Bar soap is superior to liquid soap

[Twistybranch]

• feel you have it in your for hands longer and have to scrub longer to get the squeaky feeling off the skin- thus feels cleaner
• less waste of packaging
• less waste of product. I feel you use so much more than needed with liquid soaps and bar soap lasts an age
• much much cheaper than liquid soap (standard bar soap vs standard liquid soap, not the fancy stuff)
• looks pretty in a soap dish
• can get really beautiful smelling and looking handmade bars
• hands feel softer

I do keep liquid soap in the bathroom too (for guests to use) but I never see bars in peoples bathrooms anymore.

I use bar soap in the caravan, (Dove) it does make a bit of mess though, I stick it on one of those suction things as space is very limited.

Not that along ago (maybe two years ago) I remember coming across a bar soap in a public toilet. I know the reason for soap in itself is to kill the germs, but using a cracked bar sat there looking very sorry for itself in the recessed dip of the basin in a public toilet really had me torn of whether I should just stick with water. I didn't know if I'd be picking up more germs on my hands by using it or not...

Love bar soap. One of my many luxuries is the Kew Gardens soap range. Lasts forever and always lifts my spirits a bit.

YANBU, I do have liquid soap for hand washing as it’s more convenient and keeps the sink cleaner, but you cannot beat bar soap for washing. DH and I are massive fans, and it is better for cleaning your body than shower gel.

my biggest disappointment is that the supermarkets stock so few types these days that I tend to buy just Imperial Leather (DH’s favourite) or Wrights Coal Tar (mine).

I have both. Bar soap is very useful if there is a dirty mark on clothes it's good for a spot wash, or for rubbing on before it goes in the washing machine.

Oh, I didn't realise this, we have to use bar soap in the touring caravan and I did think the outlet pipe from the plughole might be a bit blocked but then thought that's not possible as only soap, toothpaste and water goes down there.

I hate bars of soap! Hate the thought other people have used them, hate the way they stick to the basin and look grubby. Liquid soap all the way!

I like liquid soap. But the packaging is so wasteful. I like a bar of soap when freshly unwrapped. I wish it didn’t go slimy though

I'm glad you said that. I was coming on to say I think bar soap is better because it avoids excess packaging but it doesn't half dry my skin out. I have a problem with cracking skin on my fingers and it gets much worse when over exposed to soap or any cleaning products. I was told by a dermatologist to only wash with water. Covid was a nightmare for my skin with all the hand santitiser.

Yes, @WatermelonSugarLow , I can remember the cracked mingin soap in the community centre where I took dc to activities 🤢🤢

Years ago I switched to using bar soap in the shower (usually a Faith in Nature one). I now find shower gel a bit annoying as it doesn’t feel like it’s all rinsed off. I think it’s deliberately designed to leave a ‘moisturising’ residue on your skin but I don’t like it, it doesn’t feel as clean.

Its a weird one, right?! I think I went with water only as I couldn't bring myself to even pick it up. It looked so uninviting 😳

Oh so many of them do this! Squeaky clean only for me 😄 The faith in nature shower gel is good, and somehow achieves this without SLS!

Bar soap all the way here apart from at the kitchen sink where I keep a liquid Aesop hand wash as its easier for washing messy cooking hands etc

In the bathroom we use L'Occitane bar soap by the sink & a large bar in the shower too.

We also have L'Occitane shower gel in the shower.

I love nice bar soaps & buy them in italy & france when we're away.

I'm sorry but I absolutely do not think using just water on armpits, groin & feet etc will keep you clean & I couldn't bear that.

I have dry skin on my legs & arms & I use good soap & a couple of times a week some body lotion- I find Aveeno Skin Relief v good.

We have bar soap only in the downstairs loo, both liquid and bar in the main bathroom and liquid only in the en suite!

I don't mind using either, but DH prefers bar and the kids prefer liquid!

Doesn’t a soap bag also need washing and rinsing to stay looking presentable? Doesn’t still need a soap dish otherwise you get wet soap residue from soap leaking from
bag onto sides of sink?

I agree with all your points op but I've had to give up on bars of soap as they always end up with cracks that look minging!

And shower gel! Liquid soap is a massive marketing con. The marketers have convinced everyone that it's easier and more hygienic and it's definitely not. It's more expensive, and all that single use plastic packaging...

I went back to using solid bars of soap about 7 years ago and remember wondering why on earth I'd ever moved away from using them in the first place.

I love bars of soap and we use them in the shower/bathroom, but use liquid hand wash in the downstairs loo for visitors. When I was pregnant I found the smell of all shower gel absolutely overpowering and awful, which I put down to the chemicals and artificial perfumes in it. I generally find bar soap kinder to the skin and I like the fact it’s plastic free. I often indulge myself with ‘luxury’ soaps, with essential oils, which smell and feel lovely and last for ages longer than shower gel. Not a huge expense but something that makes me happy 😊

Hand soap is fine if its just you using it. However it is not good to share as it's a breeding ground for germs (that's why only liquid in hospitals).

I am a bar soap devotee through and through. I also use bar shampoo, bar conditioner, and bar washing up liquid!

I love them. They’re more effective, they don’t have that slimy feeling, they’re cheaper, they last longer, they smell better and I must have saved kilos of plastic packaging from going in to landfill.

How do you justify paying about £30 for a bottle of kitchen hand wash?

I am not sure I will agree with pp that just pure water is going to work for everyone. At least on pits anyway.

I am a product of boarding school back in the day. Not a lot fazes me because of this. One of these is bar soap, as in those times I don't think liquid soap was even a thing.

We had communal showers which included in there were bars of soap. The girls were fortunate enough to be supplied Lux, but the boys were subjected to red Lifebuoy. We had a new house matron and she didn't feel that the system of leaving the Lux on the soap dish was a good idea, as they got a bit soggy before too long. Or getting pinched (why, no I don't know) One evening we go for shower time, and there are the bars of Lux handing from the tap, in an old stocking 😂 They were not allowed to be removed from the tap, as apparently the stocking was stretchy enough to wash your whole body without undoing it or taking the soap out.

So that was just how it was after that. When I went home it was really nice to use a bar of soap without having it boing back out of your hands.

Did you mean liquid soap is a scam? Otherwise, this is such a weird take - people have been making and using soap for thousands of years, it's hardly a capitalist conspiracy!

I used to get fed up of bar soap going soggy in the soap dish. Then we found one at B and M that curls over at tge front so all water drains from the soap and back into the wash basin. No more soggy soap.