I grew up using bar soap, but switched to liquid soap when I got married, due to my husband’s preference. A few weeks ago, I decided to add a bar of Oat and Honey Soap from Bend Soap Company to the soap options next to my bathroom sink. Oh boy! What a difference in the condition of my hands.
I fight dry skin each winter. I have recently started making my own lotions to try to combat it. But changing the soap in one place in my house has made a huge difference. I don’t have to use lotion as much.
Price – $ ($0 to $5)
The Bend Soap Company website sells their full-sized bars for $4.95, for a one-time purchase. Reoccurring purchases receive an approximately $.50 discount per bar. They also offer a travel-sized bar for $2.
Size of bar – ★★★★☆
Full-sized bars are 4.5 oz, while the travel bars are 1.5 oz. While I haven’t tried the travel-sized bar, the full-sized bar is the perfect size. It is easy to pick up and fits in my hand well.
Suds – ★★☆☆☆
This has been a hard one for me to evaluate. When I first started using this soap, I didn’t get bubbles on my hands, but I could feel the soap. I have determined that this is because I was only running my hand one direction over the soap.
To make suds, I have to run my hand in a circular motion. I then will get tiny to small size bubbles. Rubbing my hands together reduces the size of the bubbles.
I don’t feel that the presence or size of the bubbles effects how the soap works. My hands feel clean after using this soap. I would also add that in liquid soaps, bubbles are made because of a variety of chemicals, something this soap doesn’t have. So the subs are made through natural processes. I can definitely live with smaller subs if it means I’m not using all those chemicals.
Feeling on skin – ★★★★★
The soap has a nice, smooth feeling to the skin. My hands don’t feel dry after using the soap. As I run my hand over it, I can feel the oatmeal pieces. Coming from liquid soap and bar soaps that don’t have any additives, feeling the oatmeal is a weird, but cool experience.
Ingredients – ★★★★★
The Bend Soap Company website lists the ingredients in this soap as fresh goat’s milk, saponified coconut oil, olive oil, red palm oil, oats, and honey. Let’s break down each ingredient.
Fresh Goat’s Milk – As the name suggests, this ingredient comes from goats. As a former milk goat owner, I am very partial to goat milk both for drinking and using in products.
So what makes goat milk so special? The Bend Soap Company’s website says that the family started using goat milk, which they already had on their farm, to help heal their son’s eczema. Other people has similar results to theirs.
Goats milk is high in fat, which is great for making soap. Unlike chemicals which strip the natural oils from the skin, the fat in the milk helps prevent dryness. It also contains a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Saponified Coconut Oil – This basically means soap that is made with coconut oil. Coconut oil is extracted from the flesh of coconuts. It is high in fat, contains antioxidants and has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. It has moisturizing and healing properties.
Olive Oil – Like the other oils in the list, olive oil has fats, vitamins and minerals. It is moisturizing and promoting healing.
Red Palm Oil – Red Palm Oil comes from oil palm trees that grow in Africa and Asia. It has moisturizing and anti-aging properties. Unlike other oils, it doesn’t oxidized. Anti-aging properties contribute to the benefits of this oil, as well as a variety of vitamins and minerals.
Oats – When ground, oatmeal can exfoliate and cleanes the skin. It too had moisturizing and antioxident properties. It can help dry skin, eczema and psoriasis.
Honey – This ingredients list is starting to sound like a broken record – antibacterial, antioxidant, exfoliating. Honey does this too. Plus more.
When it comes to the ingredients list in this soap, I can’t argue with it. Considering that you can eat all the ingredients in some form or another, I would say that, unless you have an allergy to any of the ingredients, this is about as natural and healthy of a soap as you can find. I’m tempted to give this soap 10 stars in this area.
Smell – ★☆☆☆☆
This particular bar of soap doesn’t have much smell to it, but that doesn’t bother me. Smell isn’t necessary for a good soap.
How it is made – handmade or commercially produced
I was not able to find how the soap was made on the companies website. I reached out to the company for an answer and did not hear back.
Packaging – ★★★★☆
The soap bar is wrapped in a paper wrapper. I am unsure if they package their soap with a plastic wrapper. So from my perspective, waste is low.
Overall value – ★★★★★
I think that a bar of soap of this quality for this price is an excellent value. I have seen other bars of soap of similar size priced higher.
While this bar of soap may be a similar in price to a bottle of liquid refill soap, I am going to guess that it will longer, if it is allowed to dry properly between each use.
My overall impression – ★★★★★
I would definitely recommend this soap. I have loved it. It has made a big difference in the amount of times I need to use lotion each week.
To purchase this soap, visit the Bend Soap Company’s website at http://www.bendsoap.com.