How to Choose the Right Soap for Your Skin | The Soap Standard

Ingredient Overwhelm

Standing in the beauty and skincare aisle at the supermarket can feel overwhelming. Shelves are packed with brightly coloured products, each covered in marketing buzzwords and vague promises designed to grab your attention - and your wallet.

When you try to look beyond the packaging, you’re often faced with long ingredient lists and bold claims that seem almost too good to be true. Understanding what’s actually in your soap is the first step toward making a smarter skincare choice with functional soap bars. 

Which Soap Is Right for Me?

With so many soaps available, how do you know which one is right for your skin? And how can you tell whether a product’s claims are backed by function rather than good marketing?

Choosing the right soap starts with understanding:

• What soap is
• How soap works on the skin
• Which soap ingredients are essential - and which are unnecessary.

What Is Soap?

The primary purpose of soap is simple: to cleanse the skin. Soap removes dirt and oil while also playing a key role in preventing infection and reducing the spread of disease (NHMRC, 2024). Because soap is used daily, ingredient choice matters. Choosing a gentle and effective soap is important for maintaining healthy skin.

Is Soap a Rinse-Off Product?

In skincare, soap is classified as a rinse-off product, meaning it stays on the skin for a short period before being washed away with water. For most people, this contact time lasts only a few minutes, making it important to focus on functional ingredients rather than long ingredient lists filled with colourants, fragrances, and fillers.

What Ingredients Should Be in Soap?

True soap bars are made using just three core ingredients:

• Fats or oils
• Water
• Sodium hydroxide (lye)
  

When these ingredients are combined, they undergo a chemical reaction called saponification, which transforms oils into soap (Chirani et al., 2021).

During this process, glycerin is naturally produced. Glycerin is a humectant that helps the skin retain moisture while cleansing  - one of the reasons well-made soap can feel gentle on the skin.

How Does Soap Work on the Skin?

When you wash with soap and water, the physical action of rubbing helps soap molecules loosen dirt, oils, and debris from the skin’s surface. These particles are then rinsed away with water.

Soap also helps break down and remove many bacteria and viruses that cling to dead skin cells, supporting everyday skin hygiene (Jabr, 2020; NHMRC, 2024).

When Less is More: Choosing a Gentle Soap

Soaps made with fewer ingredients are often easier for the skin to tolerate - particularly for people with sensitive skin. Additives such as fragrances and colourants may provide minimal functional benefit in rinse-off products while contributing to unnecessary environmental impacts (Chirani et al., 2021).

A simple soap formula prioritises effective cleansing over added fragrance, colour, or other unnecessary extras that are rinsed away.

The Soap Standard: Functional Soap Bars

At The Soap Standard, our handmade soap bars are made with only 3 or 4 functional ingredients, resulting in the simplest, purest form of soap.

We use high quality, certified organic plant oils and slow-cure our soap bars over many months. This allows the bars to fully saponify and harden naturally, creating a long-lasting, cleansing lather that’s gentle on skin and our environment - without unnecessary additives. Learn more about our commitment on our About page.

Image description: A lightly lathered True Bastille Soap Bar on a blue bathroom sink. “THE SOAP STANDARD” logo is stamped on its surface.

What Sets Our Soap Bars Apart

• Made with 3-4 functional ingredients
• Uses certified organic plant oils
• Fragrance-free by design
• Slow-cured for 6+ months
• Handmade in small, micro-batches
• Made without animal-derived ingredients
• Not tested on animals
• Packaged using 100% compostable and recyclable materials
• Delivered using 100% carbon offset services
• Made locally in Australia (Cabrogal / Sydney)

Explore our range of Functional Soap Bars at The Soap Standard. 

For a deeper look at why simpler soap bars are best, check out our Functional Soap Bars blog post.

FAQ: Choosing and Using Soap

Q: What is the best soap for sensitive skin?
A: Soaps with minimal functional ingredients, fragrance-free, and made from organic plant oils are generally gentler on sensitive skin. If you’re after a gentle, effective cleanser, our True Coconut Soap Bar contains just three ingredients and is slow-cured for a long‑lasting bar.

Q: How long should soap stay on your skin?
A: As a rinse-off product, soap is typically on the skin for only a few minutes. Functional ingredients matter more than additives in this short time.

Q: Why is glycerin important in soap?
A: Glycerin is a natural humectant produced during saponification. It helps your skin retain moisture while cleansing. A classic option is our True Castile Soap Bar, handmade with extra virgin olive oil for a creamy, low‑lather clean.

Q: Are handmade soaps better for the environment?
A: Handmade soaps with minimal additives, slow curing, and sustainable packaging have lower environmental impact compared with mass-produced bars (Chirani et al., 2021).

 

---

 

References

• Chirani et al. (2021) Environmental impact of increased soap consumption during COVID-19 pandemic: Biodegradable soap production and sustainable packaging. Science of The Total Environment. Link
  
• Jabr, F. (2020) Why Soap Works. The New York Times. Link
  
• National Health and Medical Research Council (2024) Staying Healthy Guidelines: Preventing Infection (Hand Hygiene). Link