FAQs on bar soap
How long does bar soap last if unopened?
While the exact timing varies from brand to brand, most bar soap has an expiration date of 2-3 years. After this, it becomes less effective - but if it still looks okay, smells fresh, and lathers up in your hands, it’s still fine to use.
As for how to store bar soap once you’ve started using it, be sure to leave it in a soap dish with good drainage. If a bar of soap is left sitting in a pool of water, it will rapidly dissolve and you’ll find yourself needing to repurchase it much sooner.
What is the difference between bar and liquid soap?
Often, a bar soap will be made from either plant oils or animal fats (so check the ingredients if you want one that’s vegan-friendly) while a typical liquid soap will be petroleum-based.
Other ingredients also differ, such as sodium hydroxide in a typical bar soap versus potassium hydroxide in a typical liquid soap. As a result, a cheap bar of soap tends to have a higher pH level than liquid soap, which can be drying. But liquid and bar soaps of all kinds exist, and a good quality soap bar that’s pH balanced and packed full of hydrating ingredients can be just as moisturizing, or even more so, than a liquid cleanser!
So really, if you go for quality, choosing the best soap for you simply comes down to whichever format you prefer using. Bar soaps though mean less packaging and less volume, making them a great choice for travel or the eco-conscious.
Is bar soap good for all body parts?
While it’s generally okay to use a bar face soap on the rest of your body, you might not want to use a soap designed for the body on your face. Our facial skin tends to be more sensitive than the skin on our bodies, so if you choose an exfoliating bar soap for example, it may be great for sloughing the day’s grime off of your body but lead to over exfoliation-induced breakouts on your face. Unless you are using a very gentle soap all over, you’ll probably want different bars of soap for your face and body.
