# Your favorite commercially availale soap?



## Crazy4CocoaAbsolute_ly (Apr 2, 2015)

For those of you who still purchase soap from other companies which is your favorite? Mine is Ivorian Cocoa Butter with Milk Chocolate & Hazelnut Oil from Nubian Heritage.


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## JayJay (Apr 2, 2015)

Mine is Sultana from Lush.


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## jules92207 (Apr 3, 2015)

I love Lush soaps, I think my favorite is Sea Vegetable.


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## not_ally (Apr 3, 2015)

Oh man, I have so, so many soaps that I could not imagine buying any.   Almost too many to give away the ones that are curing.  Plus, after a lifetime of syndets, I am so much enjoying my home made ones.  This is an interesting thread, though.


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## ourwolfden (Apr 3, 2015)

I do not use commercial soaps anymore.  I made way too much.  I do still buy shampoo…

I used to love bath and body works stuff and was happy when someone brought some extra antibacterial hand soap for our bathrooms at work after Christmas.  I tried it once, and I can’t stand it, the smell is so strong and so fake it gave me a headache.  It was kind of an interesting experience.


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## shunt2011 (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't use commercial soap and haven't in 5 years.  However, I do sometimes buy other soapmakers soap.   I don't use commercial body butter, lip balm, scrubs etc.  I make my own or purchase from another handcrafter.  The only thing I do buy commercial is shampoo as I can't use shampoo bars.


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## snappyllama (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't buy commercial soaps, because I've got enough soap already cured to last me a lifetime! I still love Aveda shampoo and conditioner since I dye my hair.  I alternate Cetaphil and my pine tar soap for my face. It depends on how my skin is acting that day: tight feeling gets the Cetaphil, and oily gets the pine tar.


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## Chefmom (Apr 3, 2015)

Back when I first started making soap I tried a commercial homemade soap from www.sallyeander.com  I purchased them at a local mercantile market/farmers market.  I considered the soaps to be equal in quality as the ones that I made myself, except they had pretty swirls and mine were plain.  

Now?  Nope.....I use my own soaps and if I'm not happy, well, then I'll come up with another recipe to try.


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## jules92207 (Apr 3, 2015)

I don't buy them anymore. I am with all the above that I have way too much to waste money on buying soaps, but if I was to buy any soaps I would buy from Lush scents I haven't perfected yet myself and miss.


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## Dorymae (Apr 3, 2015)

I no longer buy any variation of soap. No laundry detergent, no dishwasher or dish detergent, no shampoo, or liquid soaps. I also don't buy any lotions,creams, or bath products. 

Once you can make better than you buy - why buy?

I should note that shampoo is a recent thing for me. It was the last to go but go it did.


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## Dahila (Apr 3, 2015)

For the last two years or maybe a bit more,  I had not buy; detergent,  soaps , lotions, creams, lip balms, sugar scrubs, shampoo, after shave, deos ,  anti itch or pain reliever salve,  or any steroid prescription cream, I use my herbal salves.)


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## Obsidian (Apr 3, 2015)

I like pears transparent soap and yardley of London lavender soap. Occasionally I'll find both a the dollar store and pick up a couple bar. Another is Chandrika ayurvedic soap, I just love the scent.


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## not_ally (Apr 3, 2015)

Dory, do you really make your own shampoo?  Hair seems to be the last frontier.

Edited to add:  I cannot keep up w/this thread, I just posted a minute ago!  Obsidian, I love the scent of Chandrika too.  That is one I will continue to buy.


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## Obsidian (Apr 3, 2015)

Its divine isn't it. The bar I have is over a year old and still very strongly scented. I just took a shower with it, it seems harsher then I remember. I really need to try and duplicate the scent, I would put it in everything.

I haven't bought lotion in over a year except for face cream with SPF. I'm very fair skinned and there is skin cancer in my family, I won't risk using natural products for sunblock. I make my own scrubs, lipbalms, lotion bars, shaving soap and shampoo bars. Recently switched back to store bought shampoo though, I fried my hair and shampoo bars aren't working anymore


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## not_ally (Apr 3, 2015)

Obsidian, I am kind of a sandalwood fanatic, and am wondering if the reason that Chandrika smells so good is that it is licensed/distributed by the govt. in Kerala, where a lot - maybe most - of S. Indian sandalwood comes from, they keep a pretty tight grip on selling it to anyone else, for good reasons.  It does *say* that it contains sandalwood oil, and smells good enough to corroborate that.  And it is cheap enough that I would *way* rather buy it than buy sandalwood EO for soap.  Still trying to replicate something close w/FOs, but no cigar.


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## TRBeck (Apr 3, 2015)

Nancy Boy and Yardley. I don't buy either - or any other soap - anymore, but I bought up quite a stock of both. Canus was a great tallow and goat milk soap. They went veg and it isn't the same. I bought quite a lot of that back when, though. And I still love the scent.


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## Obsidian (Apr 3, 2015)

not_ally said:


> Obsidian, I am kind of a sandalwood fanatic, and am wondering if the reason that Chandrika smells so good is that it is licensed/distributed by the govt. in Kerala, where a lot - maybe most - of S. Indian sandalwood comes from, they keep a pretty tight grip on selling it to anyone else, for good reasons.  It does *say* that it contains sandalwood oil, and smells good enough to corroborate that.  And it is cheap enough that I would *way* rather buy it than buy sandalwood EO for soap.  Still trying to replicate something close w/FOs, but no cigar.



I was thinking something like nag champa, irish spring dupe, rosemary and thyme might be close. I don't smell much sandalwood but its not a very strong scent to me, the herbal notes are what I really smell.


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## PuddinAndPeanuts (Apr 4, 2015)

LOVE Caress soap!  I started making my own soap because it was a natural outgrowth of my body butter.  Ive now tried a TON of hand made soap- mine and many, many bars from other soapers.  Ain't nothin' as fantastic as a good ol' bar of Caress!  I know it's sacralidge to say such things...    It seems that I just don't particularly LIKE using hand made soap! (But it sure is fun to make!). Crazy, huh?


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## kumudini (Apr 4, 2015)

Im a novice at soap making still, and I have not used any commercial soap since my first cured bar. Before that though it was Medimix sandal, it is apparently handmade and was the least drying of all commercial soaps on my skin. Looks and smells wonderful, I would use it again if I can't make or buy handmade soaps for some reason.


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## navigator9 (Apr 4, 2015)

I don't buy commercial soap at all any more. But a friend from Ghana gave me some commercially made African black soap from there, and it is lovely stuff!


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## dosco (Apr 4, 2015)

Obsidian said:


> I like pears transparent soap and yardley of London lavender soap. Occasionally I'll find both a the dollar store and pick up a couple bar. Another is Chandrika ayurvedic soap, I just love the scent.



I like Yardley Lavender as well.

You might want to shop around a bit. In my town CVS sells it for $2.00 per bar, Giant (grocery store chain - it's part of the same corporation that owns Stop-and-Shop ... might be a Northeast/Midatlantic thing) sells them for $0.99 per bar.

-Dave


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## navigator9 (Apr 4, 2015)

Obsidian said:


> I like pears transparent soap and yardley of London lavender soap. Occasionally I'll find both a the dollar store and pick up a couple bar. Another is Chandrika ayurvedic soap, I just love the scent.





not_ally said:


> Edited to add:  I cannot keep up w/this thread, I just posted a minute ago!  Obsidian, I love the scent of Chandrika too.  That is one I will continue to buy.



Oh you people! Such enablers. I've just put Chandrika on my wishlist at Amazon for the next time I place an order. I adore sandalwood, and there's just no really good sandalwood FO that I've been able to find. So Chandrika it is.


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## not_ally (Apr 4, 2015)

Sorry, Navigator!  I will say, after reading Obsidian's post and having used my own soaps for a year or so, Chandrika is considerably more drying than mine.  For me, it is all about the smell with that soap.  Also, if you like it and have an Indian shop close by, you may want to check there first, it is usually cheaper.


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## kumudini (Apr 4, 2015)

Chandrika soap is made purely of coconut oil along with herbal extracts, so it could be drying to many people. Also the scent is not purely sandal, it is more herbal. Mysore sandal including the 'gold' version and Medimix sandal are more exclusively sandal. Can u tell, I'm from India? I have used all and liked the Medimix best.It has eladi oil which is sesame oil with a number of herbs infused( I just looked it all up). It has been good to my skin.


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## not_ally (Apr 4, 2015)

Me, too, V!  Or at least my parents are, I am ABCD.  Sorry, everyone else, this means American Born Confused Desi (Desi means Indian or of Indian descent.)  

I think you and Obsidian might be right about the Chandrika, I went and sniffed one of the last few bars and it does smell pretty herbal.  But I do get sandalwood as well and (although I like Medimix) I like the Chandrika smell better.


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## Dorymae (Apr 4, 2015)

not_ally said:


> Dory, do you really make your own shampoo?  Hair seems to be the last frontier.
> 
> Edited to add:  I cannot keep up w/this thread, I just posted a minute ago!  Obsidian, I love the scent of Chandrika too.  That is one I will continue to buy.



You can see the thread here: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=52079&highlight=Shampoo+syndet

It is all I've been using since discovering it. I'm not selling it as I am still tweaking and testing but I love it so far!

I shampoo about 3-4 times a week so not every shower but so far no build-up or strangeness.


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## not_ally (Apr 4, 2015)

Great, Dory, another project that I can't resist trying!  Plus this one will involve a LOT of research, I was lost much of the time.  I had never heard of cream soap before that.


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## biarine (Apr 5, 2015)

I love Irish spring and Olay before but since I started making my own soap about 7 months ago I don't buy commercial anymore.


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## jules92207 (Apr 5, 2015)

My Amazon list is growing rapidly...enablers.


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## Sagebrush (Apr 5, 2015)

I almost exclusively use my own soap these days, but try other soaps (usually handmade from farmers markets or craft shows). I recently tried out a birch tar soap from the European food store in our area. It's commercially made, but has mostly natural ingredients. 
For shampoo, though, I use Alaffia African Black Soap. I haven't made any shampoo bars in a while and have fallen in love with this soap in the meantime.


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## dosco (Apr 6, 2015)

I've made mostly shave soap although I did make some other, non-shave soaps this past fall for Christmas.

After some thought, my favorite commercially available soap is  Phebo Rose Soap made in Brazil.

My mother is from Brazil and some of my earliest memories of traveling there are linked to that soap and it's scent.

Interesting to see it is available on Amazon. I may get some.

And if anyone knows what it is made from, I would be interested.

Cheers-
Dave


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## TRBeck (Apr 6, 2015)

From the Amazon description -

Composition: Stearic acid, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, aqua, alcohol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, sodium laureth sulfate, sucrose, glycerin, fragrance, c.i. 12010 e c.i. 42090, disodium edta, etidronic acid.


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## dosco (Apr 6, 2015)

TRBeck said:


> From the Amazon description -
> 
> Composition: Stearic acid, coconut oil, sodium hydroxide, aqua, alcohol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, sodium laureth sulfate, sucrose, glycerin, fragrance, c.i. 12010 e c.i. 42090, disodium edta, etidronic acid.



Thank you, sir. More evidence that haste makes waste - I hurriedly found the link and posted ... without reading.

-Dave


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## IrishLass (Apr 6, 2015)

Like mostly everyone else I use my own and haven't bought commercial in years, but some of my favorites were Yardley's English Lavender and also Tone. 

Scent-wise, I always loved the smell of Dial and Safeguard (and still do).


IrishLass


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