I know what you're thinking, jeez Lauri bar soap really? Can you pick a more boring subject..? But let me stop you right there.
While planning my New Years resolutions, I started to think of ways I could realistically reduce my plastic consumption. Sadly where I live in Ireland, there's plastic EVERYWHERE especially in supermarkets. And buying things in bulk is more expensive, go figure... But then I though of the products I use the most, and pretty much that same day, I ran out of my body wash. Then it hit me : I can totally cut that plastic out, there's this thing called bar soap!
Ever since I've been living on my own I've only bought body wash, shower oil, etc. Genuinely never bought a bar of soap. I always saw them as boring, non-hygienic and kind of inconvenient really... Plus they're not as satisfying to use (Nope? That's just me? Ok...). But I started researching, and boy has the soap industry upped their game! Great brands have popped up and the time of the white Dove soap bar is gone (actually this bar is quite bad for you and the planet.. just saying). And of all the plastic-free changes, this is probably the easiest one to make.
So without further ado, as I head on in the shower to start testing (!), here are the reasons that convinced me to switch to bar soap:
1. REDUCE PLASTIC
Let's start by the obvious. Body wash/Shower gels are something we use everyday, and on top of that I have a tendency to use too much, so I go through bottles quite quickly. Even if they are recyclable (which not all of them are), you can't recycle plastic more than once. Bar soap is PLASTIC-FREE, nada nothing. Depending on which brand you choose, the bars mostly come in a cardboard box. Yay!
2. FAR LESS CHEMICALS
Now that's not true for all soaps and all body washes, but as a general rule, yeah. Bar soap has more natural ingredients and requires less preservatives. When a product is in liquid form, it has water in the ingredients and because of that, they need to add chemicals to it to prevent it from going bad. On top of that pretty much all shower gels have artificial fragrances added to them, so that just adds to the mix.
3. BAR SOAP IS CHEAPER
Hell yeah it is! Again this depends on the brand you use either way, but as a whole it's much easier to find cheap bar soap than body wash. And if you want to add the natural element to the mix, natural shower products are usually pretty expensive vs the not natural ones. I wouldn't be able to tell you why, but natural soaps are pretty much the same price as regular ones. Soap is also cheaper because of my next argument...
4. IT LASTS LONGER
I think you'd have to make a conscious active effort to overuse bar soap. Where I usually tend to pour way too much body wash just because it feels good to lather up, soap will melt on your skin as you need it. In average, we use about 7 TIMES more product when using body wash!! Bar soap is just as effective but you can't use too much, so it will last you longer. Just make sure you put you soap in a dish where the water can drain out so it doesn't get soggy in between uses.
5. THE PRODUCTION PROCESS IS GREENER
It requires about 5 times more energy to produce liquid soap than solid. To be fair, bar soap can have a bigger effect on land as most of the oils come form crops, but there are loads of organic and fair trade options out there. It's also important to realize that liquid body wash is much heavier and less efficient to ship, so the carbon footprint of transportation is higher.
6. NO TOOLS NEEDED
On top of not needing any wasteful packaging, bar soap doesn't require you to use a loofah, washcloth or anything of the kind. This is personal preference, and there are eco friendly options to those tools, but bar soap is definitely the more minimalist option. Personally I hate all the laundry from washcloths, and the natural loofahs I've tried are too harsh for my skin. Also, nothing is keeping you from using a loofah or the like with a good old bar of soap!
7. NATURAL EXFOLIANT
I love when companies put exfoliating material in bar soap. The sky's the limit when it comes to what you can add. I've seen coffee grounds, oats, seaweed, sugar and there are probably more options. I have super dry skin so I welcome the extra exfoliation, all without micro beads of course.
