“I can’t use bar soap. It dries my skin out.”
I’ve heard this quite a few times over the years, and my immediate response is always to wonder which soap they’ve been using. Because, as I keep saying, not all soap is created equal.
If you’ve tried a bar that left your skin feeling tight, dry or uncomfortable, I do understand why you might be reluctant to try another. But having had disappointing experiences in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that every bar of soap will have the same effect.
Let me explain.
First of all, what kind of soap have you tried?
When somebody says that soap dries their skin, there are quite a few possibilities.
Perhaps they’ve been using an inexpensive supermarket bar. Maybe it was a melt-and-pour* soap, or perhaps it was a traditionally made cold process soap that simply wasn’t particularly well formulated. Or it might have been a perfectly good soap that didn’t agree with their particular skin.
And those are all rather different things.
Some supermarket bars are traditional soap, while others are made using synthetic detergents, or a combination of soap and other cleansing ingredients.
Melt-and-pour soaps are another category. They’re made using a premade soap base, and their properties depend on the ingredients and formulation of that particular base.
And even within traditional cold process soapmaking, there are enormous differences between recipes.
So judging all bar soap by one experience is a little like deciding you don’t like cake because somebody once gave you a particularly disappointing slice!
Why can some soaps feel drying?
Soap works by helping to remove dirt and oils from your skin so they can be rinsed away with water. That’s what it’s supposed to do. But the process of washing can also remove some of the natural oils that help keep your skin feeling comfortable.
How noticeable that is depends on several things, including the formulation of the soap, how frequently you wash, the temperature of the water and your own skin. And the ingredients used in the formula can make a considerable difference.
For example, coconut oil produces soap with excellent cleansing and lathering properties. It creates wonderful abundant bubbles and for that purpose it’s a really useful ingredient, but a high proportion of coconut oil in a formulation can produce a bar that feels too stripping for some people. Other oils and butters contribute different properties, and balancing them is a big part of formulating a good bar of soap.
It’s one of the reasons I spent so much time experimenting and thinking about the ingredients that created my final soap formula, rather than simply choosing whichever oils sounded the most luxurious.
A successful soap recipe is about how those ingredients work together.
So what makes The Soap Mine’s soap different?
I formulated my soaps to provide a balance between effective cleansing, a lovely lather, a firm, long-lasting bar and a pleasant washing experience.
I also use something called superfatting. This means that I deliberately developed a formulation with slightly less sodium hydroxide than would be needed to turn every last bit of oil into soap. The result is that a small proportion of unsaponified oils remains in the finished bar (Read more about superfatting here).
This helps create a bar that cleans effectively without feeling overly stripping on the skin. It’s all about getting the balance of ingredients right, so that the finished soap does its job while still feeling lovely to use.
I certainly wouldn’t claim that my soap can never leave anybody feeling dry. However, the feedback I receive from customers is overwhelmingly positive, and many tell me that they find my bars much more pleasant to use than soaps they’ve tried previously.
Which, as the person who spends an extraordinary amount of time making them, is always lovely to hear.
Which soap would I recommend?
If somebody tells me that they’ve found soap drying in the past, my first suggestion would usually be Purity. Purity is my simplest, most straightforward bar, made without added fragrance or colour.
It’s a lovely starting point for somebody who wants to try handmade soap but would prefer to avoid the extra ingredients used to create different fragrances and designs.
Also, if somebody suspects that fragrance or colourants might be contributing to irritation, choosing a bar without those additions removes a couple of potential variables.
That’s not to say fragrances and colourants are inherently bad for your skin. They’re not. But individuals can have allergies or sensitivities to particular ingredients, and what suits one person may not suit another. It’s also worth pointing out that fragrance-free doesn’t automatically mean suitable for everybody. Even a plain bar of soap can feel drying to some skin types.
Does that mean I should avoid fragranced soaps?
Not necessarily! If you have no known allergies or sensitivities to the ingredients, there’s no particular reason to assume that a fragranced or coloured soap will automatically be more drying than Purity.
The cleansing characteristics of a soap depend largely on its overall formulation, not simply whether it’s pink, purple or smells of something wonderful.
In fact, most of my soaps are made with exactly the same base formula, with the fragrance and colour providing the differences that make each variety individual.
So while Purity would be my starting recommendation, I wouldn’t want anyone to think that all the other lovely bars are somehow unsuitable for everyday use. For most people who enjoy using my soaps, choosing between them is much more about finding a fragrance they love. Which is, let’s face it, one of the nicest decisions to have to make.
What if my skin really is very dry or sensitive?
This is where I’d make an important distinction. There’s a difference between somebody who once tried a drying supermarket soap and somebody who has persistently dry, irritated skin or a condition such as eczema. If your skin is particularly dry, sore or prone to eczema, even a carefully formulated traditional soap might not be the best cleanser for you.
In those circumstances, a fragrance-free emollient wash or soap substitute may be more appropriate, and I’d recommend following the advice of your GP or pharmacist. I’d much rather somebody used a product that genuinely suited their skin than bought a bar from me that wasn’t right for them.
So don’t write off all bar soap just yet
If your previous experience of bar soap has been disappointing, I wouldn’t automatically assume that the next one will be the same. Different ingredients, different formulations and different manufacturing methods can produce very different washing experiences.
My suggestion would be to start with a simple bar such as Purity, see how your skin responds, and take it from there. If you then discover that you enjoy using it, there’s a whole world of lovely fragrances waiting for you.
Because while I can’t promise that every bar will suit every person, I can tell you that plenty of customers who once thought soap wasn’t for them have been pleasantly surprised. And that’s a rather nice thing to hear when you make soap for a living.
Vicki x
*No disrespect intended to melt-and-pour bars but they can have a considerably different composition to traditional cold process soap.