Soap is cheap enough that I’m not very cost sensitive. But i like bar soap because i like the way it feels, and i like the way it rinses off. I’ve had unpleasant experiences with shower gel leaving me feeling like I’d applied a smelly lotion.
(my number one determinate for soap is, "how well does it rinse off.)
Cecil Adams covered that issue (of what’s in Ivory soap), thirty years ago.
Yes, in Soviet Canuckistan, soap, like medical care, is rationed and hard to get!
Must depend on one’s bathroom, or whatever hanging place one leaves wet washcloths in. I’ve never had one get mold or mildew, and I wash them about every third use, along with the towels.
I have never used whatever’s being referred to as a scrunchie. I thought a scrunchie was a doohicky some people use to tie up their hair.
I believe they’re thinking of a loofah.
I have used a loofah. I decided that I like a washcloth better.
Or the plastic things that are kinda like loofahs.
Huh? (and an extra question mark for Discourse)
My wash clothes rarely mildew, either. But they do need to be washed more often than the towels.
I own more washclothes than towels, and toss the washclothes in the laundry somewhat regularly.
^Plastic thing, sometimes called a loofah. Loofah is a sponge made from a plant.
Thanks, i was just trying to post that.
I rinse the washcloths out in the tub or under the spout after each use. Doesn’t clean them as well as the washing machine, but does do something.
ETA: thanks, @susan. Those don’t look at all like what I think of as a loofah; but it’s interesting, and possibly useful, to know that they share the name.
I enjoy bar soap for my face.
This, too. Bar soap isn’t just cheaper, it’s way way cheaper.
$10.47 for eight full sized bars of soap. That might last me a couple of years. Seven hundred showers. Dirt is more expensive.
I have extremely sensitive skin, as does the Celtling. When she was born i had to learn to make/formulate washing products that wouldn’t irritate her skin.
For shampoo/bodywash/hand soap i still use Ajax dish soap. It is easy to buy in bulk and i like the orange scent. Divide a gallon in half and add dissolved table salt and vegetable glycerin. Fill with warm water and shake. Voila, you have two years’ worth for about $20.
Someone mentioned using bar soap because it is cheaper. Gather 'round children! Get yourself a one gallon bottle with a pump. Fill it with hot water and add one fifth of a bar soap. (Some brands more, some even less) Let it dissolve, then shake well. You’ve now got six months worth of hand soap. It gets better.
Now get yourself some of those foaming hand wash bottles. When the gel is used up fill it 2/3s with water and add a couple pumps of your body wash. It will work just fine.
As for Dawn as mentioned above, i do use it rarely for clarifying shampoo. Add glycerin and salt as above, but water it down 5x. A little goes a long way. It has an ingredient that breaks down oil, so even the oiliest skin/hair doesn’t need it more than monthly.
Soap is the biggest rip-off in the USA today. A little knowledge can save you a fortune.
I love the hotel soap you get at the good places in Vegas. Always bring bars home, to the point that I haven’t bought bar soap in 20 years.
But…
Harry’s has introduced a line of body washes, and they sent me a sample pack along with a Special Gift. That gift was a 16oz. bottle of the Fog body wash. Not my favorite scent, but cheap is cheap. Been using the stuff for the last couple of months and I’m sold on both the product and the scent. The bar soap is getting added to the Women’s Shelter box. I’ve got a new squeeze.
This could be a thread title.
A bar of soap does last a long time, and I am not such a curmudgeon that I have to find the absolute cheapest product (though I have seen the soap boutique jack up the price per pound of those hand-made goat milk bars to a level which just seems silly). My criterion, and this should satisfy everybody who says they have sensitive skin, is that I figure soap should not have more than three or so ingredients. I do not care about fragrance, for instance, so so much the better if it just not be there.
Did your great grandmother make soap back on the farm? Cause if she did, it was probably cow milk and lye. I have never tried my hand at soap making, but as a currently unemployed cheese maker, I can tell you that cow milk is much more difficult to work with than goat milk. Goat milk is richer and has bigger fat cells and just wants to be cheese. I would guess the same applies to the sort of soap, but that is just my guess.
I am going to be sooooo screwed when my soap-maker retires.
I use soaps without parabens and phthalates. Unfortunately, the catch-all term “parfum” sometimes disguises these ingredients, so I tend toward simple soaps like Kiss My Face Olive Oil Bar Soap, with 3 ingredients and no additional scents.