Shower Gel

The UK’s bath and shower gel market is dominated by just three major brands – Carex, Dove, and Radox. Radox and Dove are owned by multinational Unilever whilst Carex is owned by PZ Cussons which also owns other top selling brands.

Because these brands also dominate the soap industry, they are doing particularly well with everyone buying more of that at the moment.

Why soap bars are the most ethical shower option

Whilst liquid shower gels have been popular recently, the humble bar of soap has been left on the shelf.

People generally tend to buy more liquid shower products than solid soap bars, sometimes driven by a fear of other people’s bacteria lurking on bars.  Companies have encouraged the notion that using liquid gel is more hygienic with clever marketing as there is a higher profit margin from the more expensive product.

A precaution with bar soap is to keep it dry and not let it lie in a puddle of germ- loving sludge.
 

The environmental impact of solid bars vs liquid soap

From an environmental point of view, the bar of soap is the overall winner. It also tends to have a smaller list of simple ingredients. The environmental impact of liquid gel is thought to be higher due to the fact it is:

• Heavier: Containing lots of water, liquid soaps are likely to be heavier than bar soap, resulting in a higher carbon footprint for transportation.
• More packaging: Packaging for body washes and liquid soaps tend to be plastic bottles that end up in landfill or our oceans. Even if the bottle is made from recycled plastic, a thin paper wrapper or no wrapper for soap bars is better.
• Petroleum: Many shower gels and body washes are made of petroleum-derived synthetic detergents and need emulsifying agents and stabilisers to maintain their consistency.
• Damage to aquatic life: What you use on your body ends up in the water system. Liquid detergents may contain harmful substances that can bioaccumulate in living organisms.

On the score table, all brands make liquid shower gel, but you can look at our ethical shopping guide for soap for bar options.

If you're going for a shower gel brand, these ethical companies that offer refills: ALTER/ NATIVE by Suma, Bio-D, and Faith in Nature.

Plastics in toiletries

More than 500 known microbeads or microplastic ingredients can be found in personal care products. These are tiny plastic particles that are added for their exfoliating properties, but sometimes purely for aesthetic purposes only. A recent report by CodeCheck found that non-biodegradable liquid plastics were also prevalent across a wide range of cosmetic products. See our feature on hidden plastics for what’s wrong with microplastics and liquid plastics.

In 2018, the UK government banned the use of microbeads in ‘rinse-off’ products such as shower gels. However, microbeads were not banned in products classified as ‘leave on’ (skin-care lotions, sun cream and make-up), nor were liquid plastics.

The following brands were made by companies that did not use microplastics or liquid plastics in any of their products: Bio D, Green People, Hain Celestial (Jason, Avalon, Alba Botanica), Honesty, Lavera, Little Soap Company, Neal’s Yard, Organii, Pure Nuff Stuff, ALTER/NATIVE by Suma, and Weleda.

Toxic chemicals

We have rated all the brands for their toxic chemicals policies on three key chemicals. Those companies which received a best rating had a policy which has banned the use of parabens, phthalates and triclosan. We talk more about these chemicals in our feature 'Toxic Beauty'.

Parabens are often an ingredient of liquid soaps and are used as a preservative. You might see methylparaben, propylparaben, and  butylparaben on an ingredients list. Triclosan may be used in liquid soaps whilst you might see triclocarban as an ingredient in soap bars. For example, Dettol soap bars contain triclocarban. Phthalates may be used in synthetic fragrances.

However, as you can see from the table below, the majority of the brands are owned by companies that have either committed to not using any of the three toxics or have at least committed to banning one or two of them (a middle rating).

Palm Oil

Palm oil and palm oil derivatives have become an important component in many soap products. In particular, it is used because it is a fat that is hard at room temperature. Substitutes include cocoa butter and coconut oil.

Our Palm Oil column on the score table shows which companies receive our best, middle and worst ratings for their palm oil policies and practices.

Palm-oil free brands: Caurnie Soap, Conscious Skincare, Pure Nuff Stuff.

Companies that source their palm oil more sustainably and get a best Ethical Consumer rating for their palm oil sourcing include: PHB Ethical Beauty, Triangle Wholefoods Collective Ltd. (ALTER/NATIVE), Little Soap Company, Lush, Nivea, Weleda, Odylique.

For more about this please see our feature on palm oil and cosmetics.

Organic suds

Brands which are organic have been marked on the scoretable with [O]. The following brands made organic products only:

• Avalon Organics
• Bentley Organics
• Odylique

The following brands also had some organic products: Lavera, Conscious Skincare, Earth Friendly Baby, Green People, Little Soap Company, Neal’s Yard, Organii, Sante, and Urtekram.

See our feature for more about organic certifications.