People think bar soap is gross now? Add another item to the germophobe hit list 
If they are people I think might be a bit picky, I’d put a new bar of soap out, but then it’s not likely to come up at our house because we only have one bathroom. I know, three bedrooms and only one bathroom - in America that would probably qualify us for food stamps or something, but we survive.
Bar soap. We’d put a fresh one in the guest bathroom.
I have something like 17 different types of liquid soap and shampoo in my bathroom; I think my wife collects them. Myself, I use a bar of Dove, which the very rare guest is welcome to use, or not.
When I was growing up, bar soap was what people had in their bathrooms. I would no more expect to see liquid soap in a private bathroom than I would expect to see one of those hot-air hand dryers on the wall.
Even though I still use bar soap myself, my SO asked me to leave some liquid soap by my sink, and I was happy to do so for her sake. Except, even though I hardly ever touch it, the spout drips and makes my sink basin all blorpy.
I use Dove bar soap as well and am slightly amused that this product used to be gender-neutral but now the traditional white and pink Dove bar soaps (and the hypoallergenic unscented one that I use) are in an aisle for “women’s soaps” while there is now a separate aisle with “men’s soaps” containing Dove for Men soaps. I still buy the traditional Dove soaps, partly because they’re cheaper and also because the men’s soaps aren’t available in an unscented version.
And any bacteria on the soap will get washed off along with your hands’ bacteria and go down the drain, too, right? You’re using the soap to wash away dirt! Any dirt on the soap also gets washed away.
Or do you wash thinking that somehow you’re going to get dirtier from it?
I don’t think of bar soap as a dirty or germy thing, that never occurred to me. I just hate bar soap unless it’s dry and unused. More often than not, it’s sitting in a puddle - that’s gross - and the underside is wet and spongy/goopy and it grosses me out. It’s a texture/wetness problem for me, not a germophobe one.
I’ve always had liquid soap at the sink just because I’m not a fan of bar soap, but if that’s all someone has at their house, I’ll use it anyway after I use the toilet - just know I’m making a face when I do it!
That’s how I feel. I don’t like cold and slimy.
And judging by the towels I toss in the laundry after people leave - no one seems to be washing his hands anyway. And I don’t have those linen cutesy-poo guest towels that people don’t like to use.
I grew up with bar soap in the bathroom. My grandmother and mother both had these fancy French soaps pressed into the shapes of roses and other flowers for guests. Us kids got to use Dove.
I’d say that whatever’s there should be good enough. Of course if you know someone has a particular preference, especially if they’re going to be there for a while, try to grab some. But if you don’t have time, no big deal.
I used to have a cat who liked to play with shiny dimes on the bathroom tile. She was a little tiny thing, dimes were too big for her to swallow, so she always had one. I used to laugh myself silly when I’d go into the bathroom and find my kitteh’s dime AND another dime on the toilet tank.
As to the OP, I agree that it depends on if they are houseguests or drop in visitors. Most of my drop in visitors are bikers, and the bathroom they use has a bottle of nice smelling handsoap, a used bar of Ivory and some liquid hand de-greaser.
I prefer liquid soaps or cleansers in my shower, and have different kinds. Guests are advised to use my “general” liquid soap instead of the more fancy one. Same goes for shampoos and conditioners.
For the sinks, all of them, only liquid soap. The bars are my facial soaps, and I don’t want them used for cleaning the hands after toilet use, when they’re used by me (with clean hands) for cleaning my face.
Well, okay, but I was only replying to ** MichaelEmouse**'s questioning whether soap was sanitary just by virtue of being soap. That is all. Didn’t say anything about getting dirty from it.
How does this go down, I wonder? “You are welcome you use the Suave or the Prell. But be advised, the Paul Mitchell and NeXXus are for my exclusive use only, and I have measured them. Do not use them. I will know.”
My guests are usually my parents. And yes, they have a tendency to use double the amount of anything needed, so I’ll notice quick. I’d rather they use the stock than my “special treat” toiletries.
Heh, you’re right I use Suave, but none of the other brands. They’re also usually too fancy schmancy and girly for their taste.
Liquid hand soap at the sink seems like the normal thing, to me. I don’t have to worry about it getting soggy and also don’t have to worry about it gumming up my wedding ring.
Bar soap in the shower for overnight guests, though. One that isn’t too perfumed.
All we have, all we have ever had, is Ivory bar soap. Sometimes goat friends send me their home-made goat milk soap, and then we use that up and go back to Ivory, cheapest possible soap. I do not hold with this newfangled soupified soap in a bottle. Is it even soap? As for the pantywaists whose sensibilities can no longer bear bar soap, don’t visit me. Our soap is never clean, or dry, and we only have one bathroom anyway. You’re lucky you aren’t sleeping out in the studio, we give those people a jar to pee in.
I think it depends on what sort of hosting you’re doing.
When we had a dinner party recently, my wife cleared all the used soap out of the bathrooms. She put liquid soap in containers in the bathroom we directed guests to use.
House guests are a different story, and it would depend on how well you knew them. When my youngest sister came to visit to see the baby, I gave the bathroom a better-than-average cleaning and made sure her bathroom was well provided with soap, but I wasn’t as fussy as I might have been. She was staying for a week, after all; no need to put a fresh bar in her bath every day, or to replace the body wash daily. And of course she was mostly taking care of that bathroom anyway.
I definitely prefer bar soap in the shower as it seems like I need three times as much liquid soap to get the same effect.
As an over night guest, I’ll bring my own soap for the shower as my skin freaks out with perfumed soaps. At the sink, liquid or bar, whatever you have works for me. 
You haven’t had **ME **over yet… :dubious:
Scent free, hypoallergenic…