Bar Soap Vs. Body Wash: Which Is Better?

At first glance, the bar soap may appear to be the weaker contender here, because it’s prone to dust or dirt accumulation, and there's always a risk of someone else using your bar. Recent studies, however, reveal that there is little risk in using a soap bar used by someone else, because soap is, well-, self-cleaning.

Body washes, however, stay concealed in their bottles and are well protected from outside dust. It’s the loofahs or the washcloths you use with body washes that harbor old dirt, hair, and skin cells from previous baths or showers.

The winner in the bar soap vs body wash battle for hygiene is bar soap, although if you use a clean washcloth or loofah every time you bathe with body wash, it could actually be a tie..

It may seem like bar soaps are obviously the more affordable option, but that only holds true if you go for the most basic kind of bar soap. If you’re looking for medicinal or perfumed soaps, the costs shoot up. Soaps also have a shorter lifespan than the average bottle of body wash, so in the time it takes to go through one bottle of body wash, you could wear out two or more soaps. So, when you do that math, body washes are eventually less expensive in the long run.

The winner in the bar soap vs body wash battle for cost is body wash.

There’s no contest here. Bar soaps are easily the more ecologically friendly option, as they typically come in paper or cardboard packages, which are easily degradable or recyclable, and they are less wasteful in the shower. Body washes almost always come in plastic containers-we all know how harmful plastic is for the environment-and body washes are more easily wasted in the shower, whether from over-pouring or from users failing to use every last drop of soap in the bottle.

The winner in the bar soap vs body wash battle for eco-friendliness is bar soap.

It’s an open secret that bar soaps can cause drier skin because they contain sodium hydroxide. This is true in most soaps except the bar soaps that specifically made as moisturizing soaps. Body washes, however, typically are made with a much lower pH, so that unlike soaps, they don’t strip your skin of its natural oils and moisture. Many varieties of body wash also come with petrolatum, which is a lubricant that moisturizes your skin, so body wash is typically ideal for people with sensitive or dry skin.

The winner in the bar soap vs body wash battle for effect on skin is body wash.

Bar soaps are obviously more compact and take up much less space in your shower, and with a body wash you’ll definitely have to find a spot for a loofah. However, if you’re moving to a new place or traveling somewhere, do you take along a bar of soap or a bottle of body wash? Here, a body wash is obviously the easier thing to take along, despite it being less compact than a bar of soap. This is because you may have to deal with packing a wet bar of soap on your way back, or you might have to throw away a bar of soap mid-use if you don’t like bringing along a wet bar.

It's a tie in the bar soap vs body wash battle for convenience and compactness, as it depends on the situation.