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  • Writer's pictureAna McCully

Everything you need to know about Soap

Updated: Aug 14, 2020

In the last few years it has come to light how bad plastic pollution is, and not only are more people actively avoiding plastic water bottles, straws and bags, the barred soap industry has also been doing better over the last two years.


Photography credit: Motion Array - Photology80


In 2018, we have spent over £68 million on bars of soap, which was the first time in the last century (?!) that the sale of barred soaps went up. Even though this is only a 3% rise, it's fantastic to see the return of the soap bar in people's households.


If you're worried about hygiene, please don't. Soap bars aren't really less hygienic than liquid soaps. Bacteria can start to grow when the soap stays wet for too long time and goes soggy, but you don't have to worry about the build up if you use it a couple of times per day and wash off the soggy bits while washing your hands.


One of the main reasons to go back to barred soap is reducing your household waste. You also won't be overusing your soap when using a bar, while liquid soap dispenser often pump out too much soap.



How is soap made?



All soap bars are made with a mix of fats or oils and a substance called lye (also called sodium hydroxide, mainly salt with a splash of water). The fats are called glycerine, glycol, glycerin or glycerol and they can be made either from animal fats or vegetable fats/oils. Animal fats used can be fats from pork, beef or sheep and most soap bars that do not contain the words 'vegan' or 'vegetarian' will use this form of fat in their soaps. Vegetable fats are more expensive than animal fats. Vegetable oil and fats come from coconuts, palm oil, shea butter, beeswax and soybean.


If you want a natural bar, avoid parabens and SLS. Parabens (methylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben or isoparaben and everything else ending in paraben) are used to prolong shelf-life and help against growth of bacteria and mould. SLS (which you can also find in hair, dental and cleaning products) is used as a thickener and emulsifier - also used in some foods. Please make sure your soap (and all other products) is free of both SLS or SLES (the slightly less irritating version). There are many concerns about their toxicity. SLS can cause irritation to the skin, eyes and scalp and parabens can disrupt hormone function and could be connected to breast cancer.


Dove is the number 1 soap brand currently dominating the markets in America and Europe. I'm sorry to say, but there are barely any natural ingredients in their bars or liquids. Even though they haven't tested on animals in the last 30 years and are PETA certified since late 2018, non of their products are certified as vegan. So stear clear of Dove if you want vegetarian or vegan products.



Soap is the most effective way to wash away COVID-19 particles


Soap is the most effective way to wash away corona-virus cells as it dissolves the fat membrane of the virus particles: they fall apart and die, and are then washed away through the sink. Soap is more effective than any other disinfectant and this is the reason we're all washing our hands like crazy.


Since the lockdown started all kinds of soaps have been flying off the shelves. There are no exact numbers for (bars of) soap sold, but the first week of March saw an extra £60 million spent at supermarkets for personal hygiene and cleaning products, and dry and canned foods.


Many small companies have enjoyed fantastically profitable months and we can see a definite rise in luxury soap bars on the market. You can buy vegan, cruelty-free and eco-friendly bars anywhere online: Nuddy, Plastic Freedom, The Cleaning Cabinet and Geo Generation are just a few eco-stores offering beautiful bars of soap.



Get yourself a 15% discount on your soaps from Geo Generation with the code MS20s


Read my reviews on soaps from Nuddy, Geo Generation and Clean and Green.



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