SOAP STARS

Here are the bars that are getting us all in a lather

Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s I had a dear Welsh aunt, Ronwen: not only was she homely and kind but she had an expert appreciation of luxuries. I became fascinated by the old washstand in her guest bedroom, on which she always placed a moulded lemon-shaped soap from Bronnley, life-like and citric smelling. She would also slip wrapped soaps between the layers of sheets in her huge wooden linen press so that everything in there was permeated with the intoxicating scents of fruits and flowers, and she was renowned among her friends for giving soaps from Floris as Christmas or birthday gifts, in recherché scents such as Stephanotis, all delicate lily of the valley and buttery jasmine. To my mother and me, this marked her out as a very class act indeed, aristocratic and almost queenly.

I’m pretty sure this is where my nostalgic love for wrapped soap started. Despite, as a beauty journalist, being bombarded with every hi-tech, hi-spec product under the sun, it’s soap – that most utilitarian of toiletries – that has my heart, particularly the heritage brands, with their vintage appeal and historical aesthetics. Floris, for example, has been manufacturing soaps since the 1700s, Penhaligon’s since 1870, and Claus Porto was founded in Portugal in 1887. The latter’s curved blocks are famed not only for their impeccable formulations, but also for their divinely colourful and collectable wrappers, reproduced from a vast archive of Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs. For Anne-margreet Honing, Claus Porto’s creative director, it’s the Art Deco designs with their angular patterning that are the most intriguing, inspired as some of them were by the paintings of modernist artist and textiles designer Sonia Delaunay (who, incidentally, once owned a house near Claus Porto’s current factory on Portugal’s Vila do Conde). But soap is so much more than an artsy indulgence. When you swap liquid hand and body cleansers for a good old-fashioned bar, you might just be helping to save the planet, too. ‘Liquid soaps and shower gels usually come in throwaway bottles, which add up to an awful lot of plastic waste,’ says environmental campaigner Julian Kirby. ‘Switching to bars of soap not only

cuts back on that, they also cause less climate-changing pollution in production than liquid varieties. And because soap bars don’t contain as high a proportion of water as shower gels or liquid soaps, they tend to last a lot longer, so are more cost-effective.’

The most conscientious soaps are The Soap Co’s truly luscious bars in Mulberry & Amber, Geranium & Rhubarb and Black Poppy & Wild Fig, £9 each, manufactured and produced to sustainable standards by a largely disabled workforce in the Lake District and East London. Or try Lucy Bee Natural Soaps, certified by the Fair Trade Sustainability Alliance (FAIRTSA) and in alluring variations such as Ylang Ylang, Jasmine & Cedarwood, £8, or (for purists) Fragrance Free, £6.

CLEANING UP OUR ACT

If you’re wedded to the sheer practicality of the bottled stuff, there are sustainable varieties that also do good. British-made Ecosoapia Hand & Body Wash in deliciously zingy Sicilian Orange is 100% organic and Soil Association certified, £7.90; The Soap Co’s sister brand Beco makes prettily scented Foaming Hand Wash, £4; or keep one of Soaper Duper’s Body Washes, from £3.99, in your bathroom – the brand uses naturally derived ingredients and recycled and recyclable plastic packaging.

As for the myth that soap is drying, while it does have an alkaline ph that can indeed damage the acid mantle (part of the skin’s protective barrier function), good-quality soaps generally contain high levels of moisturising ingredients such as glycerin to counteract any drying tendencies. L’occitane’s Savon Bonne Mère soaps, £6 each, for example, are packed with plant oils to make them as nourishing as you can get and they feel all the more luxuriant for it.

During perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause, you may find yourself suffering with bouts of cystitis and thrush, making fragranced soap a no-go. If so, try Gallinée’s Perfume Free Cleansing Bar, £10, which is gynaecologist approved and non-irritating to sensitive areas.

For the face, ph-balanced cleansing

‘bars’ from skincare brands Drunk Elephant, Argentum and Gallinée are formulated to offer an alternative to liquid cleansers and facial washes. With a ph of 6.34, Drunk Elephant’s Juju Bar, £24, delivers a deeply satisfying cleanse while still respecting the acid mantle, thanks to a richly foaming combination of thermal mud and bamboo powder. Or try Sbtrct Gentle Foaming Cleanser, £22, which contains a blend of plant emollients and coconut surfactants to provide the bubbles so many of us love while cleansing, without stripping the skin of essential moisture.

Palm oil is a further issue to be mindful of around our soap consumption. As with up to half of the grocery, personal care and household products in our supermarkets, certain widely available soaps do contain this ingredient, which, as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth warn, is concomitant

The more times a soap is milled, the better it will keep its shape

with rainforest destruction.

‘Some labels state “sustainable” palm oil has been used, but this doesn’t guarantee that rainforests and wildlife haven’t been harmed, as the rules are not legally binding,’ says Clare Oxborrow of Friends of the Earth. But the problem with avoiding palm oil altogether is that shifting to another oil could contribute to even further deforestation, by crops such as sunflower or rapeseed, which actually produce less oil per hectare. Many brands have switched to sustainable palm oil as certified by the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), which is claimed to be less destructive of rainforest environments. Even so, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace advise us to lobby any company using palm oil (sustainable or not) to make sure the supply chain isn’t harming rainforest ecosystems. But there is hope for the future in the form of the biotech industry, which is on the cusp of formulating a synthetic alternative to palm oil.

Finally, if I’ve inspired you to invest in a delectable bar of wrapped soap, either for yourself or as a gift, do take note of the production process. The more times a soap is ‘milled’ (processed through steel cylinders), the better it will keep its shape, ensure a foam that’s dense and luxurious and exude its fragrance down to the last sliver. Claus Porto soaps, from £14, for example, are milled a fastidious seven times; the sweet hand soaps from France’s lovely Couvent des Minimes, £5, four times, and those from Floris, £23, are triple milled, making them some of the best value and longest lasting soaps to indulge in. My auntie Ronwen would be thrilled.