AIBU: handsoap?

[Dottdoo]

What's the view?

Is it unreasonable to switch to a bar of soap instead of pump dispensing handwash in bathrooms and kitchen? I made the switch in our ensuite and it's lasted yonks. Plus no plastic to throw away and storing bars of soap is easier. I'm converted.

But I can't help thinking would guests be thinking 'ewww no hand-wash in the bathroom only a bar of soap, this is disgusting?'

Plus is a bar of soap as hygienic for washing hands in the kitchen?

YABU - ewwww gross, save the planet but do it with clean hands at least and without weirding out visitors
YANBU - it's soap - does the same job, do it! I might do it now too! Or/ I already do this.

Are they more expensive though?
I buy Dettol antibacterial bar soap for hand washing, they come in at about £8 for six from Amazon.and of course they last ages, and are climate considerate.
I have one in the soap dish and another clearly on the shelf so that people know it's antibac.

Although of course if you have the technique right then it doesn't matter whether it's antibac or not.
It ain't what you use but the way that you use it! (and how long for).

Bar soap is ‘eww’?

I think I have now seen the height of MN hygiene-freak lunacy.

I have both out so the handwasher can make their own decision. Sometimes with manky hands or in a rush the liquid can be easier.

Of course bar soap is ok

Fine in your en-suite, a bit gross in a bathroom guests use or in the kitchen, unless you have liquid hand soap as well (so family use bar soap and guests have the option)

No problem with bar soap at all as a guest. I find pump easier (disability) but see the environmental benefits.

@echt

The only thing I have against bar soap is coming back to the bathroom after guests have been and gone, to find it bone dry. Liquid soap concealed their filth from me.

Clearly it’s a guest, not a soap issue. :o

I can't use bar soap, or indeed liquid soap if it has too much perfume (or even a tiny bit of perfume) but I usually have my own with me if I'm out and about. So don't assume anything.

More and more people are switching so no need to worry.

I have both out. I primarily use bar soap but like to give people the choice.

@HoppingPavlova I agree that liquid soap may be slightly more hygienic than bar soap but I can't imagine any scenario by which just water is better. You've touched a toilet, you need soap to wash the germs off.

Bar soap all the way here.

Lasts longer
More environmentally friendly.

When I had surgery last march, the surgeon, a wound care specialist, advised I stick to bar soap over shower gel.

Concerted DH and kids to bar soap instead of shower gel too.

@HoppingPavlova

The only thing I have against bar soap is coming back to the bathroom after guests have been and gone, to find it bone dry. Liquid soap concealed their filth from me.

I’d be your nightmare. I won’t use them, my personal risk assessment is it’s cleaner not to, unless I’ve done a No2 which seem to be reserved for mornings after rising in my own home with liquid hand wash.

You could use the historical argument, I mean once upon a time bars of soap were used in hospitals but it doesn’t wash (ha ha) these days, you would never see a return. In my early days, talking several decades ago, I did see studies re bars of soap vs pump pack liquids and it was enough for me to swap over to liquid at home and convince my parents to do so also. No idea whether that’s all been debunked since or not? Still stands though, if I pee’d at your house, that bar is not being touched.

OMG.

@HoppingPavlova, using a bar soap is WAY more hygienic than not using anything at all.

Soap, whether liquid or bar, works primarily not by 'killing' germs but by physically washing them away - even if claims to be 'antibacterial' on the label. It's a surfactant, so when you add water to it, it works by physically lifting bacteria and dirt from the surface and suspending them in the lather, which you then rinse off. When you rinse the lather off your hands, it takes dirt, bacteria and viruses with it.

Even if a bar of soap has bacteria and dirt on its surface, the act of lathering it with water in your hands and the friction of rubbing will remove them from your skin.

If you're going to the loo in other people's house and not washing your hands at all, your hands are definitely a lot more contaminated than they are if you give them 20-second lather with hand soap. You are far, far better off washing your hands with bar soap than not washing them - it's safer for you and also safer for everyone else.

A clinical setting like a hospital is not equivalent to a home. If you're going to refuse to use a bar of soap because hospitals use liquid, you might as well say you'll never use a tap that you have to turn off with your hand instead of your elbow, or that you will insist on all your cutlery being sterilised in a surgical autoclave.

@incognitoforthisone That is one of the best smackdowns I've seen on MN in a good long while

We had bar soap in the house when I grew up in 90s - usually imperial leather but occasionally dove. I remember seeing liquid soap as I got to maybe early teens and thinking it was so fancy

We have both liquid and bar in our downstairs loo. Other bathrooms only liquid. I think as long as the bar is clean it's fine. If it looks grubby or has a hair on it or something it would be a bit off putting.

Iv started using a bar of soap in the shower rather than body wash recently and I think il stick with it.

We have shower gel in the guest bathroom, I wouldn't fancy sharing my soap for someone else to wash their body with.

If people are using my nog they can use my handsoap, i couldnt give less of a shit whether people judge it.

@incognitoforthisone 👍+1

Exactly this.

Although I do actually teach my children to turn the mixer tap on with the backs of their hands like they're mini surgeons 🤣

My guests (family so not shy about giving their opinion) prefer liquid so I have that for them & use bar soap for me

Tbh, I’d prefer the same if I was visiting someone too

you will insist on all your cutlery being sterilised in a surgical autoclave

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Bar soap is ‘eww’?

I think I have now seen the height of MN hygiene-freak lunacy.

Yup. Somehow we all survived before liquid hand wash was invented. MN never fails to amaze me.

@HirplesWithHaggis

Bar soap is perfectly fine for hand washing in both kitchen and bathroom, but it does need a dry soap dish so it doesn't turn to sludge.

I use a slice of loofa as a soap dish. It's really stopped the soap going stodgy. You can also buy a soap saver which is a similar thing on Amazon www.amazon.co.uksoapsaver/Smiths-Soap-Saver-Eco-Friendly-Colour/dp/B071NLRB8F/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?psc=1&keywords=soap+saver&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE2UUdYNFJXVUxFNVgmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA4MTU4NzcyOFcxMlVLUzNVMkFMJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwMzEwMzYyS0NJQVhaQ0JNUUhOJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1646303661&sr=8-1-spons

Not only better for the environment but much better for your skin too. Can't believe all this bar soap snobbery. No contest.

@KindlyKanga

I've got to admit I find it ew to use other people's bar soap, unless it's a brand new one. I don't know why. I guess maybe becuase I don't know where they've rubbed it or how long it's been left there.

😂 do you think people are having a whores bath in the lav?

Soap gets rid of stuff, it doesn't kill germs. A bar of soap can retain live bacteria.

I changed to bar soap but have changed back now. I just prefer the liquid. I have refillable dispensers and buy 5litre refills for them.