Bar soap seems to be making a bit of a resurgence in the public consciousness at the moment. While this is probably in part due to a global increase in handwashing over the last two years, there are in fact a number of very valid reasons to ditch the bodywash and give natural bar soap a try.

But, before we start breaking down why you should be using natural bar soap, it’s important for us to clearly define what we’re talking about. Natural, or ‘true’ soap is produced through a process called saponification. Saponification occurs when fatty acids (like those in oils, waxes, and butters) react with a strong alkali, usually sodium hydroxide (aka lye, aka caustic soda). This reaction transforms the fats and alkali into a new substance known as ‘soap’, leaving no alkali behind.

Great, now that we know what natural bar soap is, we can start explaining why it’s better than body wash.

1. It Naturally Contains Glycerine

One of the truly neat parts of the saponification process is the fact that as a side effect of this process, glycerine is naturally created throughout the soap. Glycerine is actually great at keeping skin moisturized because, unlike other types of moisturizers like emollients and occlusives, glycerine is a humectant, meaning that it attracts moisture to the skin to help hydrate from the inside out.

While commercial body wash companies have done a good job of portraying bar soap as drying to the skin, the truth is natural soap with a generous superfat (fat left unsaponified in the soap) can be even better at moisturizing skin because of all that glycerine.

2. It Has Less Packaging

In fact, in a lot of cases there’s no packaging at all. A lot of natural soap makers make a point of using recyclable and compostable. Unlike body wash, which is packaged in big plastic bottles. Less plastic means less stuff going into landfills or finding their way into the ocean.

3. It Takes Up Less Space 

Most bars of natural soap are in the 8.5 cm x 6 cm x 2.5 cm range, so they’ve very easy to store. Compare that to body wash bottles which tend to be huge and take up your entire shower. An added perk of natural bar soap is that you can tuck them into clothing drawers to both store them and to add subtle fragrance to your clothes. 

4. It Saves Water

Did you know that some body washes are up to 80% water? Most have aqua/water right at the top of their ingredients list. Why use a product made of water to be used to wash off with water?

5. It Saves Money

Again, because of the water thing, with body washes you’re paying for something you add yourself for free when using natural soap. Bar soap can be very long lasting when allowed to dry out between uses and it’s harder to dispense more bar soap than you meant to, unlike body wash bottles.

6. It Has Fewer Ingredients

While this isn’t necessarily going to be true in cases, most natural soaps tend to avoid synthetic ingredients that aren’t related to colour or fragrance. Fewer ingredients means fewer things to potentially be allergic to.

7. No Preservatives

Natural soap is naturally preservative free. Just make sure you let your bar soap dry out after use to make sure it lasts as long as possible.

What about you? Have you made the switch to natural bar soap? What convinced you to make the change?