Having read on here that squirty soap is drying to the hands, which solid soap do you recommend?

[BranchingOut]

Being a bit ecezma prone and dry of skin, I was interested to read that squirty soap is not recommended.

So which solid soap should I be going for?

My family members have ecezma and use liquid soap no problem. L'occitanne is good and even the sensitive detol one is ok.

I think bars of soap are really unhygenic and pretty disgusting looking!

Well, I'm one of the ones whose eczema has improved dramatically since I cut out liquid soaps. I am using up various ones that have been given to me over Christmases etc and find none of them bother my eczema like liquid ones (and I have tried lots of liquid ones). The ones like Dove with a lot of moisturiser in do get a bit messy though. Can't recommend any specific one, they all seem fine for me.

I don't really buy the unhygienic thing, even if there are germs on a bar of soap, provided you wash your hands properly they will still all go down the plughole and they certainly save a lot of wasteful packaging.

My favourite soaps in the whole world.

Have seen a huge improvement in my sons excema since we started using these to wash him with. I love them.

Cetaphil cleansing bars should be good (at that price). I got some liquid in Asda cheap a while back.
I started using Waitrose own brand bar soap 6 months ago and my hands are back to normal. I imagine it would be the same with any old bar though (and same old mess to clean up too)

I also agree that L'Occitane liquid soap is very gentle and has not left my hands in the cheesegrater state in which they previously were.

I use LUSH ones, very nice, natural and won't dry out my skin

I use Faith in Nature and Suma soap, to stop them drying out and splitting I stick a bottle top in the base of the soap, it means the soap lasts longer and my sink doesn't get covered in soap slime, if people know to stand it on the bottle top base.

Liquid soap gave me slight eczema, I swapped to hard soap and it got rid of it, but I got fed up with messy soap dishes.

I now use l'occitane liquid soap and get no eczema at all. They also do eco refills of the bottle in a pouch.

We use olive oil soap which we pick up on holiday in Greece (buy enough to last us from one trip to the next). You can buy similar on the internet and its just brilliantly lovely on your skin.

We use Waitrose Pure soap, it is clear, unperfumed and made of glycerin.

Another vote for Waitrose pure soap bars - it's made a big difference in this house.

this is fab. And I like that it's antibacterial. I got it from one of those discount beauty places on the high street (Bodycare or something like that)

If you fancy trying a different liquid soap, this in rose is the most amazing smelling thing in the world, and it's really gentle. My friends always come out and apologise for using my facewash because it smells so much nicer than soap.

Space Nk liquid soaps are SLS free and might do the trick. Also, Boots do a baby friendly one that is SLS but not paraben free but pretty good too.

I'd forgotten, I have read on MN rave reviews of this nettle soap I bought some on a recent visit to Scotland but haven't tried it yet.

I'm going to try out a few of these other suggestions, good thread!

Dr Bronner's soap is your friend, sls free and super concentrated, you can get it from health food shops and comes in a variety of lovely scents. You can use it in the washing machine and shampoo your dog with it.

We have Marius Fabre liquid soap for all our washbasins - we wash our hands a lot and have no problems!

Thanks, some great suggestions.

I will try out a few.

Any suggestions for a soap holder which actually lets the air get to the soap eg. a bit like a draining rack?

This style of soap holder is good if you want the bar to last and completely avoids the slime issue.

Does anyone else have a problem with solid soap blocking the plughole? This seems to happen particularly quickly with the fancy finely milled types but eventually (about half way through the bar...) with any others I've tried, too, and it is most annoying as I'd rather use bars than liquid.

Soap bars are lower on packaging. I like the Avocado one from Forever Aloe. I know someone who sells it online if you're interested. super-fast delivery, too!

Sorry, should have said lower on packaging therefore better for environment!

Also I have eczema and the avo soap is great.

I buy refills for my liquid soap dispensers - not sure there is much at all between bars and liquid if you have a permanent dispenser and use large bottles to refill. And it looks so much cleaner/tidier and is much more hygienic!

I use the eco refills. Agree about so much cleaner/tidier too.

Can someone tell me what is in liquid soap that is drying to skin?

Well, my basin and very small vanity looks neater with a bar of soap in a dish on the flat bit of the basin rather than a dispenser on the side. The DCs used to let it dribble anyway when we had a dispenser. Just give the dish a wipe down once a week, like you would a dispenser. A bar of soap lasts much longer than a dispenser of liquid too.