If you happen to spend a lot of time browsing the isles of health and beauty shops (some of us no doubt, more than others) you will more than likely be aware of the bar soap sensation, currently sweeping the nation.
Bar soaps are back with a bang - with a number of major brands rushing to get on board! Coming in all different shapes, sizes and scents and colours, the solid soap bar is fast becoming a familiar feature of the bathroom once more!
And it's not just soaps either; shampoos, conditioners - even shaving bars are now increasingly available for purchase!
But what are the benefits of this new craze? Aren't bar soaps old-fashioned? Do they really clean as well as more modern, liquid products? Let's set the record straight!
Bar soaps are better for you
Making Bar Soaps is a natural process, typically involving only a handful of minimal ingredients (there are some exceptions and it is wise to check!). This immediately sets them apart from their liquid, bottled counterparts, that often contain dozens of artificial chemical ingredients. For this reason, bar soaps made from natural ingredients tend to be much less likely to lead to dry or irritated skin. Likewise, because of their more limited contents - bar soaps are often much kinder to those who suffer from allergies.
But it isn't just what is not in bar soaps that's so much better for you - bar soaps offer an incredible range of natural ingredients that can bring all sorts of benefits to your skin! Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Aloe Vera, Hemp and Eucalyptus are just a few of the ingredients that the soaps we sell here at The Friendly Eco contain!
Bar soaps are better for the planet
For many, the real driver behind the switch to bar soaps is the lesser environmental impact they have as compared to bottled plastic equivalents.
Obviously the most significant difference is the fact that, unlike most liquid soaps, bar soaps do not come in unrecyclable plastic packaging that goes straight to landfill. Soap bars instead tend to come in fully recyclable cardboard boxes - or in some cases - with no packaging at all!
Bar soaps also tend to last a great deal longer that liquid soaps - principally because liquid soaps have a much higher concentration of water, and so the amount of soap needed for the same effect is much greater.
Bar soaps are also much less likely to contain Palm Oil - a notoriously destructive cash-crop and a common ingredient in liquid soaps. Palm Oil plantations are infamous for clearing rainforests and destroying bio-diversity throughout the global south. So any opportunity to avoid products containing the stuff is well worth taking!
Bar soaps are cheaper
Bars of soap are typically much more affordable, with each bar being the equivalent of 2-3 bottles of hand soap or body wash. When you reach the final slithers, simply pop into a soap saver and use as an exfoliator for your skin. You don't have to wait until the end of the soap though - you can even pop the entire bar in the soap saver to start with and prevent yourself buying overpriced body scrubs which may contain microplastics.
Bar soaps look nicer
There's nothing more frustrating than a bathroom filled with bottles and bottles of products. Having a tray with a small number of bar soaps really is much more aesthetically pleasing. Each family member could have their own bamboo rack or travel box to store their soap in, or hang them in a labelled soap saver.
Bar soaps travel well
With a bar of soap you have no risk of spillages when travelling, and being solid means they also don't count towards your liquid allowance on a plane! Just put your soap in a travel box and off you go. There's also no need to buy overpriced 'travel sized' toiletries. Just cut a suitable sized piece off of your bar, that way you can get your bar soap, shampoo and conditioner all into one travel box.
In conclusion
The benefits really do pile up with bar soaps, Offering the possibility of doing both the planet, your purse and your body so much good - bar soaps are a no brainer!
Have you tried them yet? Check out our full collection of soaps here.