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Style and beauty

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Original poster

Soap bars, I can't believe the difference it's made to my hands

85 replies

FlaviaAlbia · 04/01/2018 10:22

This is sort of a general thank you to those who posted about soap bars on a few informative threads.

I've been meaning to try it for ages instead of liquid hand soap and wandered though the soapy bit in TK Maxx yesterday and bought a bar.

I have awful problems with dry skin on on my hands and the skin on my knuckles cracking. I only started using it yesterday but I can see and feel a difference already. It's amazing!

OP posts:

ChristmasTablecloth · 04/01/2018 18:17

All the Nesti Dante soaps smell lovely, you can't go wrong with any of them. I buy six at a time and keep the spares in my bed linen and towels drawers.

Everyone else in the family gets to use Nivea or Dove though! I gave up on liquid soap and shower gel many years ago when I started to worry seriously about plastics and the environment.

NannyR · 04/01/2018 18:22

Surely wire dishes will go in the dishwasher, I'm sure they do, if you have a dishwasher. I don't so end up soaking it then scrubbing it with an old toothbrush.

Weezol · 04/01/2018 18:38

Flavia I put my soap holder up just after having a new bathroom. The old bathroom was an 80's electric blue.

I would say 80% of visitors completely missed the new white bathroom and 100% of visitors were fascinated by, and talked to me about the £5 soap holder with some excitement.

Including one adult that I had to take back to the bathroom and explain how it worked. He's a senior manager at his work

LittleMe03 · 04/01/2018 18:45

I have the same problem and decided to use soap late last year when the weather got cold and haven't had problems with my hands this winter so far, made a huge difference. I use bomb cosmetic soap bars, usually get 5 for £10 and they last fairly long with lots of different choices, they look really pretty and make the bathroom smell nice too

Haffiana · 04/01/2018 21:03

Sillicon knobbly dishes are my favourite as they have holes so drain completely AND keep the soap dry and raised away from any puddle:

Soap Dish

StealthPolarBear · 04/01/2018 21:04

Silicon knobbly on order!

StealthPolarBear · 04/01/2018 21:04

Oo er. Soap dish obviously

StealthPolarBear · 04/01/2018 21:05

Weezol think I've missed something. What's this wonderful new soap?

Haffiana · 04/01/2018 21:07

There are loads of different ones. This Fish One is great fun!

WellTidy · 04/01/2018 21:09

I see a huge difference in how dry my hands are whenever I use liquid anti bacterial soap. I have used bar soap for years and find it soooooo much cheaper and love the scents. Tk max is brilliant for bar soaps. I find that glycerine soaps don't go as gooey as others. Waitrose do a lovely range of own brand glycerine soaps. I am using a lotus flower (pink bar) one at the moment.

Weezol · 04/01/2018 21:09

See my post of 17:57, there's a link in it. It's one of those 'so simple it's great' things.

Either that or me and everyone I know are weird.

MyBeloved · 04/01/2018 21:11

I know this is going to sound really weird, but I worry about virus/germ sharing when it comes to soap bars. Could someone reassure me that they are just as hygienic as pump dispensers?

Vitalogy · 04/01/2018 21:23

@MyBeloved The soap is swilled under the cleansing water every time.
Not sure what soap surgeons use these day but it used to be bars.

Stradbroke · 04/01/2018 21:24

Oh my god.

My hands have been so much better and I haven't needed to put handcream on half as much as I used to. I thought it was because I have started using hemp handcream, but I have also started using soap in the bathroom instead of liquid soap.

Back in work today - liquid soap in the bathroom and needed to out handcream on after every wash!

StealthPolarBear · 04/01/2018 21:27

Do you have to cram a magnef into a new bar? Or do you buy special soap for that?
Hemp hand cream is good. When my hands are really bad and starting to get infected I lather on getmolebe cream thickly at bedtime and put exfoliating gloves on, leave it like that all night

Haffiana · 04/01/2018 21:33

Bar soap is so inimical to bacteria it is one of the few toiletry products that does not need to contain preservatives - I mean, by law. Almost all toiletries need to have added preservatives because they are obliged by EU law to pass certain microbial tests. Soap actually doesn't even need to be tested.

Soap is very alkali, which knocks out most bugs, and is a solid, or semi-solid. Most bugs need water to grow in. Soap has a surface area that is replaced every time it is used, so even if a bug sat on soap, it would be washed straight off next time the soap was used. And it wouldn't be able to grow while it was sitting there (even if it survived doing so, which is unlikely).

Soap dispensers now. Well I suppose the worst place for germs is on the pump head, where you press. On the plus side, you then wash your hands, so no problem. True liquid soaps are also alkali, but they contain water. However most commercial liquid soaps are not actually soaps at all, they are detergents. Can bacteria grow in detergents? Actually yes, they can, but really and truly this is incredibly unlikely to be a health hazard, and would almost certainly be due to manufacturing errors rather than anything a user might do.

So please feel safe to share soap...

MyBeloved · 04/01/2018 21:33

@Vitalogy, surgeons use pump dispensed Hibiscrub.

Will water get rid of someone's virus/bacteria from the soap then?

Vitalogy · 04/01/2018 21:41

surgeons use pump dispensed Is that right. I've been watching too many old film

DottyBlue2 · 04/01/2018 21:44

I don't like it when soap cracks and gets dark bits in the cracks. Ugh.

MyBeloved · 04/01/2018 21:46

vitology, that's what they all used in the hospital I recently stayed in.

Vets and vet nurses also.

goose1964 · 04/01/2018 21:54

I use this, is it so bad? www.ecco-verde.co.uk/urtekram/urtekram-organic-rose-hand-soap#t1

ChristmasTablecloth · 04/01/2018 21:56

Bars of soap never crack in our house. They get used every day by several people. There is no chance for them to dry out and crack. I use my expensive soaps once a day in the shower - they don't crack!

Original poster

FlaviaAlbia · 04/01/2018 22:35

Enjoy your silicone knobbly Stealth you do have to work a magnet into the soap on the magnetic holder but they're shaped like a button cell battery so it's not hard as long as you can soften the soap up.

Weezol I'm possibly being dense but I don't see the link you mean? Sounds interesting though.

OP posts:

FadedRed · 04/01/2018 22:41

MyBeloved your question about the cleanliness of soap bars is an interesting one.
Soap bars are not recommended in clinical use, because they can be a vector for passing on viruses and bacteria. They are fine for 'normal' domestic use, because you are not dealing with the same level of vulnerability by the household users of the soap IYSWIM.
Where there is increased risk, e.g. D&V then a liquid soap, in it's original container, is a safer choice.
In a clinical setting, liquid soap (and antibacterial hand wash solution for invasive procedures) is essential because of the increased vulnerability of the patients.

MyBeloved · 04/01/2018 22:48

Indeed fadedred.

I'm afraid I will be sticking to liquid soap for this very reason.

Perhaps there is scope for soft, recyclable pouches of liquid soap that can be decantered into a dispenser, rather than having to buy plastic containers each time?

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