Toss the liquid soap!

It's time to return to bar soap, and say 'sayonara' to liquid soap.

Say goodbye to shower gels, handwashes, hand sanitizers (unless you work as a childcare worker or in the medical industry in direct contact with patients), refreshing shower washes, body scrubs, and other overpriced nonsense.

You don't need them.

There are some absolutely lovely bar soaps on the market. Almost all of them are much more economical than liquid soaps.

You can get everything from pure vegetable soaps to goat's and sheep's milk (baa soaps?), oatmeal and honey, and everything in-between.

Sunlight soap is a long-standing favourite, and excellent for just about everything. You can get sorbolene soaps for delicate skins, and hypo-allergenic soaps (whatever that means) if you want them.

Almost all bar soaps have less packaging than liquid soaps. Combined with a good face cloth, loofah or scubbing brush, they will do a great job of keeping you clean and smelling fresh.

Do your wallet - and the planet - a favour, and make a permanent switch to bar soap. You won't regret it.

My personal soapy choice is any budget-priced soap packaged without plastic!

Are all soaps the same? A few soap bubbles of information

Basically, yes.

Most contain the basic ingredients of lard and lye. Even the expensive beauty soaps can't (and don't) get around this one.

For example, the very expensive Clinique Step 1 soap (in Australia, I think it retails for about $20 per bar) is just primarily lard and lye. The same as a soap you would buy for 50c a bar.

The difference between soaps is any additional ingredients (fragrance, colour, additional moisturisers etc.).

For sensitive skin, the simpler the soap, the less likely it will be to cause iritation. Sorbolene soaps and goats' milk soaps are reputed to be good for sensitive skin.

Personally, I find all bar soaps are less irritating than liquid soaps. This is n't surprising - bar soaps tend to have fewer ingredients, which means less likelihood of irritation.

For people with sensitive skins, avoiding fragrance is the key in most cases. This seems to be true, no matter which product or brand.

Occasionally you will find plant-based soaps, and vegetarians and similar folk may wish to check ingredients before purchase. These can include olive oil soaps and suchlike, or coconut oil-based soaps. Vegetable-based soaps can still contain animal-based ingredients. Check ingredients lists if this concerns you.

Be aware that many so-called 'home made' soaps that you buy at fairs are just made from cheap plain cakes of soaps (or pre-made bulk soap flakes) that the stall holder/'manufacturer' has simply added colours and fragrances to. They often have not made the soap itself from scratch. Not that there is anything wrong with this - it's just the reality.

French milled soap is just soap that has been through a finer, further process of milling (usually through stainless steel rollers) to give it a softer, more gentle feel on the skin. French milled soap dissolves more evenly, and feels more luxurious to the touch, but is not more effective at cleaning. It is still just soap.

Dove soap may claim to be 1/4 moisturising cream, but it will still dry out your skin, if you are prone to dryness. However, it is still an effective soap.

Soap is fine to use on your face, but if you are prone to dryness, use water most days, and save the soap for weekends. The truth is, most people's faces really don't get that dirty! However, if you are wearing sunblock or makeup, soap will clean your face beautifully, but you may want a moisturiser afterwards, depending on your skin type, if your skin feels tight and dry.

Bar soap is GREAT!

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THE NEXT STEP: If you're ready for bar soap, you might want to try out home made shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste - and save even more money!