I’ll Never Wash Dishes with Liquid Dish Soap Again — Here’s Why

Have you ever visited the home of a friend or relative and witnessed a household habit that left you a little speechless? I’m talking about a face-palm moment that has you taking that idea home and wondering why you’ve never done it before. This happened to me over the holidays and it’s definitely made me a convert. The thing I noticed? A bar of solid dish soap for washing dishes.

If this feels a little too Little House on the Prairie to you, I get it, but hear me out. Here’s why you should consider bar soap instead of liquid soap.

For starters, bar soap is more eco-friendly because it doesn’t come in a bulky plastic container, and it usually doesn’t have any plastic packaging either. And just think about how much liquid soap you go through — with bar soap, you don’t need a lot to make a wonderfully rich lather. The natural oils typically used in bar dish soap, like coconut and castor oils, have better chemical stability than the often synthetic or petroleum-derived oils used in liquid soap. This means bar soap retains its sudsy nature longer, easily cutting through grease without you having to keep going back for more.

Bar soaps are also often made with wonderfully wholesome ingredients that make your hands feel amazing that fight grease and grime well enough that they won’t make your stemware slippery. Other common ingredients include grape seed oil, kale powder, lime oil, essential oils, purified water, sea salt, and sugar — and have I mentioned that they smell divine?

I’ll admit: The pricing can feel a bit splurge-y, especially once you add in a round scrubby brush, but it’s totally worth it, and can last much longer than liquid soap, up to six months. Some versions also come with a brush included. Apartment Therapy Lifestyle Director, Stephanie Nguyen, recently tried Nellie’s Dish Butter, a semi-solid dish soap in a chic ceramic container, and said not only was it satisfying to lather, but it’s replacing her go-to dish soap as an alternative that’s just as effective.

Personally, I’m putting bar soap on the list for last-minute hostess gifts or even birthdays. There are tons of options on the market now in different formulas and scents — those with earthy packaging like this pick from RE:, and some chic artisan-made varieties like these SIMPLUT bars that seem like they might actually make dishwashing stylish.