The most gentle soap? - YouLookFab Forum

During one of DS#2's university classes for BScNursing he learned some interesting information from a guest speaker; a wound care and skin integrity specialist!

Liquid Dove is the most gentle body soap
The 'harshest' liquid soap is gentler than the gentlest bar
Dove bar is the gentlest bar soap
Irish Spring is the harshest bar soap of all, but mechanics love it!

As an aside, I was complaining about the rabbit that ate my rose bush, and the woman I was talking to volunteered that since her dog died 2 months ago, chipmunks and squirrels have taken over her garden. A woman who overheard us said she grates Irish Spring with a cheese grater and sprinkles it in her garden, and it keeps the varmints away. (I'm going to give it a try!)

And, DS#1 (a cyclist) who techs his (and my) bike, learned from his cyclist buddies that liquid Tide removes bicycle grease with little to no scrubbing. (I can vouch for it!)

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9 years ago

Anonymous

This makes sense to me. I use a bar dove soap in the shower. My DH used to use Irish spring and he found it drying and now we all use dove. I ended up donating the remaining unused soap since he wouldn't use his old kind. I always thought Dial was the harshest.

Diana

Veteran

This seems logical to me as well. I get contact dermatitis from Irish spring (I figured it out bc my husband used to use it when we first met and I'd take showers at his place and end up itchy the next day). I agree dove is very gentle although I personally don't care for it because I dislike soaps with moisturizers mixed in.

My sensitive skin likes glycerin based soaps best. I use the 365 brand bars from whole foods for my body, and liquid neutrogena glycerin based face wash.

Astrid

I think it really depends on which kind of bar soap you use. Right now I'm using one which only has five ingredients: oils, water and sodium hydroxide. The Dove bar soap has a ton of ingredients in comparison (amongst others palm oil). I prefer a bar to liquid because the best soap for my skin is no soap at all (history of neurodermatitis) and the liquid gets everywhere, even where I don't need it.

anne

Interesting! We don't use liquid soap, unless it was a gift, for some ethical or philosophical reason of my DH's that I can't now recall!

Sal

I use bar soap in the shower but we do have liquid soap in the kitchen and guest bathroom,. I buy very large refill bottles for our own dispensers to avoid as much wastage as possible.

I use a variety if brands in the shower but mostly ones that I get as gifts to be honest.

Interesting - particularly the Tide liquid bit for bike oil stains. I spend every Sunday in the summer with a chain mark on the back of my calf - lucky if I can get it off in the shower.

Style Fan

Interesting. The only bar soap I can use is the one my Sister in law makes. She uses very few ingredients. I don't like using liquid soap for environmental reasons and only use a small amount.

Peri

I would respectfully disagree! Currently Dove body washes contain methyisothiazolinone, a preservative that is among the highest allergens around. They say they are phasing it out, but I would certainly not call it the most gentle at this point. This allergy has been called epidemic lately. It is much more likely to be in liquid soap products than bar soaps, so I think this specialist is missing some very current info.

I grew up using Dove because that's what my mom bought, but I don't use it now. My favorite right now is St. Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter body wash. I don't know if it's the gentlest or not, but it doesn't bother me and I like it.

Runcarla

Interesting, Peri. I will bring this up with DS#2. He did say that of course all soaps clean, but if you wash frequently (nurses do, as do gym addicts - and he is both) this might help with choice.

FWIW, DS#1 is living on his own and trying to economize and I suggested he use bar soap instead of liquid. Personally, I'm a bar soap person, but do use liquid also because it is easier to decant into a smaller container and bring to the gym. A leaky plastic box with a melting bar of soap is not a nice thing in a gym bag!

Hmm, but bottles can leak too! (I had some shampoo/conditioner leakage in my gym bag only yesterday!)

L'Abeille

Soaps are still drying though, even liquid. The gentlest is an oatmeal bar. There are brands (Aveeno being the most popular) but when I was doing community health work in the South African townships we taught people to put a handful of porridge oats (flaked type) and some ground flax seed in a face cloth and tie it up into a sponge. (Works on sensitive-skin children too.)

DH bought a bar of Irish Spring zonks ago which is way too harsh for anyone in our family. It has been still sitting in our main-floor bathroom, next to the nailbrush. I only use it when I'm getting the garden dirt off my hands. I thought I was just too stingy to throw it out but sounds like it has found its purpose.

Anne, I've been lucky with my gym decanters. Years and years of toting and I can only recall 2 incidents of spillage - and both times cream rinse.

elpgal

I use goat milk soap bars and find them the least drying. Soaps with moisturizers make me feel icky like I can't get the soap residue off. The worst is the pink soap they have in the dispensers at the malls and at work.

Anne, thanks for the laugh! I can so identify with making some child rearing decisions and then totally not being able to recall what the reasons were.

retailgirl

I use Dove bar soap, love it. My dermatologist suggested it, along with CeraVe in a jar, not the lotion. And Cetaphil cleanser for my face, after a swipe with a Neutrogena makeup remover wipe.

Jules

Soap - a necessary evil? A local dermatologist says soap keeps him in business. Like Astrid I prefer bar soap because I can keep it to very specific areas. At my kids' daycare many of the little ones bring their own liquid hand soap dispensers in because the pink stuff is way too harsh for their frequent washing routine, especially in winter.
I'm going to try Irish Spring in the backyard spot the raccoons have chosen as their toilet this year!

Wany esst

Member

I think that the gentlest soap is the soap that does not contain various chemicals and contains large quantities of essential oils and many moisturizing ingredients. I can say with confidence that the best soap is handmade soap https://mildsoaps.com/.This site also describes in detail the benefits of natural soap. Also recently, my dermatologist prescribed me a natural gentle soap without fragrances and dyes and my skin condition has improved many times, it's so cool

3 years ago

cjh

(website)

Five year old thread, folks.

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