Does anyone use soap instead of shower gel?

[shimmerondown]

I've seen it recommended loads on here but I have a question...

I tried using just a soap bar and I feel loads cleaner, squeaky clean and fresher for longer

However, it really does seem to dry out the skin? I don't know how to describe it, but basically it's fine when cleaning with it but when you rinse it under water, the skin has this tight feeling?

I don't mean dry skin when dry if that makes sense.

What soaps do people use that don't have this as any soap I've ever tried does this?

I use face wash on face neck chest, bar soap on bits and pits and (gasp) water everywhere else.

These are good soap dishes.

I'm another TK Maxx soap fan, but also like the soap you get in gift shops in EH /NT/ art galleries / stately homes / museums etc. I am a soap addict.

Soap! A whole thread about soap. I've found my friends...😆So much plastic saved and soap bars are such a treat.

Who else chooses soap to match the season...orange and cinnamon at Christmas, lavender and rose in the summer...?😍

I often buy my kids and friends soap, from here...homemade, some fun scents. https://www.glasgowsoap.com/collections/handmade-soap

Proper soap should just contain saponified oils & butters & possibly fragrance - they will read like: Sodium Palmate (saponified palm oil); sodium cocoate (saponified coconut oil) etc.

Dove Beauty Bars contain additional detergents & ingredients which mean they can't be called soap such as Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate & SLS.

If you want to find proper soap it will be labelled as soap, but it's a good idea to read the ingredients list of you want to avoid artificial fragrances, colourants, or don't want to use palm oil etc.

I switched to these bar soaps after my skin got really sensitive to shower gels and they are lovely, and not drying at all. https://lazouchsoaps.com/

I like the olive and coconut oil soaps I buy them if they are in special offer. My sil
makes soap one is tobacco had an old fashioned slightly smoking smell it’s my favourite every soap (unfortunately she lives abroad)

I love Pears but it’s too drying. I like the pink Dove the original makes my skin dry

I switched back to soap a few years ago definitely keeps the smelly bits of the body fresher

Stopped bothering with shower gels - I find them wasteful, half of it slides off and goes down the drain. Soap makes me feel really clean & I love the subtle scent on my skin after. I use a body lotion too.

Unless there is a medical reason not to have dry skin I just live with it

I used to love pears now it's weird (or my memory is not up to scratch)

I use shower gel when I am away or sometimes at home but mainly bar soap

Well this is a revelation…..

off to TK Max I go

I started using soap quite a few years ago, mainly to reduce plastic but now I prefer it. We dont have any squirty soaps, just bar soaps in all the loos, and soap in a soap saver bag in the shower that hangs up to stop it from disolving and going to mush!

proper glycerine soap, my skin has never been dry since we switched. So much better. I use Droyts, I pick a value box up from the factory and it's great.

Dove isn’t soap because it contains no sodium hydroxide lye. It doesn’t go through saponification and it isn’t a surfactant like proper soap.

Dove is basically a bar of grease with chemicals in it to make it smell nice and lather up.

Coop soap - vegan, made in UK, no perfume, cruelty free, 2 100g bars £1.25 (or less).

Another vote for Dove bars. DH and I both use it. Very different skin types and never feel dry

We use the 'Simple' brand - liquid at the sinks and the normal bar in the shower. Very sensitive to perfumed soaps. Also have softened water (area is super hard) and no problems with dryness. My luxury is an expensive foaming face wash which was a gift and will last many many months!

I use soap in the shower but whenever I have a bath I use E45 emollient bath oil. If I do that a couple of times a week my skin doesn’t dry out. It’s fantastic stuff.

Soap-wise, I like Nesti Dante and Arran. Or Scottish Fine Soaps Au Lait. I don’t get on with those big cheap ones from TK Maxx — I generally do find them too drying.

Switched to bar soap years ago now.

cheaper
less plastic
less bulky for shopping/storage
less black/mould in the shower
less irritating on the skin (lots of eczema in our house)

Haven’t fully adopted bar shampoo yet though.

I do love a mooch around TK maxx for soaps
People mocked my soap stash, then covid arrived
I managed to supply our work toilets, my dad and myself with soap for a good 3 months

How do you lather your soap and shower gels? My DH never uses a sponge, he just rubs shower gel into his skin-it might be ok on his hairy body but I've tries this on myself and I get no lather, definitely need to use a sponge or body puff to get clean and get the lather going or else it just slips down the drain.

I use Simple soap and don’t find it drying. In fact I need to use less moisturiser on my body now than when I used shower gel. I use Clarins face wash and need to tone and moisturise afterwards. Maybe I should try Simple soap on my face!

BTW, soap is horrible- leaves a scummy residue everywhere including your skin- that squeaky feeling is the residue on skin and as it dries it leaves you feeling tight and dry.

I use Romney Marsh Wool fat soap - its excellent, lasts ages and really moisturises skin.

For something a bit cheaper I get soap from TK Maxx - usually olive oil based ones.

Thank you so much for enlightening ne @APurpleSquirrel . I bought mine in an artisan soap shop in the South of France last summer so no list of ingredients but hopefully it qualifies as soap! Will check the ingredients on my future purchases

We have metal corner wire things that are above the height where the water hits the wall. So after a shower, we pop the soap onto the bristles of a nail brush and it dries out very quickly - no slime at all.

One more question- what do you apply soap with? Buffer thing, sponge, washable flannel, nothing?