Why Did We Stop Washing Our Faces With Soap?

"I don't use soap on my face."

It's something I hear all the time.

In fact, somewhere along the way, the words soap and face became an unlikely combination. We have facial cleansers, cleansing balms, micellar waters, cleansing oils, foaming washes and all manner of specially formulated products sitting on bathroom shelves.

But here's the question I have asked myself.

When did we decide that soap wasn't for our faces?

For generations, soap was simply soap.

People used it to wash their hands, their bodies, their clothes and, their faces. There weren't separate bottles for every part of the body and a different product for every conceivable skin concern. A bar of soap was a practical household essential.

The basic structure of skin is pretty consistent, epidermis, denim and hypodermic. Same cell types, same basic job, but what does change is the thickness, oil gland density, exposure and sensitivity. Eyelids are the thinnest, palms and soles are the thickest and have no oil glands while the face has lots of oil glands. So it not that the facial skin is different, its that it is more exposed.

And then things changed.

The modern beauty industry gave us a whole new vocabulary around cleansing. Suddenly, the face needed something different. Facial skin became something to be treated separately, with products designed specifically for it.

But does that automatically mean that a bar of soap has no place anywhere near it?

That's where things get rather more interesting.

As soap makers, we know that "soap" isn't one single thing. There are enormous differences between formulations, ingredients, proportions, superfatting, processing methods and the finished bar itself.

So perhaps the question isn't quite as simple as "Is soap bad for your face?"

Or perhaps the even better question is...

Why have we come to believe that all soap is the same?

And perhaps we should also ask how much of what we believe about cleansing comes from tradition, how much comes from science, and how much comes from an industry that has become exceptionally good at convincing us that we need a different product for every room in the house.

I'm not going to tell you what you should wash your face with.

But I do think it's worth looking back at what people used before we had a bathroom cabinet full of specialised cleansers, and asking how we got from a simple bar of soap to the idea that soap and faces should never meet.

Because sometimes the most interesting questions are the ones we stopped asking.

---

Read next: Why I Believe Handmade Soap Is Better for Your Skin