinogen.

I'm currently on soap nicked from a hotel room,but I like Faith in Nature soaps. I don't often buy soap, because I often get given it at Christmas. There's still an assorted stash in the cupboard.

When I was little, Mum used to save all the soap ends, then about once a year, they got boiled up together in an old biscuit tin on the Rayburn, and the resulting greenish stuff put into handful-sized balls and left to dry. This was used in the sink by the door for really filthy hands that had been gardening or farming, so didn't contaminate the nice soap in the bathroom.

When I was a bit older, we inherited some Lifebuoy soap that got used instead, and when that was all used, then she bought a green soap for that sink. I do not miss the days of boiling up old soap. The smell was distinctive... other soap smells are very evocative of particular times/people, but usually in a more positive way.

Soap dishes don't get mouldy if you clean them

EBearhug · 14/06/2026 03:05

Granny always had Pears -which was see-through! How exciting was that! But they have reformulated it.

Coal tar soap has also been reformulated, because actual cosl tar is a carcinogen.

I'm currently on soap nicked from a hotel room,but I like Faith in Nature soaps. I don't often buy soap, because I often get given it at Christmas. There's still an assorted stash in the cupboard.

When I was little, Mum used to save all the soap ends, then about once a year, they got boiled up together in an old biscuit tin on the Rayburn, and the resulting greenish stuff put into handful-sized balls and left to dry. This was used in the sink by the door for really filthy hands that had been gardening or farming, so didn't contaminate the nice soap in the bathroom.

When I was a bit older, we inherited some Lifebuoy soap that got used instead, and when that was all used, then she bought a green soap for that sink. I do not miss the days of boiling up old soap. The smell was distinctive... other soap smells are very evocative of particular times/people, but usually in a more positive way.

Soap dishes don't get mouldy if you clean them

echt · 14/06/2026 03:05

The only thing that disappoints about bar soap is when you've had people round, they go home, and the soap in the bathroom is still dry.
Dispensers conceal this terrible knowledge from you.

Shocked but not surprised by PP who are so ill-informed as to think bar soap is unhygienic.

Mumtobabyhavoc · 14/06/2026 03:05

You each need your own. 🤔

Babyboomer50 · 14/06/2026 02:53

My Mum used Imperial Leather . I get handmade from the other side of the country sent to me . I'm not snobby but my skin loves it .

rainingsnoring · 14/06/2026 02:43

SquirrelGG · 14/06/2026 02:18

Sigh, there's always one.

Sadly, there is more than one weird person on here who has made similar comments.

rainingsnoring · 14/06/2026 02:42

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. 🤢

What an odd reaction.

LBFseBrom · 14/06/2026 02:21

I grew up with Imperial Leather, never knew it was considered 'classy', it was just soap. My mother chose it, we used it. Some people liked Palmolive, Wright's or whatever.

There's nothing wrong with it, it's soap, it never irritated like some but classy it isn't.

SquirrelGG · 14/06/2026 02:18

Marycontrarygarden · 13/06/2026 12:35

Bar soap? That everyone uses? Ugh

Sigh, there's always one.

darksideofthetoon · 14/06/2026 01:46

Persephonia1966 · 13/06/2026 23:21

Well, also for killing nasty bacteria**, removing unpleasant smells, and removing grease and dirt.
I make my own soap with lye and olive oil because I'm old school.

**Yes, It does actually kill them.

Fair play and it’s better than commercial soap but if one is eating well and healthy then a natural body smells beautiful and doesn’t harbour bad bacteria.

wordler · 14/06/2026 01:05

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 14/06/2026 00:55

Its an official thing. Even on the usage instructions on their website

😲😲😲

Okay, but we had no online instructions in the early 70s? Are you sure this instruction was on the packets back then?

If so, I guess my mother just had the ick about the label!

She also hated soap dishes because they made the soap gloopy. I suspect now she personally dried the soap on a regular basis after each use.

NC543210 · 14/06/2026 01:04

I honestly am so underwhelmed with everything Jo Malone ( other than her Zara collabs)
The soap you need is Le Petit Marseillais. I love the vanilla one but there are others
And my dh uses his Imperial leather and leaves my vanilla bar soap alone.

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 14/06/2026 00:55

wordler · 14/06/2026 00:32

Was that an official thing or just your family being very clever?

Its an official thing. Even on the usage instructions on their website

DH and I disagree about Soap 😳
SevenYellowHammers · 14/06/2026 00:51

anotherdaytosmile · 13/06/2026 12:28

Please be careful how you vote. I’m going to use this as evidence to ban the stuff from the house

If the vote goes anti imperial leather I am also using the evidence for same reason. I also hate that it has a label on it. We seem to be losing at the moment though. Please, in the name of all things sisterhood, vote against this dreadful soap.

Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:45

Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:41

I dont believe you, 🤣

Sounds like pikachu 😆 🤣 😂

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Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:41

PickAChew · 14/06/2026 00:32

Nope 😂

I dont believe you, 🤣

Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:38

I left a £1 coin under the bar of dove i have in the shower for my 14yo son (he is the only user, well, supposedly) guess what?..still there, manky wee shit!! 🤢

PickAChew · 14/06/2026 00:32

Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:30

I keep laughing at your username..please tell me your a jack black fan and its from tenacious d film? 🤭

Nope 😂

Laugh Laughing GIF
wordler · 14/06/2026 00:32

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 14/06/2026 00:23

You store the soap label side down, it stops it sitting in moisture so it dries properly in between uses.

Was that an official thing or just your family being very clever?

Flannelfeet · 14/06/2026 00:30

PickAChew · 14/06/2026 00:21

It's mostly foiled. It does start to split but stays stuck to the soap so you get a little hump.

I keep laughing at your username..please tell me your a jack black fan and its from tenacious d film? 🤭

BaronessEllarawrosaurus · 14/06/2026 00:23

wordler · 13/06/2026 23:53

I haven't got through the whole thread but re Imperial Leather - when I was a child my Mum always peeled the little label in the middle off the soap. But when I visited a friend I noticed that they left the label on and just used it with the label on. Anyone else find that weird?

You store the soap label side down, it stops it sitting in moisture so it dries properly in between uses.

PickAChew · 14/06/2026 00:21

wordler · 14/06/2026 00:06

But it's paper! Doesn't it get really groady?

It's mostly foiled. It does start to split but stays stuck to the soap so you get a little hump.

windysocks · 14/06/2026 00:08

My husband is also wedded to imperial leather soap. I think the adverts just have brainwashed 1970’s boys or something! We use dove - Jo Malone ludicrously overpriced she isn’t even in the company anymore.

wordler · 14/06/2026 00:06

PickAChew · 13/06/2026 23:58

Leaving the label on until you have nowt but a sliver left is one of life's little joys, @wordler

But it's paper! Doesn't it get really groady?