Bar Soap vs Body Wash: Which One Is Actually Better for Your Skin?
If you've ever stood in the shower aisle genuinely unsure whether to grab a bar of soap or a bottle of body wash, you're in good company. It's one of those choices most people make on autopilot -- reaching for whatever they've always used -- without stopping to think about whether it's actually the best option for their skin.
The answer, when you look at what's actually inside each format, is not as complicated as the personal care industry would have you believe. Bar soap and body wash are genuinely different products with different ingredients, different effects on your skin, and different environmental footprints. Understanding those differences puts you in a much better position to make a choice that works for you.
Here's the full comparison -- honest, ingredient-level, and free of marketing spin.
What Body Wash Actually Is
Walk into any drugstore and pick up a bottle of conventional body wash. Flip it over and read the ingredient list. You'll almost certainly find sodium laureth sulfate or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in the first few ingredients -- sometimes both.
These are synthetic detergents, and they're the reason body wash produces such satisfying, voluminous lather. They're also among the most stripping cleansing agents used in personal care products. They don't discriminate between the dirt and oils you want to remove and the natural sebum your skin produces specifically to keep itself balanced and protected.
The result of using SLS-based body wash regularly is something many people experience without connecting it to the product: skin that feels tight and dry after the shower, that needs lotion immediately to feel comfortable, that somehow never quite feels fully moisturized even with regular moisturizer use. The body wash strips; the lotion tries to replace what was stripped. It's a cycle that primarily benefits the people selling you more products.
Beyond the surfactants, conventional body washes typically include a long list of synthetic preservatives to give the formula a multi-year shelf life, artificial fragrances listed simply as "fragrance" or "parfum" which can represent dozens of undisclosed chemical compounds, artificial dyes and colorants that serve no purpose beyond aesthetics, and thickeners and stabilizers that keep the formula looking a certain way but do nothing useful for your skin.
By the time you've read through the full ingredient list of a typical drugstore body wash, you might have twenty-five to forty ingredients -- most of them synthetic, few of them recognizably plant-based.
What Handmade Bar Soap Actually Is
A well-made cold-process bar soap is a fundamentally different kind of product.
The core of handmade bar soap is plant-based oils -- olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, shea butter, avocado oil, castor oil, and combinations thereof -- combined with water and sodium hydroxide through a process called saponification. During saponification, the oils and lye undergo a complete chemical transformation: they become soap molecules and glycerin. Neither the original oils nor the lye remain unchanged in the finished bar.
The glycerin is particularly important. Glycerin is a naturally occurring humectant -- it draws moisture toward the skin and helps it retain hydration. In commercial soap production, glycerin is typically extracted from the soap after manufacturing and sold separately (you'll find it in expensive moisturizers and serums). In a small-batch handmade bar, the glycerin stays in the soap where it belongs. This is one of the primary reasons people who switch to handmade bar soap so often notice that their skin feels different -- genuinely different -- after just a few weeks.
The ingredient list for a handmade natural bar is short and recognizable. Oils, water, sodium hydroxide, and whatever additional botanicals, essential oils, or natural colorants the maker has added for character and scent. That's it.
The Glycerin Difference: Why It Matters More Than You Think
It's worth spending a moment here because this is the detail that most people don't know and that explains a lot.
Commercial soap manufacturers use a process that extracts the glycerin from the soap during production. They do this because glycerin is more valuable as a standalone ingredient than as a component of cheap bar soap. The glycerin extracted from commercial soap production goes into lotions, serums, and moisturizers -- often products made by the same companies selling you the stripped-down soap.
What you're left with in a commercial bar soap (including many bars labeled "beauty bar" or "moisturizing bar" that are technically synthetic detergent bars, not soap) is a cleansing agent without the natural moisturizing byproduct that the soapmaking process was supposed to create.
Handmade cold-process soap retains all of its natural glycerin. This is not a marketing claim -- it's a direct result of how the soap is made. Small-batch soapmakers don't extract the glycerin, so it remains distributed throughout the bar, contributing to that distinctive skin feel that handmade soap users describe.
If you've ever used a truly well-made handmade bar and noticed that your skin felt soft and comfortable after washing without immediately needing lotion, retained glycerin is a significant part of why.
What About Bacteria on a Bar of Soap?
This comes up frequently, and it's worth addressing directly: studies have consistently shown that bar soap, even shared bar soap, does not transfer harmful bacteria to the skin in meaningful amounts. The lather mechanism of soap -- creating a solution that lifts and rinses away oils, dirt, and microorganisms -- works whether the soap comes from a bar or a bottle.
The idea that bar soap is somehow less hygienic than liquid soap is largely a perception created by marketing, not microbiology. A bar of soap rinsed after each use and stored on a draining soap dish is a perfectly hygienic way to cleanse.
Sustainability: The Case That Barely Needs Making
A bar of soap comes in paper, cardboard, or no packaging at all. A bottle of body wash comes in a single-use plastic container.
The average person uses between two and four bottles of body wash per year. Over a decade, that's twenty to forty plastic bottles per person. Body wash bottles are also notoriously difficult to fully empty, meaning you're often throwing away product along with the packaging.
A well-made bar of soap -- stored properly to keep it dry between uses -- outlasts what most people expect, making it more economical per wash than most body wash options at a comparable price point. Our bars, kept on a draining soap dish out of the direct water stream, last significantly longer than a typical bottle of body wash and produce no plastic waste.
Is There a Place for Body Wash?
Yes, honestly. Not everything needs a definitive winner.
For some people, the format of body wash is genuinely more convenient -- easier to apply with a loofah or shower puff, more portable, better suited to certain physical limitations. If the body wash you're using is formulated with gentle, plant-based surfactants rather than SLS, is free from synthetic fragrance, parabens, and unnecessary additives, and works well for your skin, that's a reasonable choice.
The problem isn't body wash as a format. The problem is what most body washes -- particularly affordable, widely available ones -- are actually made of. The question isn't really "bar or bottle?" It's "what's actually in this product and what is it doing to my skin?"
We make a 2-in-1 Body Wash and Bubble Bath for people who love a liquid format. It's built on coconut-derived surfactants (decyl glucoside and cocamidopropyl betaine) rather than SLS, includes chamomile extract and glycerin, and is completely free from sulfates, alcohols, dyes, parabens, and phthalates. That's the difference that a thoughtful formula makes. The format is liquid, but the ingredient philosophy is the same as everything else we make.
Four Ways to Make the Switch
If you're curious about bar soap but not sure where to start, here's how we'd recommend approaching it.
Simply Unscented Bar Soap
The cleanest possible starting point. Six ingredients: organic sunflower and olive oil blend, water, coconut oil, shea butter, sodium hydroxide, and organic palm oil. No fragrance, no dyes, no extras. Just a well-made bar that does exactly what soap is supposed to do -- cleanses thoroughly, lathers beautifully, and leaves skin feeling soft rather than stripped.
If you're coming from a heavily fragranced or SLS-based body wash, your skin may take a couple of weeks to recalibrate. After that adjustment period, most people find they need far less moisturizer after their shower than they used to. The retained glycerin does what it's always supposed to have done.
Shop Simply Unscented Bar Soap
Goat Milk Bar Soap Collection
For anyone who wants all the benefits of natural bar soap with an extra layer of gentleness, the goat milk collection is a beautiful entry point. Goat milk has a pH close to human skin's natural pH, adds a creamy richness to the lather, and is one of the most well-tolerated cleansing formulas for sensitive or reactive skin. Available in four varieties -- unscented with oatmeal, lavender oatmeal, honey and oatmeal, and Bohemian (lavender and patchouli) -- there's an option for every preference.
Customers who've spent years struggling to find a bar soap that doesn't irritate their skin consistently land here and stay.
Liquid Foaming Soap
For people who prefer a liquid format but want to leave SLS behind, this is the direct swap. Built on organic coconut oil and organic olive oil rather than synthetic detergents, it produces a light, velvety lather that rinses clean and leaves hands and skin feeling genuinely soft. Sulfate-free, paraben-free, dye-free, and phthalate-free. Fifteen scents available, plus an unscented Simply Natural option.
With over 91 five-star reviews, it's consistently one of our most loved products -- and the format makes the transition from body wash feel completely natural for people who aren't quite ready to go full bar.
2-in-1 Body Wash and Bubble Bath
A thoughtfully formulated liquid option for the bubble lovers. Coconut-derived surfactants, chamomile extract, glycerin, and none of the sulfates, parabens, dyes, or phthalates found in conventional body washes. It works equally well as a body wash and a bubble bath, produces a generous lather, and is gentle enough for the whole family. The Men's Collection version is also available for a more targeted grooming experience.
Shop 2-in-1 Body Wash and Bubble Bath
Making the Most of Your Bar Soap
A few habits that make a real difference:
Store your bar on a draining soap dish. This is the single most important thing you can do to extend the life of your bar. A well-drained soap dish, positioned out of the direct shower spray, keeps the bar dry between uses and prevents it from softening and dissolving prematurely. A bar that sits in standing water will wear out in a fraction of the time.
Let it cure. Our bars are fully cured before they reach you, but storing a new bar with the wrapper off for a few days before first use can help it harden further and last even longer.
Give your skin time to adjust. If you've been using SLS-based body wash for years, your skin has been in a cycle of stripping and overproduction. It may take a couple of weeks for things to normalize after switching to a gentler formula. This is normal, and the skin on the other side of that adjustment is noticeably different -- calmer, softer, less reactive.
Pair with a lighter moisturizer. Many people who switch to natural bar soap find they need significantly less moisturizer after their shower. The retained glycerin in a handmade bar does meaningful hydrating work, and the absence of stripping surfactants means your skin isn't starting from a depleted state.
The Bottom Line
The bar soap vs body wash question is really a question about ingredients. And when you look at the ingredients in most conventional body washes -- SLS-based surfactants, synthetic preservatives, undisclosed fragrance blends, artificial dyes -- versus a well-made handmade bar made with plant oils, water, and retained glycerin, the comparison is fairly clear.
Natural bar soap cleans as effectively, treats your skin more gently, lasts longer, costs less per use, and produces no plastic waste. If you've been meaning to make the switch, the products above are a great place to start.
Your skin will notice the difference. Probably faster than you'd expect.
Browse our full bar soap collection
Want to understand more about what's in your skincare products? Our guide to reading skincare ingredient labels is a useful companion to this post -- it breaks down INCI naming, what to look for, and what to avoid across soap, lotion, and body cream.