Bar Soap vs. Body Wash

The other day on Facebook, I asked our Facebook gang if they preferred bar soap or body wash. I was surprised to find that most people were fans of bar soap, and that there were nearly as many reasons that people preferred bar soap (overall) over body wash.

We're impartial here (in fact, our employees are evenly split on the great bar soap vs. body wash debate), but I thought I might share some of the reasons people prefer one over another.

Bar soap uses less packaging

Of the responses, many people cited that body wash comes in plastic bottles, and people are trying to reduce the amount of plastic they use. Our bar soap comes in recycled and recyclable kraft chipboard boxes, so people seeking to reduce their packaging consumption enjoy our bar soap. As a side note, I should mention that our body wash bottles are recyclable.

Bar soap is easier to travel with

Another common response had to do with the good ol' TSA: body wash generally falls over the 3oz liquid rule, so bar soap is easier to travel with and won't leave a slimy mess on everything if it breaks open in flight.

Bar soap gives you more control

You always know what you get with bar soap. There's something solid about... solid.

People said that they felt better about the dosage and like less of it dripped down the drain during the shower.

People make their own bar soap

Perhaps specific to our particular audience on Facebook, many of the respondents said they make their own bar soap, so they use bar soap. You may be interested to know that making soap is not impossible, and many people do it in their own living rooms (with proper safety gear, of course).

On the other hand...

Body wash lasts longer

One bottle of body wash lasts a long time, and now that we've launched our newly formulated natural hair and body wash, which has a thicker gel-like consistency, body wash will last even longer. I've been using the tester we made, and let me tell you, a little goes a very long way!

Body wash can be bubble bath

One customer noted that she loves using body wash as bubble bath, too! (totally legit)

And on the third hand...

Scent: the jury is out

People on both sides of the bar soap / body wash debate had opinions on which scent lasted longer. For some, bar soap yielded more lasting scent on the skin. For others, body wash was the persistent scent source.

I don't know which is accurate, but it just reinforces my theory that everyone is individual, and therefore has vastly different perspectives on what works best for them.

No matter if you prefer bar soap, body wash, or rolling in dirt (hey, I'm not the boss of you!), it's right for you.

We've been making handmade bar soap since 2013 (you might even say we built our business on it!), and our incredibly awesome satin of suds natural body wash since 2017. We recently reformulated our body wash to be both hair and body wash, for maximum cleanliness (while still maintaining our ruggedly badass Outlaw scents).

Which do you prefer and why?

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