Maid In America

The biggest complaints people have about bar soap are that it gets too mushy and that they can't get a good lather. We discussed last week the benefits of switching to bar soap, so this week, let's get into the few easy steps you can take to avoid the primary issues with using bar soap: First and foremost, make sure you're using the right soap. If it's for your face, for example, make sure it's a facial bar. Next, you're probably going to need to adjust your water temperature. We all know that hot water depletes your skin's natural oils, making it more susceptible to dryness, acne, and signs of aging. It might surprise you to learn that hot water is just as bad for your bar of soap. They work best in not too hot/not to cold water. So give up the showers hot enough to summon Lucifer and turn the temperature down! Natural bar soaps don't contain any sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or other foam boosters. Instead they rely on a combination of oils - like coconu...

 I started off this week planning to write an article all about the benefits of switching to liquid soap and ditching the bars. As a house cleaner, I've found that most of the time bar soap causes mushy, yucky problems that I have to clean up every two weeks. Personally I can't see myself trying to use a bar of soap that's been left out all wet in the shower, getting smaller and mushier by the day. Over the course of my research, I learned a couple of things that surprised me: first, there are ways to keep that soap from becoming a mushy mess on a shelf in your shower. And second, today's bar soaps are actually preferable to body washes and liquid soaps in a number of ways. Imagine my surprise, learning that what I'd believed about liquid soap being superior all these years being wrong! To be completely fair, in the 1990s when I moved out on my own and switched to liquid soaps, they really were the better product choice. How the times change. Bear in mind that when ...