Soap bars -going back in time

I hate messy soggy bars of soap. Can’t stand the mess they leave. I like liquid soap in both bathroom and kitchen.

Does anybody else love having beautiful soaps but is reluctant to actually spoil them by opening them and using them? I've got some Chanel 5 soap, beautifully wrapped and smelling divine, that I've had for about 5 years. But I can't bring myself to use it! probably just me being daft.

Amphora Aromatics do shampoo in a bar Jalima.

Our plumber told us that it is the hair conditioner that causes problems, and can cause the mould which can appear in showers.

When I was a child my we always had Lifebuoy soap, and a bar of Pears was put in the bathroom if visitors were expected! Mum always bought 'soft green soap' in a jar for hair washing, my hair was always really soft and shiny. I don't know who it was made by. Now we usually use Imperial Leather, but would love to try olive oil soap, and shampoo in a bar. We are in a very hard water area and a plumber told us gel & shampoos cause awful problems with pipework, so time to try something different I think.

They're available from Lush and if you Google 'shampoo bars' various other brands will show up too.

As someone said earlier, the soaps bring back memories. My dad was coal tar, my mum Camay, my grandma Pears or Imperial Leather sitting on its label, my mum-in-law Bromley. Avon Pretty Peach was Christmas when I was about 8, Roger & Gallet the school trip to Paris, when I spent my last francs on a box of guest soaps. Pomegranate Noir was when my first DC got married, You don’t get that with shower gel (or do you?).

We always had Palmolive when I was a child, so presumably that must have had some olive oil in it.

I am interested in the shampoo soap bars - are they widely available?

It's better to not use plastic in the first place rather than recycling it. Obviously it's pretty difficult nowadays to avoid all plastic but bar soap is a good start.

Harking back to my childhood, Lifebuoy was a soap we used, and Pears for a special treat.

Yardley still do nice flower-scented soaps.

I was brought up on carbolic and coal tar soaps so anything else was a bonus! I've always liked the smell of Imperial Leather and Pears was a favourite when we were young. I still have some lavender soap left from last year's holiday in Provence and I also have a precious piece of olive oil soap from the same shop.

I have never stopped buying soap 'bars' as DH has always preferred them.
TK Maxx has some good buys in Italian soaps and olive oil soaps; Scottish Fine Soaps are good too. if I see handmade soaps I always have to buy some.

I like L'Occitane but have never bought their soap so perhaps I should give that a try.

Ah yes, it was Morny Sandalwood I used to use - not Bronnley as I states upthread. Bronnley favourite was English Fern. Thanks kathyd for jogging my (ancient creaking) memory!

My son had eczema as a child and we have been using Sante shower products ever since. I think Pears is now made in India and I dont feel is quite the same as years back. I found a blue version in an Asian shop recently.

As for sticky soap dishes, perhaps have two bars and alternate so allow each to dry out a bit more between uses? Probably would extend the life of a bar too.

I use L'Occitane bar soap as it does not go gunky

Avon Honeysuckle soap and talc. Whenever I smell Honeysuckle in the hedge at the side of my garden it brings back memories of my honeymoon as that is what I took with me.

Does anyone else 'remake' left over slivers of soap? I save them until I have a box full then chop them up and soften in a little bit of hot water. I pour them into a washed out margarine box and after a few days take out the 'new' bar of soap. Then I put it in the linen cupboard and forget it for about six months by which time it will have hardened. They last quite well.

I'm currently using a nail brush on the side of the basin as a soap dish, which allows the soap to dry.

We always had round Morny soaps when I was young. My favourites were Rose or Sandalwood.

I'm a Johnson's baby soap fan too.

A large % of plastics collected by councils never gets recycled.

I use the soap they use in Turkish Baths, hopefully my daughter is bringing me a supply home soon. It's like silk on your skin.

As I've got very sensitive skin, I've used Simple soap for years. My husband likes Shield.

But if we can avoid buying, using and having to recycle plastics sarahellen, its much better for the environment, surely? And so many of the plastics that are used for food trays cannot be recycled; particularly the black ones.

I have also returned to soaps and love them. I'm concerned about using plastic shower "puffs" as well, so very recently I bought a small loofah. It's rather hard at present (great on feet, but not on tender places!). However I'm hoping it will soften up with use. Otherwise it's soap and a flannel. I'm another fan of Lush soaps and products and also any "hand-made" soaps I come across, tbat are made with olive oil and other oils.

My local council cannot be the only ones who have a recycling collection service. They issue for free, to anyone who wishes to partake of this service , large carrier type bags in different colours indicating which is for plastics, ,glass, tin , paper/ cardboard..
This is a godsend as you know full well the containers of your purchases will be disposed of without danger to the environment and liquid soap does not give you that slimy mess that bar soaps can create at the bottom of a soap dish and no guilty feelings when buying foods in plastic trays.

Like harrigran & suzied I also use L'Occitan soap because it lasts ages and doesn't end up as a slimy mess in the bottom of the dish. The cheapest place I've found to buy it is QVC, where it's often on a "one time only offer". Either that, or TKMax for their Italian soaps. And buying it there means you don't get stopped by customs Marydoll!