Scarcity of Soap

The olive oil soap brands that are also totally vegetarian would make great birthday presents for the kind of relations I have who lean towards veggie or are totally veggie and are opposed to the use of palm oil.

Holland & Barratt does a range of hand made soaps, called Faith in Nature, different fragrances lavender, orange, coconut. 100gms bars costing £1.99 per bar. Lovely soaps. Pears soaps which I used to use changed its original formula several years ago, and there was quite an outcry from the public as they added several extra ingredients to it and changed some of the original ones. I believe they said after all the complaints that they would change it back again to the original formula. I changed my soap after they altered and haven't used it since, so I don't know if it was changed back again.
I still use liquid handwash in the kitchen though as it's so much easier when you need to wash your hands quickly between food preparations and cooking baking etc, and have Wright's Coal Tar for that which I love the smell of.

Alexa, yes as far as I know, Olive-oil soaps are vegetarian. The information about one made by Olivia, certainly says that it is.

I have loads of bars of soap tucked away, I usually buy ythem on offer whenever I see them, but tbh, I tend to use shower gels rather than soap and I have handwash avaiable as well as bars of soap.

Funny this should be posted today as just yesterday DH and discussed giving up liquid soap ( which I do like) in favour of bar soap, for the sake of the environment. I did have a lovely bar of 'donkey soap' DD brought from France, made from asses milk. Apparently shampoo bars are also available, but haven't tried them.

Why not make your own? Lots of recipes on Pinterest or You Tube, or try a kit - Hobbycraft sell them (on line or in stores), as do Homecraft etc.
You can customise your soap to smell the way you want and tinker with ingredients to suit your skin.
Do a Google search for other kits and ingredients.

You'll look a little lovelier each day
With fabulous pink Camay.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rnu72NRWjU

How strange, I was only debating this at work on Friday! My DDIL told me recently DG (aged 8) had spotted something in the bathroom and asked his mum what it was- soap! The family usually use squirty soap and had decided to be more environmentally conscious.
Tbh I’d never given it much thought and use both at home. At work I order ‘stuff’ for the team and suggested getting block soap with the next order as none of our soap dispensers work anyway. There was surprising reluctance to this, ‘too messy’, ‘not as hygienic as anti-bac’ (really? ?) etc. So I’ve ordered a box of 36 soaps, they’ll get used to it!

I have changed to soap not only because of the plastic containers but I did hear that shower gels contain tiny grains of plastic but Lauren sulphate which is bad for the skin. I was given some Italian made soap for Christmas, Nesti Dante, which at present I am using.
Seventy years ago I went on a consumer test. We were given unnamed bars of soap to try out and rate. Turned out to be Camay. I always use Palmolive.

You're right. Tesco is the only shop where I can find Palmolive soap at the moment.
I stopped buying hand-wash ages ago as it isn't as effective at sanitising despite what the labels say.
I always wash for at least 15 seconds with soap which is the recommended length of time to really clean your hands.

Lots of you are recommending the soap that you like.
It would be helpful if you could also let us know if product is palm oil free.

Holland & Barratt sell Oliva pure olive oil soap, as well as other brands. I find it lovely for my face with no added chemicals. Have stopped using liquid soaps and shower gels in plastic bottles. Love some of the special scented soups for showering.

I was given some Italian made soap for Christmas, Nesti Dante,
It sounds like a song Bijou - does that soap help you to sing in the shower?

I might buy some, I need all the help I can get with singing.

Is it just me who never buys shower gel? I always wash my hair in my daily shower so just use the suds as they cascade down to wash my body with.

I also have just replaced my hand pump liquid soap in my down stairs loo with bar soap and when my granddaughter (2) went to wash her hands, she said , 'It's not working!' as it was dry!!

There are a lot of sulphates in shampoo.

Yes, pure olive-oil soap should not contain palm oil. Olive oil is the moisturing content. (But probably best to check the written ingredients. For example, I'm not sure about Palmolive's ingredients.)

You could also try L'Occitane and large garden centres. Burford Garden Centre has bathfuls (literally) of them, lovely scented Italian soaps.

My favourite is Chanel Coco soap. It's hideously expensive so I ask for it as a present and it's so well made that you'll still have lots left even when the scent has worn away!

I have some olive oil soap which I brought back from Greece; it doesn't lather as much as ordinary soap.

I keep a squirty soap in the kitchen ( mint and tea tree is my favourite as it gets rid of cooking smells on your hands) but have used “Pears” bar soap in the bathroom , since my 1st DGD was born 13 years ago. The children all love it and it smells like fresh babies .

There are products that use sustainable palm oil, which may solve that dilemma. www.ethicalsuperstore.com/category/beauty-health-and-wellbeing/bath-and-body/soap/sustainable-palm-oil.htm

There is also the conundrum that by shunning palm oil we will inadvertently contribute to even more deafforestation. Palm oil is in so many things we consume and would need to be replaced by another oil, all of which are produced less efficiently than palm oil, therefore leading to even more land being required. lovelygreens.com/avoiding-palm-oil-in-soap-making/

I wanted some highlt scented bar soap so I bought some Camay, Lux etc fro. Ebay. They didn't seem to have much perfume to them at all. It might be my nose at fault! Can anyone recommend some that sme nice, please. ( not too expensive like Roget and Gallet though)

I’m another fan of Nesti Dante soap - I get it on Amazon. It’s expensive but the bars are huge and last for ages. There’s a huge selection of fragrances and they’re all luscious.
I also buy from TKMAXX, they do Institut Karité soap, and the lavender one is divine. I unwrap it and shove it in with my linens which makes it very nice and fragrant.
To me, a bar of lovely scented soap is a real luxury, much better than slimy liquid. Like a previous poster, I much regret that neither Yardley Lavender, nor Pears soap smell how they used to. Yardley was always my favourite, but it all seems to have a nasty peppery chemical smell these days!

SueD, thank you for that.
The products on there vary in price some of them fairly inexpensive.
May I remind everyone that a bar of soap will last a lot longer than a bottle of liquid before you jump on me and tell me a bottle of liquid soap is cheaper.
We can look out for products that contain sustainable palm oil. It is a bit of an effort though. I do wish manufacturers would make it easier.

Just checked Nesti Dante soap. It contains palm oil from sustainable sources ??