Soap Bar or Body Wash - What's the Difference?
Soap bar or body wash?
For most of us, the answer comes down to what we prefer using. Both are designed to cleanse the skin, but they're made differently and can feel quite different in use.
As people who have been making traditional cold process soap for more than 20 years, we're obviously rather fond of a bar, but that doesn't mean we're going to tell you that everybody needs to give up their body wash!
Here's what actually makes them different.
What Is Traditional Soap?
Traditional soap is made through a process called saponification.
Oils and butters are combined with an alkali, creating a chemical reaction which transforms them into soap. With cold process soap, the recipe is created from the raw ingredients rather than starting with a ready-made soap base.
Different oils and butters can be used to give the finished bar different characteristics, while fragrance, essential oils, botanicals and other ingredients can be added depending on the recipe.
Once made, cold process soap also needs time to cure before it's ready to use.
What Is Body Wash?
Body wash is a liquid cleansing product and is generally formulated quite differently.
Rather than being made as a solid bar through traditional soap making, body washes commonly use surfactants, cleansing ingredients that help remove oils and dirt from the skin – as part of a liquid formulation.
There are countless formulations of both body wash and bar soap, so you can't really say that one format is automatically gentler, stronger or “better” for your skin simply because it's a bar or a liquid.
What Does a Soap Bar Feel Like to Use?
This is where personal preference really comes into it.
A traditional soap bar is wonderfully straightforward. Add water, work up a lather and use it to cleanse your skin.
But different bars can give you quite different experiences.
A smooth soap feels very different from one containing oatmeal, poppy seeds or ground walnut shell, for example. Fragrance-free soap is another experience again.
That's one of the things we love about making soap, the basic method may be traditional, but the finished bars certainly don't all have to be the same.
What About Body Wash?
For some people, the convenience of a liquid product is exactly what they want.
It's easy to dispense from a bottle or pump, there's no bar to store between uses and there are enormous numbers of formulations and fragrances available.
And that's perfectly fine.
This doesn't have to become Team Soap versus Team Body Wash.
How Should You Store a Soap Bar?
One thing that does make a difference to a traditional soap bar is what you do with it after you've used it.
Don't leave it sitting in water.
Allowing air to circulate around the bar and letting it dry between uses will help prevent it becoming unnecessarily soft.
A well-draining soap dish or soap rack is ideal.
It's a very simple thing, but it can help you get much more enjoyment from your bar.
So Which Should You Choose?
Whichever you prefer.
If you enjoy the convenience and feel of a liquid cleanser, body wash may suit you perfectly.
If you like a solid bar, traditional soap making and being able to choose between different fragrances, botanicals and textures, you may prefer handmade soap.
And you don't actually have to choose one forever. Plenty of people use both.
Why We Still Love Making Soap
Heyland & Whittle began making traditional soap in a small barn in the Surrey Hills in 2003, and cold process soap remains an important part of who we are today.
Our soaps are still made here in Britain using the traditional cold process method, but the individual recipes are wonderfully varied.
There's Pure Fragrance Free if you prefer something simple and unscented, English Lavender for a traditional aromatic fragrance, Hemp & Walnut if you enjoy a more textured bar, and Activated Charcoal for something completely different again.
More than 20 years later, we're still finding new ways to make something that's actually very simple:
a really lovely bar of soap.
