I don’t use bar soap, but I’ve learned I need to have a bar in the shower for overnight guests. My annoying deadbeat brother once used half a bottle of my $30 face wash instead of the provided liquid soap, because “there wasn’t any soap”. He also used the bath mats as towels despite the towels I set out for him.
My brother-in-law also prefers bar soap, but is very fussy about the brand. Ivory is unacceptable to him.
So I have bar soap that sits in a plastic container for months. I freshen it up a bit if someone’s coming to visit.
I prefer to use liquid soap at the sink and bar soap in the shower. In fact, I use two kinds of bar soap in the shower, an antibacterial one for the bits that need it, and a glycerin soap for the bits that tend to be too dry. So liquid soap at the sink is what’s available. I make sure that I have a very mild soap for my daughter when she comes to visit, because she has sensitive skin. Usually I’ll get Ivory or a glycerin soap for her, and frequently she brings her own soap and will insist that I try it. I don’t have house guests other than my daughter. My husband’s great nephew stayed overnight once, and he was fine with everything, but then he goes camping a lot, and is quite accustomed to roughing it. When I discovered that he hadn’t brought his toothbrush, though, I made him take one of out of our stock. I keep a stock of things like toothbrushes, bars of soap, shampoo, things like that. Not a HUGE stock, no more than a couple of spares toothbrushes at any time, for instance, but I like having a stock.
I’d rather have a bar of soap with hair on it (as long as it’s pickable off) or in a soggy puddle than have liquid soap. I dislike the feeling of rubbing liquid soap on my body hair.
This reminds me of *my *pet peeve. I’ve been to a couple of parties lately (parties! So they were definitely expecting lots of guests!) where the only thing to dry ones hands on was someones clearly days-old, hanging to dry bath towel. Come on, now. That’s just icky.
I make soap as a hobby, so we just have hand made bar soap in our house. It does not sit in water or get slimy. It really hadn’t occurred to me this would bother some people.
You do realize that the OP clarified the question to refer to soap at the bathroom sink, where it’s used for hand washing, right? How hairy are your hands, anyhow?
Never given it a moments thought. Probably because I am aware that my friends are not so judgy as to care, as long as there is soap available. Others who happen by, who may prefer otherwise, well, I couldn’t care less what they think, to be honest.
I provide soap. If it doesn’t suit you, then you should carry what you prefer around with you for your personal use, instead of expecting to be accommodated wherever you go, in my humble opinion, anyway.
It’s not “judgy” to have a preference. I prefer Coca-Cola to Pepsi. I’d prefer to eat a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger. I prefer the window seat over the aisle seat That’s not “judgy”; they are just preferences.
Wait, you ask your houseguests to bring their own stuff? Or do you mean that if they don’t like what you have, they’re welcome to go shopping after they arrive?
Well, I’ve also never found another person’s hair on soap at the bathroom sink so you may see how I may have been confused. So amend my answer to “don’t care” with the caveat that unless it’s obviously a bar of soap to be used with washing (i.e. bar-shaped, or half-used already,) that I’d slightly prefer the liquid soap, since I’d be afraid the other type, unused in the form of a shell or such, would be “art soap” for decorative purposes only.
At my granny’s it’s literally catered for a hand washing fest. You get a bar, liquid soap *and hand cream *all in the same scent line. And then a really clean, fluffy towel.
One day, when I am a granny, I will have a loo like that. It will also have flowery wallpaper, just like hers.
I think it’s the latter. I hope it’s the latter, anyway.
Incidentally, I once saw a craft that called for some sort of sheer fabric in the shape of rose petals, and the crafter was supposed to coat these petals in soap and let them dry. The soapy petals were then supposed to be displayed in a dish, for guests to use. Each petal was a single use item. Frankly, if I’d been confronted by a dish of soapy petals, I’d have thought that they were a kind of potpourri, at least at first. And if I did figure out what they were for, I’d also be confused as to what to do with the fabric remnants, unless a wastebasket was properly displayed. This craft was presented by the company that made the fabric petals, of course.
First time I hear that liquid soap is more sanitary. That would depend on who’s using it and how, wouldn’t it? If someone uses his dirty hands to push the plunger and doesn’t clean it afterwards, how is that more sanitary than a bar?
I don’t care what type of soap you have, as long as it’s clearly meant to be used(decorative soaps confuse me). My issue is when there’s no towel! Just because you dry your hands on your bath towel doesn’t mean your guests want to do the same.
Whatever happens to be in the bathroom. I don’t think I have ever felt the need to check the soap situation before guests arrive, although I have never had some homeless person come to stay. Usually it has been someone with a bag, that possibly contains the soap of their choice if mine is inadequate.
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First time I hear that liquid soap is more sanitary. That would depend on who’s using it and how, wouldn’t it? If someone uses his dirty hands to push the plunger and doesn’t clean it afterwards, how is that more sanitary than a bar?
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Don’t think the marketers haven’t thought of that! Recently I’ve seen ads for automatic liquid soap dispensers with an infrared sensor, so you just wave your hand underneath and get a squirt of soap unsullied by human touch.
No doubt the same companies are also working on some kind of levitation suit that let’s you hover a few inches away from all surfaces that might possibly have been in contact with a person.
My Dad and I both used to travel for business and we were also hotel toiletry kleptos. I have a couple of the tiny hand lotions that I took that I keep in my messenger bag and vehicles. I really so rarely use hand lotion it really is a waste of money for me to buy a huge bottle of anything. I also have a selection of the small hotel soaps in a lot of different scents, and also some of the little shampoos and conditioners. We also keep them in a tub in the bathroom cabinet.
We just got a couple boxes of assorted soap making stuff through free cycle because I want to make my own scented soap - the normal sandalwood soaps are normally just way too flowery, but there is one soap that I really like so I got the essential oils and am going to try and match the scent and make my own.
We have [in the bathroom] a foamy soap dispenser of minty Dr Bronners, and a small bar of a clear glycerin soap for those who like bar soap. I have a small soap holder with a specialty extremely mild glycerine face soap that gets tucked away in the cupboard when not in use. In the shower we have everything from dr bronners through liquid dove, and a selection ranging from a mild glycerine to a superfatted mango something or another [I think it also has coconut oil in it. It smells like a fruity girly drink.]
