Walk into almost any supermarket and the shower aisle is filled with bottles.
Body wash, shower gel, 3-in-1 wash and all kinds of other plastic bottles.
Natural soap for the shower, on the other hand, is rarely found in that aisle. Which is quite odd considering the benefits it has over traditional liquid body wash.
Both options are designed to clean your body. But they are not the same product in a different format. Far from it. Their production process, the amount of water they contain, the ingredients they rely on and even how they behave in the shower are very different.
So what is the actual difference between body wash and natural soap?
What is body wash?
The general understanding of body wash is that it is a liquid cleansing product designed to be used on the body in the shower.
Because it is intended to be liquid, water usually makes up a larger part of the formula. The rest can include cleansing agents, fragrance, lathering ingredients, thickeners, stabilisers, preservatives and other ingredients needed to make the product perform and remain stable inside a bottle. To keep costs down, these ingredients are often made synthetically.
The important point is that body wash is not simply “liquid soap”. It is a completely different product and resembles a detergent more than it does a soap as it uses surfuctants to clean the skin.
What is natural soap?
Natural soap is made by combining oils or fats with lye and water.
This starts a chemical reaction known as saponification.
During saponification, the oils and lye react and are transformed into soap and glycerin. A properly formulated and fully cured soap bar is therefore very different from the raw ingredients used to make it.
We, for example, make our soap base using a blend of olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter and castor oil. We then top the base up with active ingredients such as turmeric or pumice to further elevate the shower experience.
So is natural soap better than body wash?
Generally, we would say yes.
Of course, there are both good and bad body washes as there is good and bad natural soaps. However, the more useful question is:
What kind of product do you want to use on your skin?
A well-formulated natural soap bar gives you a very different experience from a bottled body wash. The former is both better for your skin and gives you a better experience while the latter is mostly made to produce large amounts of products to keep up with demand.
Here are some of the biggest differences between natural soap and body wash:
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Main differences between natural soap and body wash
They are actually more obvious than you think
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1. Body wash contains unnecessary water
One of the most obvious differences is also one of the easiest to overlook.
Body wash is already diluted with water inside the bottle.
A soap bar contains very little water by comparison. (almost all of it evaporates as its cures) Instead, you add the water yourself when you use it in the shower.
That makes soap an unusually concentrated format. Rather than transporting a bottle containing a large amount of water, you have a small solid bar that becomes active when it gets wet.
2. They use different cleansing systems
Traditional soap is created through saponification.
Body wash usually relies on synthetic surfactants (think: detergent) that are created by chemically altering fats or petroleum. (yummy)
Different ways of achieving the same purpose: helping water lift oils, sweat and dirt from the skin so they can be rinsed away.
3. Natural soaps have a very short formula
One reason many people become interested in natural soap is simplicity. At its most basic, soap can be made from only oil, water and sodium hydroxide.
In practice, soap makers often blend several oils and butters because each one contributes different characteristics to the finished bar. For example, one oil may help with hardness, another with lather and another with the overall feel of the soap.
Botanicals, clays, fragrances and exfoliants are then added depending on what the soap maker wants the bar to feel and smell like.
And this is the whole point. Each ingredient serves a purpose for you and your skin. Not to lower the cost of production or to compensate for shitty fragrances. Short recipes, with intention behind each ingredient.
4. A soap bar does not need a plastic bottle
This is one of the most obvious practical differences. (duh!)
Body wash needs a container capable of holding a liquid. Natural soap is solid.
That means a bar can be packaged in a compact cardboard box or a stainless steel holder rather than a bottle.
It also means there is less bulk in the bathroom, less packaging to handle and no half-empty bottle sitting upside down in the shower for three weeks.
5. Soap bars needs to dry between showers
There is one thing body wash is good at: being in the bottle.
A soap bar requires a bit more care. If you leave it sitting in a puddle of water, it will soften and disappear much faster. Letting the bar dry between uses makes a major difference to how long it lasts.
That is why a draining soap tray or soap dish is much better than simply placing the bar flat on the edge of the bathtub.
6. Soap bars can have physical texture
Because soap is solid, ingredients can change the physical feel of the bar itself.
Ground oats can provide texture. Pumice can create exfoliation. Clays can change the feel and appearance of the soap.
That gives soap makers another dimension to work with beyond simply fragrance and cleansing. It literally has exfoliation built-in.
This is one of the things we enjoy most about developing different bars: some are completely smooth while others have a noticeable scrub.
Choosing a soap can therefore be a little like choosing between different shower mittens rather than simply choosing between different scents.
7. Body wash is often more convenient to share
Yes, we know. Body wash is actually better when it comes to sharing.
You pump some into your hand and put the bottle back. For households where several people share the same shower product, this format can feel easier. Although there is nothing unhygienic with sharing soap bar from a technical standpoint, we understand why people may prefer to share liquid soap instead.
That's it.
The differences laid out, plain and simple.
Since we are here, let's also answer some of the questions our customers frequently ask us.
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Is bar soap hygienic?
This is one of the most common misunderstandings about soap bars. People may think it is not hygienic since it is out in the air without anything covering it. This is completely false. As soon as the soap molecules are combined with water against your skin, it rinses off dirts and bacteria. So even if (for some reason) bacteria had landed on the soap bar, it would not be transferred to you once you started using it.
Does natural soap last longer than body wash?
It depends heavily on how both products are used of course. How much you use and how well you care for the products.
A soap bar that is allowed to dry thoroughly between showers can last a surprisingly long time. Most of our customers say each bar lasts about 4 weeks. (but some say it lasts even longer)
When it comes to body wash, it is obviously just about how much you squeeze out of the bottle on each use. One person might use a small amount per shower while another empties half the bottle onto a shower puff.
With that said, used right, the natural soap bar lasts longer than body wash.
What about shower gel and shower cream, is that different?
Shower gel (or shower cream) and body wash are basically the same. Both are liquid body cleansers.
The terminology is not strictly standardised by a common standard, but products described as shower gels or creams often have a thicker, more gel-like texture, while body washes may be positioned as slightly creamier or more moisturising. But this is mostly marketing tricks, designed to give customers a feeling of what they are showering with. Make sure to check the ingredient list if you really want to know what is in your soap bar.
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Why did we choose soap bars?
We started because we learned how many unnecessary things were added to body wash. We realized the industry was not about making good things for the skin but rather to make more profits.
So we accepted the challenge to make the soap bar much better than what most people associated with it.
A lot of bar soap has traditionally felt like a compromise: practical and simple, boring scents and not particularly exciting to use.
We wanted to change that.
So we did.