“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In 1736, the year that Benjamin Franklin first penned those words, he lost his 4-year-old son to smallpox. The now-eradicated disease was a leading cause of death in the 18th century. More than a hundred years would pass before Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis would discover how true Franklin’s aphorism was — that an “ounce of prevention” in washing one’s hands could save lives by preventing the spread of disease. Although...

What does an exfoliating soap bar do? If you’d like smoother, softer skin, body lotion isn’t the only product you should be using. An exfoliating bar sloughs away dry skin and makes it easier for moisturizing products, like lotion, to seep into pores. Exfoliating soap bars, while effective, are considered gentle alternatives to dry brushing and chemical body peels. Many bars also include nourishing ingredients, like shea butter or olive oil, to soothe and soften skin. We’ve put together this...

Time to raise the bar. It might have been a long time since you've picked up a bar of soap to wash anything but your hands. In fact, you've probably never actually put one near your face. Your mother told you not to, the beauty counter salesperson told you not to, we probably told you not to. But thanks to a new generation of cleansing soap bars, that's all changed. The soaps of old would strip your skin of dirt...

In an effort to reduce plastic usage, UK consumers are turning to good old-fashioned bar soap... The nostalgic, aesthetic and – crucially – environmentally-friendly facets of ‘the rise of bar soap’ seem to resonate strongly with the British public. Liquid soap became popular in the 1990s, but in the year to 14 July 2019, shoppers spent £68.6m on bars of soap, up 4% on the year before. Meanwhile, shower gel is rising at just 1.1%, and liquid soap sales are...

You know the routine: go and wash your hands before supper, go wash your hands after the bathroom, sing “Happy Birthday” to yourself, slowly. Oh, and don’t forget the soap! I can’t tell you how many times I sent my son back to the bathroom after sniffing his hands for remnants of soap odor when he just ran his hands under the water. Marty Munson of Prevention, states that even with your upbringing and habits, only two-thirds of the general...