Best bar none: The fragrant appeal of old school soap
Traditional bars of soap have been enjoying a resurgence as consumers ditch single-use plastics. But are they the cleanest option, asks Meadhbh McGrath
The age of coronavirus has brought a fresh urgency to an array of domestic items we previously didn’t spend all that much time thinking about: toilet paper, house shoes, sliced pan and soap. Soap is an everyday essential, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that we became obsessed — with how it works, how much to use, how to apply it properly.
Hand washing turned into a meme, as everyone from Sheryl Sandberg to Blue Ivy Carter offered video demonstrations on social media. And though many still favour pump bottles of liquid soap, the past year has also seen a surprising resurgence of the humble bar. Even before the pandemic kicked off, it was making a comeback; in 2019, sales of bar soap rose by nearly three per cent following decades of decline, according to retail data collected by Kantar Worldpanel.
“For the first time this century, barred soap is making a return,” said Tim Nancholas, the company’s strategic insight director.
Liquid soaps were launched into the mass market in the late 1970s, but really became a hit in the 1990s, aided by the sudden boom in antibacterial products. Liquid soap products promised superior cleaning and moisturising benefits, resulting in plain old bars, by contrast, appearing unhygienic, outmoded and obsolete.
Now, however, beauty columnists are raving about Dove Original bars, while glossy magazines feature gorgeously photogenic soaps by trendy brands like Le Baigneur, Wary Meyers and Gallinee. Luxury brands such as Jo Malone, Chanel and Tom Ford have expanded their soap collections, as the once-derided bar has undergone a premium makeover: no longer dismissed as the dirty, sticky gunk glued to the shower tray, it has emerged as an indulgent pampering treat.
What’s behind the comeback? Are we seeking out childhood comfort and a dose of nostalgia in an unsettled time? Are environmental concerns driving us to rid our bathrooms of plastic bottles? Or is it just that panic buyers had cleared the shelves of other options?
Melanie Gavin is business development manager for the Irish branch of Aussie skincare brand MooGoo, and says sales have risen since the outbreak. “Our demand was so great for the soap bars in particular that we’ve had to fly stock in because our shipments by sea were so slow,” she explains. “The official advice was that people were to use soap and water to wash their hands, and customers weren’t sure if that extended to hand gels and washes, so that’s why they were choosing soap [bars].”
As well as that, she adds customers regularly report feeling “cleaner” after using bars. “I’m with MooGoo nearly 10 years, but I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, soap bars? Who still uses them?’. When you try them, you realise they’re so much nicer to use than washes and you do feel lovely and clean after,” she says.
This may call to mind the tight, itchy, ‘squeaky clean’ feel after a thorough scrubbing as a kid, but recent innovations mean today’s bars are considerably less drying. MooGoo’s gentle cleansing bars are designed for dry or irritated skin with buttermilk, goat’s milk or oatmeal.
“They’ve come a long way from the olden days,” says Melanie. “These days, soaps are a bit more sophisticated than the old gooey bars that stick to the side of the bath.”
Many modern soap makers use a process called superfatting to introduce moisturising properties to their bars.
“If you’re talking about the old coal tar soap or carbolic soap, it’s designed to strip as much stuff off you as possible. It’s a fairly aggressive type of soap,” says Donagh Quigley, founder of the Slane-based Handmade Soap Company. “There’s a lot of room to manipulate with the soap recipe, particularly with an artisan production method, so they nourish your skin as opposed to strip it.
“Within bar soaps, there are two schools or camps: there’s a hot processing method, and a cold process method. The cold process method that we use allows us to superfat the soap, and what that means is we leave excess nutritional oils and fats, mostly plant-based oils like shea butter, apricot kernel oil or sweet almond oil. We leave that unsaponified in the soap, so it gives a lovely moisturising effect on the skin.”
Bars are at the core of his range and have always been strong sellers, but Donagh notes that they are typically more popular with Americans than in Europe. Things are starting to change, he observes, as customers become increasingly conscious of sustainability.
“I think the environmental issue is probably a big driver of it,” he says. “I think in the consumer’s mind, there is a move away from plastics and to something where there isn’t plastic packaging. Our bars are wrapped in a cardboard box made from recycled card.”
This tallies with last year’s Kantar research, which found that 44pc of people are now “more concerned” about single-use plastic, and 70pc say they plan to shop more sustainably. On top of that, 49pc of bar soap users responded that they “avoid products harmful to the environment”.
Some sources have credited millennials with reviving interest in soap bars, as they earned the seal of approval from zero-waste advocates, skincare bloggers and cult beauty brands. Yet the report found it was people in the 55-74 age group who were likely to be more concerned about plastic waste and more likely to use bar
‘I think the environmental issue is probably a big driver of it. In the consumer’s mind, there is a move away from plastics and to something where there isn’t plastic
packaging’
soap. However, Dr Nicola Ralph, Consultant Dermatologist at the Mater Private hospital and Blackrock Private Clinic, warns that bars can bring their own hygiene problems.
“With Covid, everyone is looking to keep things as clean as possible. What I would say about the old-fashioned bars of soap is that they’re often left on the side of your sink for months at a time and they’re covered in bacteria, so they aren’t ideal at this particular moment,” she points out.
“You should obviously rinse it under the hot tap before you go using it, but not many people do that.”
A soap dish can keep the bar elevated from the surface around your sink or bath, but it needs to be cleaned frequently to prevent bacteria building up. And be careful about wash cloths, exfoliating gloves and loofahs, which can transfer and harbour germs from the soap. If you’re using a wash cloth with your soap, Dr Ralph recommends making sure that it gets washed after each use.
“If you use the same cloth over and over again, they are full of bacteria. If you are somebody who suffers with back acne or facial acne, I don’t advise using a cloth unless you’re using a clean cloth and putting it in the washing machine every time you use it. Otherwise, you will get breakouts,” she explains.
Although bars are just as effective as shower gels or liquid soaps, she points out that people with skin conditions should be wary of the strongly scented, brightly coloured versions. “They will wash you perfectly, but they have lots more potential allergens in them for people who have sensitive skin, especially if they’re fragranced or have dyes added.” That said, if you find one that works for you, there are few simple pleasures as comforting as washing up with a nice bar of soap. And in these gloomy days, that’s no small thing.