Short of washing your mouth out with it, using one of the best best bar soaps can be a wonderful experience. Sure, performing your libations with a body wash feels like a more modern way of keeping fresh and clean, but if it’s been years since you last considered using its simpler predecessor, let us remind you of why the humble option is actually superior.
Selfish reasons first: It’s cheaper. Selfless reasons follow close behind: It’s much better for the environment. If it’s the scent-layering benefits of opting for body wash that you’re concerned with, know this—even the most affordable pharmacy pick can smell quite lovely. After something with a bit more olfactory oomph? There are oodles of designer brands infusing soaps with the same best fragrances for men going into their aftershaves and, yes, their body washes.
If you’re sold on it, prepare your loofah or flannel and explore the rarely explored yet wonderful world of bar soaps.
The Best Bar Soaps, According to GQ:
In This Guide
Best Overall Bar Soap: Dove Beauty Bar
During the pandemic, did we have to Google if Dove’s “Beauty Bar” is, in fact, soap? Yes, we did. While it’s not technically soap (a term for when lye is added to an oil, creating a product that gets you clean but can be stripping), it is a cleansing bar that deeply moisturizes your skin. Considering how hydrating and luxurious this eminently affordable bar feels, it’s amazing to think that it actually cleanses you, too.
Best Luxury Bar Soap: Aesop Body Cleaning Slab
The brand known for making the chicest hand soaps in the most identifiable bottles also has a veg-based soap that is made with bergamot rind, ylang ylang, and Tahitian lime. The soap is packed with hydrating oils that leave your skin feeling soft and clean; however, it’s not the most hydrating option if you’re someone with extra dry skin.
Best Hydrating Bar Soap: Drunk Elephant JuJu
One of the most effective bar soaps you can buy to cleanse without drying the skin, there’s more to this Drunk Elephant bar than just good juju. It combines bamboo powder with thermal mud to remove dead skin cells and rid of any excess oil at the same time, leaving pores unclogged and skin brighter.
Best Affordable Bar Soap: Pears Transparent Soap
At just over $8 for two bars, Pears’ Transparent Soap is one of the most effective products you can pick up at Boots using just the change in your wallet. Like every brand worth buying (Cadbury and Heinz among them), this is an establishment that’s been perfecting its craft since the 19th century.
Best Moisturizing Bar Soap: L’Objet Bois Sauvage
L’Objet
Côté Maquis Bar Soap
Pros
- Beautifully embossed disk
- Made with rich oils that hydrate skin
Cons
The embossing on this soap bar alone is enough to make you feel cleaner: not wholly surprising given that Elad Yifrach’s L’Objet is all about designing quality products that are also functional works of art. Beautifully minimalist and extremely nourishing, it’s packed with walnut and Moroccan argan oil that make for a luxurious lather.
Best Natural Bar Soap: Weleda Calendula
Weleda
Soap with Calendula
Pros
- Natural ingredients
- Good for sensitive skin
Cons
- Some reviewers say it leaves behind a film
A product of one of the best affordable moisturizers of all time, Weleda also excels in its soaps, using natural ingredients in its lightly scented, creamy vegan Calendula bar. The next time you’re adding Skin Food to your grooming haul, throw in a bar or two of this as well.
Best Exfoliating Bar Soap: Molton Brown Black Pepper Bodyscrub Bar
Molton Brown
Re-charge Black Pepper Bodyscrub Bar
A magic trick of a soap, Molton Brown has combined exfoliant with cleanser in this scrubbing bar. The brand’s popular Black Pepper scent (comprised of vetiver and oakmoss) has been supercharged with Madagascan peppercorn oil, meaning you’ll be revealing smooth skin underneath the wonderful lather you conjure up with this one.
Best Purifying Bar Soap: Erno Laszlo Sea Mud
Erno Laszlo
Sea Mud Deep Cleansing Bar
Pros
- Best for the face
- Removes oil
Cons
- Not suited for dry skin
- Expensive
Reap the benefits of a therapeutic mud bath from your own home, care of Erno Laszlo’s Sea Mud deep-cleansing bar, enriched with 26 minerals that work together to detoxify, protect, and restore the skin. Key to its formula is glycerin (to moisturize), palm kernel oils (to stimulate cell regeneration and balance complexion,) and charcoal (to decongest clogged skin).
Best Citrus-Scented Bar Soap: Creed Aventus
Pros
- Beautifully scented
- Nourishing for the skin
Cons
Creed has solidified its signature scent here, with a bar that’s scented to match the ever-popular Aventus cologne. That means those same enticing notes of blackcurrant and Italian bergamot, calville blanc apples, and sparkling pineapple. It’s a combination that works as well spritzed on your wrists and neck as it does lather into your hands and body. Perfection.
Best Floral-Scented Bar Soap: Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir
Jo Malone
Pomegranate Noir Soap
Pros
- Nice lather
- Nourishes skin without stripping it
Cons
- Some reviewers wish there was more fragrance
A fabulously scented option, a Jo Malone bar of soap lets you set an irresistible base layer for your aftershave and fragrances. Coming in Lime Basil and Mandarin or best-selling Pomegranate Noir varieties, you’ll receive a skin-nourishing, shea butter-infused square that’s absolutely popping with florals and fruits.
Best Woody-Scented Bar Soap: Dior Eau Sauvage
Pros
- Scented like the classic fragrance
- Nice lather
Cons
Fragranced with notes of one of our favorite scents in the Dior family, Eau Sauvage, this soap will leave you feeling and smelling your best. The timeless men’s scent’s top notes of citrus revive, with its woody heart of pure vetiver and spicy, oriental base makes for a bar that’ll fast transform your signature scent.
Best-Shaped Bar Soap: Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Arancia di Capri Citrus Soap
Acqua di Parma
Blu Mediterraneo Arancia di Capri Citrus Soap
Sculpted by renowned interior designer Dorothée Meilichzon, who was inspired by the shape of Acqua di Parma’s signature citrus fruits, this hefty (220g) chunk of soap is as much a work of art as it is a body cleanser; we almost didn’t want to get it wet. Available in three of the brand’s iconic Blu Mediterranean fragrances, our favorite is the one flavored with Arancia di Capri’s mandarin and lemon notes.
Best Fresh-Smelling Bar Soap: Horace Virginia Cedar & Sage Leaf Superfatted Soap Bar
Horace
Virginia Cedar & Sage Leaf Superfatted Soap Bar
Made with over 90 percent ingredients of natural origin, this energizing, superfatted soap is mercifully void of any chemical nasties. The bestseller within this budget-friendly French brand’s range of popular body cleansing bars, Virginia Cedar & Sage Leaf, takes you on a walk through an Alpine forest with its refreshing woody scent. Made with purifying olive oil and coconut oil to soften, it gently cleanses without drying your skin out.
Best Soap-on-a-Rope: Loewe Scent of Marihuana Large Bar Soap
Loewe
Scent of Marihuana Large Bar Soap
The traditional, dad-friendly soap-on-a-rope has been given a luxury makeover at the hands of Loewe; the rope is actually made from 100 per cent pre-washed linen, believe it or not. Inspired by the Ancient Greek and Roman practice of integrating therapeutic botanical essences in their bathing rituals, it is infused with the soothing, herbal and woody scent of the sativa plant, leaving you feeling revitalized and refreshed. Made with exfoliating particles of red algae and moisturizing shea butter, it is also available in a compact version (without rope), to use as a hand wash.
Best Vitamin-Packed Bar Soap: Malin + Goetz
Vitamin B5 Hydrating Bar
Malin + Goetz
Vitamin B5 Hydrating Bar
Malin + Goetz makes a really good body wash (a few in fact), and its latest line of bar soaps bring the same squeaky clean, hydrating feeling into a solid option. We’re partial to the Vitamin B5 “hydrating bar” for the way it leaves our skin feeling supremely moisturized after a shower yet somehow still clean, as if all the muck and grime from the day just disintegrated down the drain. Plus, the rum scent offers an intoxicating reason to suds up morning and night.
How we test the best bar soaps
Contrary to popular gossip regarding men’s hygiene, we’re a very clean bunch at GQ. As such, between us we’ve tried a metric tonne of soaps, both bar and liquid. Between our Senior Commerce Editor, Rob Leedham, and Senior Commerce Writer, Jessie Atkinson, we’ve tested all of the products on this list. Each bar has found its way here due to its effectiveness, lather, and scent.
This piece has been syndicated from British GQ.
