Just curious as to who no longer uses commercial made soap

[JanelleTrebuna]

2 years ago I went to the local Farmers Market and bought 2 soaps (one cinnamon, one cherry almond)
from a local artisan.
I immediately fell in love with hand crafted soap.
My bars ran out and the Farmers Market was closed for the year so I decided I would learn how to make soap.
I watched a lot of You Tube videos and read up a lot on soap making, and I haven't turned back. I haven't bought commercially produced soap in 2 years. My 19 yo dd refuses to use anything but the soap I make. High praise indeed. Its a simple soap for the most part--I haven't ventured into any colorants yet--although I think 2019 will be the year to begin experimenting with that. I do love soaping with different fragrance oils. My husband even ordered some manly scents for himself.
His favorites so far are "campfire" and "Hawaiian sandalwood"
I'm curious how many of you are like me and have chosen to say goodbye forever to commercial soap.
If so, do you only use your hand crafted soaps, or do you buy from other soap makers?

Janelle

 

[Lefty]

I was a diehard body wash user for the longest time (I love my shower pouf), but once I started making handmade soap, and realized I could still use my shower pouf with it, I made the change and never looked back! I mainly use soap I've made, but do love trying soap from other makers as well!

 

[Steve85569]

What is this "commercial soap" that you speak of?

Is that like when we do a swap and get a medium flat rate box of each others soaps?

I am at a loss for what this thing would be.

I think the proper reply is - practically none of the long time members have any commercial soap. I know we donated the last of ours years ago.

 

[Kafayat Adebowale oyeniyi]

Naaa.....
I wouldnt try commercial soaps for anything in the world.Not even my kids would do that It feels terrible on the skin now if i mistakenly rub it on......I am no looking back after about 3 years.....No thank you

 

[shunt2011]

Nope, not in over 8 years with 1 exception, I had surgery, told I HAD to use antibacterial soap. Used it once then into the garbage it went.

 

[amd]

I look at commercial soaps - more so now that I know how to read labels and what INCI names mean, but I haven't bought a commercial soap in 5 years. I do buy from other soapmakers, as well as my family/friends gifting me soap in addition to using my own soap. Usually the gifts are handmade soaps, but I have once gotten this soap (actually the one she got me was Tomato Vine Strawberry, which they don't have online at the moment) as a gift from a friend because she knew I would like the fragrance. It's stuck in my head at the moment because it's next in the lineup for the shower and I keep passing over it. There's no ingredients on the label or online that I can find, but it has the feel of being a very "commercial" soap bar so my expectations are not high. I have cloned the fragrance so I might be ready to let the bar go without ever trying it. My current soap stash currently fills two 10x18 boxes plus a flat rate shipping box... I should be clean through the zombie apocalypse...

ETA: I do also have a few bars of commercial soap from Egypt, Ghana, and India in my collection that I have picked up on travels.

 

[Obsidian]

I haven't bought or used commercial soap since I started making my own 5 years ago. Occasionally I get a bottle of body wash at Christmas that I will use if its a good one but I would never buy the stuff.

 

[Chris_S]

im only new to soap making and havnt used commercial soap either for washing hands or for body soap since i made my first batch same with candles my house has never smelt better than it does these days with all the wonderful smellies iv got knocking about in my living room. However I refuse to waste what i already had so iv had about an inch of liquid soap in my kitchen thats been there for months and is slowly getting used up usually when im cooking and need to wash my hands quickly. right now i keep getting a massive wiffs of lemon essential oils from a batch of melts i made a few days ago.

 

[lenarenee]

I love all bar soap. In fact - as a kid my grandmother had one small bathroom that had a can of powdered hand soap on the sink - and even that fascinated me despite the fact that I didn't like using it. Occasionally I do buy commercial soap for many reasons such as sentimentality (Ivory), unique brand, scent, it's foreign, etc.

I also buy it because over the past 5 years many brands have changed their recipes and I'm curious as to why; cost? improving quality? other?

Lately my young one has been interested in soap crunching so I bought a couple of cheap bars to peel and dry. It wasn't drying very quickly so I put it in a slightly warmed oven - with the heat turned off. It melted!! It was Oil of Olay, which I used to use. Their recipe has changed a lot in 5 years and it now contains a huge amount of WAX! Yes, I used it in the shower - just for fun and curiosity. (then it was pitched)

But I have 4 bars of my soap in the shower - and 4 more stacked in one dish by the sink!!!

 

[Ladka]

I haven't bought or used commercial soap since I learned to make my own a couple of years ago. occasionally I'm given a bar by another soapmaker, and that's it.

 

[Zing]

I'm using it less and less since I have so many leftovers and scraps from soap making. I have really dry skin and my soap is so much better. When I do have to use commercial soap, I find my skin gets really dry and rashy.

 

[IrishLass]

Other than dish soap and laundry detergent, I haven't bought commercially-manufactured soap since I got into the swing of making my own about 11-12 years ago, although I have had to resort to using commercial soap every now and then, mainly when visiting someone's else's home. Every time I've had to resort to washing with a commercial bar, I am always amazed at the difference between the two. I like handmade soap sooooooo much better, even if it wasn't made by me. My family does, too.


IrishLass

 

[JanelleTrebuna]

My current soap stash currently fills two 10x18 boxes plus a flat rate shipping box... I should be clean through the zombie apocalypse...

ETA: I do also have a few bars of commercial soap from Egypt, Ghana, and India in my collection that I have picked up on travels.

lol--that's a lot of soap How do the soaps of the foreign countries you have traveled to compare to those of our country?

Janelle

im only new to soap making and havnt used commercial soap either for washing hands or for body soap since i made my first batch same with candles my house has never smelt better than it does these days with all the wonderful smellies iv got knocking about in my living room.

I've noticed that quite a few people make both soap and candles. I'm interested in candle making and hope to get some supplies this year for Christmas. I've put a bug in my dh's ear

Janelle

I love all bar soap. In fact - as a kid my grandmother had one small bathroom that had a can of powdered hand soap on the sink - and even that fascinated me despite the fact that I didn't like using it. Occasionally I do buy commercial soap for many reasons such as sentimentality (Ivory), unique brand, scent, it's foreign, etc.

I also buy it because over the past 5 years many brands have changed their recipes and I'm curious as to why; cost? improving quality? other?

Lately my young one has been interested in soap crunching so I bought a couple of cheap bars to peel and dry.

I hear you on the sentimentality. To this day, I can't smell Jergens lotion and not think of my aunt Jan.
Soap crunching I had never heard of before; very interesting.

Janelle

 

[dibbles]

I am another that only uses handmade soap - for the most part my own because I don't sell and we have a ton. Most of my friends and family only use my soap as well, since I can keep them well supplied. Some don't want to ask when they run out, so I'm sure they are using commercial soap or body wash then. I don't make liquid soap (yet), so dishwashing liquid is something I still buy.

The swap I participated in was fun since I was able to try quite a few soaps made by members here. Once in awhile I will buy a soap at a market. This year I think I will place a few orders with soap makers whose YouTube videos I watch.

 

[amd]

lol--that's a lot of soap How do the soaps of the foreign countries you have traveled to compare to those of our country?

Janelle

I like the Mysore Sandalwood soap from India quite a lot, probably my favorite of the three, although it does look and feel more like a commercial soap, it doesn't dry my skin like one.

This year I think I will place a few orders with soap makers whose YouTube videos I watch.

Me too! Do you watch Ophelia's Soapery? I broke down bought a few bars from her in September. I really didn't need soap, but they were so lovely, and my son was really wanting a DB soap which she had available. Her bars are HUGE!

 

[Suzy Knight]

I have about 6 homemade soaps in my shower at this time. There is one bottle of shower gel that my stubborn husband still uses. But I think this last bar I made is going to change his mind. I love the way my soaps feel and I love that by balancing the extra fat in the bar I can use the same bar for both my hair and body. I will NEVER go back to using store bought soaps. They just don't make my hair and skin feel as good as my own do!

 

[dibbles]

Me too! Do you watch Ophelia's Soapery? I broke down bought a few bars from her in September. I really didn't need soap, but they were so lovely, and my son was really wanting a DB soap which she had available. Her bars are HUGE!

I do watch her videos - she makes such beautiful soaps. The problem with a lot of the popular youtubers is that they do a release and sell out super fast.

 

[Alfa_Lazcares]

I only started soaping this year but yes, ever since i started i have not used commercial soap for showerinf but we do use it for washing hands because we prefer liquid soap for that. We just cant stand the mess bar soap makes on the sink. I am debating on making liquid soap next but ingredients are a bit too expensive.

 

[earlene]

For my own body and my husband's body, we use handcrafted soap (mostly mine, but other's as well). But I am a long time collector of hotel soaps to use for making laundry soap. I still have quite a bit of that, grated and ready to mix with homemade CO soap for laundry soap. So for laundry I still do use 'commercial' soap, albeit, not exclusively. Eventually I will run out of hotel soaps since for the most part, I rarely bring them home with me anymore.

 

[steffamarie]

For body, BF and I only use my soap. I can’t bring myself to give up my custom shampoo and conditioner, though, even though I love the syndet bars I bought. I do use commercial dish and laundry soap also.