Why the good old bar of soap is back in our bathrooms

Ingredients to look out for, Modern soaps for the face, The best soaps to try, Best for body exfoliation, Best for its scent, Best for eczema, babies and other sensitive souls, Best for your face, Best for hands, Best for gifting, Best for interiors inspo

Soap brand Claus has been around for 140 years and its packing is still much-loved

There are two types of people in this world: those who like soap and those who don’t. And I very much fall into the former camp. What began via Pears soap and an early introduction to the unfairness of life (my parents never entered me into the Miss Pears child beauty pageant, can you believe it?) turned into fully fledged soap fandom as an adult – any excuse to visit a soap factory, and I’d be there. From the backstreets of Tripoli, Lebanon and a tour among the skilled traditional soap makers, to poring over the archives of paper soap wrapper patterns at the 140-year-old soap brand Claus Porto’s HQ in Portugal, soap has always been my thing.

So it was both surprising and delightful to hear that I am not alone, and that, in fact, soap, that most ancient of cleansers, is having a comeback. At Liberty London, a staggering 15,000 bars of Nesti Dante soap were sold last year, with soap as a category growing by 14 per cent. Other favourites making it home with us? Biename, Ortigia, Granado and Horosoaps.

New brand Nature of Things, now owned by that arbiter of cool Carisa Janes (you’ll know her for Hourglass Cosmetics and new foundation line, Outside In), is also introducing new soaps to the world. “I grew up with Dove soap,” she says. “It reminds me of my father. I remember the scent, the creamy lather, the curved shape, and watching it wear down in the shower dish.” For Nature of Things, she brought out both liquid soaps with pump dispensers as well as bars of soap because “there’s something wonderful about bar soap. For me, it’s nostalgic and incredibly effective. I love the way it lathers, and that fresh, clean soap scent – it’s something unique to bar soap. It’s also inherently more minimal. A bar is more concentrated, with only what’s essential.”

In fact, sustainability is a free gift with purchase for us soap lovers, intrinsic to soap’s very core. A bar of soap contains no water, requires minimal packaging, and lasts far longer than the average pump dispenser.

Ingredients to look out for

So how can you tell which soap is going to be beneficial for your skin? Marie Drago, the founder of skincare brand Gallinée, suggests looking at the top two ingredients. If they read sodium palmitate, sodium laurate or sodium olivate, you’re dealing with a traditional high-pH soap – perfectly fine for non-sensitive areas, but not ideal for the face. For washing hands, traditional soap is effective; she recommends following up with a prebiotic hand cream to encourage the right bacteria to repopulate.

Packaged in cute little paper bags, the Nature of Things soaps are meant for body and hands but are nonetheless gentle and moisturising. “Our Charcoal and Cardamom Seed Oil Purifying Body Bar and Coconut Oil and Cupuaçu Soothing Body Bar are formulated with over 95 per cent natural-origin ingredients and 97 per cent plant-based ingredients,” says Janes. “When my skin feels dry, I reach for the Coconut Oil and Cupuaçu Body Bar. It has a luxurious, creamy lather and feels deeply soothing.”

Modern soaps for the face

While brands like Clinique stopped selling their classic cleansing bars earlier this year (yes, I was shocked too) others, like Gallinee, have capitalised on new microbiome-friendly formulations to create a bar that looks and feels just like soap but that has a pH5 that is gentle enough to cleanse the face. And because soap is free of water, there was no need for added preservatives, which by definition, kill friendly bacteria. The result is a formulation that is gentle enough for use even by those prone to eczema and loaded with active ingredients including prebiotics and lactic acid.

To those soap-shirkers still reaching for the shower gel out of habit, perhaps it’s time to reconsider. The humble bar of soap, it turns out, has always been ahead of its time. We just needed to catch up.

The best soaps to try

Ingredients to look out for, Modern soaps for the face, The best soaps to try, Best for body exfoliation, Best for its scent, Best for eczema, babies and other sensitive souls, Best for your face, Best for hands, Best for gifting, Best for interiors inspo

Last year this much-admired British soap brand received a royal warrant from King Charles, and for good reason: the soaps smell as good as they look.

Best for body exfoliation

Ingredients to look out for, Modern soaps for the face, The best soaps to try, Best for body exfoliation, Best for its scent, Best for eczema, babies and other sensitive souls, Best for your face, Best for hands, Best for gifting, Best for interiors inspo

Glossier

Substantial, scratchy in a good way, and smelling of orange blossom and neroli, an efficient (and gentle) way to scrub in the shower.

Best for its scent

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Eau de campagne

Perfume aficionados, this is your soap. Jean-Claude Ellena created this original, fresh green, herbal with a hint of tomato eau de parfum – this is the soap of the perfume.

Best for eczema, babies and other sensitive souls

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Gallinee

A best-kept secret for your skin – soft enough for sensitive skin, yet an effective face and body cleanser.

Best for your face

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Erno Laszlo

Rich in essential fatty acids, a great second step in a double cleansing routine.

Best for hands

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L'Occitane

A modern classic, with a comforting smell and moisturising formulation.

Best for gifting

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Nature of things

In cute mini paper bags, this is hard to resist.

Best for interiors inspo

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Claus Porto

The only downside? The paper wrapping is so beautiful you won’t want to open them.

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