Best Soap for Men – Keep Clean With These Bar and Liquid Soaps

Finding the best soap for men comprises the most foundational step in your grooming routine. A great shower routine sets the tone for the rest of your day. Sure, you know how to upgrade your shampoo, but what about the stuff you use on your actual skin? Whether you’re coming to the search for the best men’s soap as a man looking to up his shower game, or as any individual capitalizing on the cost-efficiency and strength of male-branded products, the market is without a doubt the most exciting it’s ever been. Men’s grooming has always factored into the suave guy’s sphere of contemplation, but numerous modern brands entering the market means options abound to an unprecedented degree. We’ve outlined everything you need to know before offering the best soaps for men below. Rubber ducky not included. 

Unless you’re dealing with sensitive skin, scent plays a large role in selecting the best mens soap for your daily routine.

Bar vs. Liquid: How to Choose the Best Soap for Men

There’s two prevalent options in mens soap: bar soap and liquid soap, aka body wash and shower gel. “All types of mild soaps basically do the same thing,” writes Healthline, “dislodge dirt from your skin’s surface. The differences come in the ingredients and mechanism for dirt removal.” 

Bar Soap

This type of mens soap simply breaks down dirt and pathogens on the skin’s surface, allowing them to be washed away. 

  • Pros: Eco-friendly, better for allergies/sensitive skin
  • Cons: More likely to cause dry skin, prone to bacteria breeding on surface during storage

Liquid Soap

This type of mens soap includes both body wash and shower gel. Like bar soap, body wash also breaks down the dirt on the skin’s surface, but its liquid formula allows for the addition of all kinds of supplemental ingredients to nourish and treat the skin’s surface. Shower gel is technically just a thinned out, more diluted version of body wash. 

  • Pros: Better for moisturizing dry skin, better for exfoliating, safer from bacteria between uses
  • Cons: Bad for the environment via packaging and microbeads in certain formulas

What to Look for in the Best Soap for Men

Ingredients/Purpose

Finding the best soap for men depends on the man. You know what your skin needs. Whether you’re looking for fresh scent all day, extra moisture for dry skin, or something to soothe a skin condition like psoriasis, the modern men’s grooming market has an option catering specifically to your needs. 

Scent

Unless you’re dealing with sensitive skin, scent plays a large role in selecting the best mens soap for your daily routine. If you suffer from an aggravated epidermis, then definitely steer clear of fragrances, but otherwise keep in mind your men’s soap should not only clean skin, but keep you smelling a little extra nice all day. Popular scents like Sandalwood and Bergamot permeate the market today, but there’s options range to include everything from mint to cologne. 

Price

The best mens soap can run the full price spectrum, depending on what you’re in the market for. Luxury experiences and more niche aromas will attract a higher asking price, but as an everyday household item, you can also find great soaps for men at absolute bargain costs. Adjust with the rest of your matrix accordingly. 

10 Best Soaps for Men

Best all around bar soap: Morning Mojo Bar Soap for Men by Ursa Major

Morning Mojo Bar Soap for Men by Ursa Major

Let’s start here by updating a classic. The best bar soap for men has been as ubiquitous in the American household as Miller Lite and maple syrup. We’ve all used the big brands, from Dial to Irish Spring. Ursa Major updates an overused symbol with their fresh approach to bar soap for men. Morning Mojo, their take on the best bar soap for men, ditches standard formulas for the scents of peppermint, honey, and sea fennel. While bar soaps for men can traditionally dry out the skin, Ursa Major avoids this issue by adding coconut and shea butter to tag team with honey for maximum moisturizing capacity. As their product description explains, this bracing and gently exfoliating bar soap for men “will have you woohoo-ing in the shower.”

Best all around liquid soap for men: Every Man Jack Sandalwood Body Wash

Every Man Jack Sandalwood Body Wash

Moving on, we’ve got more archetypes to modernize. Now when it comes to shower gel and body wash for men, I’m sure you can envision the most tried and true options in your head—think Axe, think boys locker rooms. Every Man Jack brings body wash into the 2020s, selling perhaps the best soap for men in an understated, elegant bottle full of updated scents and sensibilities for an accessible price—just $12.50 for a liter bottle on their website! This body wash for men cleanses skin, leaving you hydrated with just a touch of sandalwood scent, perhaps the trendiest of all mens smells at this moment. Give your shower routine a one-step touch up with this simple, easy upgrade. 

For sensitive skin: Eucerin Skin Calming Body Wash 

Eucerin Skin Calming Body Wash 

If you’re dealing with aggravated skin, there’s no better name than Eucerin. This company specializes in reliable products that value sensitive skin’s health above all else. This fragrance free body wash skips every potential irritant to focus on delivering maximum relief with no risk. Their dermatologist recommended, enriched formula cleanses and soothes sensitive skin with omega oils and other natural lipids, creating a mild lather that rinses with no residue. Just shake well, gently massage onto wet skin, and enjoy the sensation. 

Best exfoliating bar soap for men: No. 102 Body Scrub Soap Bar – Santal by Marlowe Skin 

No. 102 Body Scrub Soap Bar – Santal by Marlowe Skin

Some people need a mens soap with a little more power. In that case, look no further than rapidly rising mens grooming name Marlowe Skin, a company that’s garnered considerable acclaim for delivering innovative, updated basics for your daily routine. This deep cleansing, exfoliating bar soap not only offers a great-smelling power wash for your skin’s surface, it also includes pumice to help slough away dead skin cells, preventing body acne and keeping your skin ultimately soft. Paraben free, never tested on animals, and made in the USA, Marlowe not only offers a soap with superb capabilities—they also make it one you can feel good about. 

Best Scent: C.O. Bigelow Bergamot Body Wash

C.O. Bigelow Bergamot Body Wash

While sandalwood is undeniably the most desirable masculine scent of our day, don’t sleep on all the up and comers creeping over the horizon. C.O. Bigelow is an apothecary that’s been a big name in the self care and grooming world for years now thanks to their irresistible scents. If smelling delectable ranks at the top of your priorities, then you have to try this fascinating formula available on luxury retail platform MR. PORTER. Bergamot headlines, a bracing fragrance known for its black tea association and mood-boosting benefits, with support from lemon and vetiver, sure to be a household name in mens fragrances over the next decade. Smell your shower all day with this unique soap for men. 

All natural: Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Bar Soap 

Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Bar Soap 

Castile soap is an all-natural, old world formula crafted from organic oils. While Dr. Bronner’s also makes an incredible all natural liquid castile soap, we consider their Pure-Castile Bar Soap perhaps the best men’s bar soap out there. Not only is it super versatile, it’s much better for the environment than its liquid counterpart, and delivers castile soap’s cleansing benefits in a safer fashion for the skin. Where their liquid soaps must be diluted, Dr. Bronner’s bar soap is made for direct application to the body. This natural soap for men delivers an impenetrable clean paired with a range of succulent scents like eucalyptus, tea tree oil, and hemp almond oil. Each also comes with its own psychological impact. Peppermint ranks their most recognizable offering, delivering an unbeatably pure scent sure to shake you awake on even the chilliest winter morning. 

Most Moisturizing: Cerave Hydrating Body Wash 

Cerave Hydrating Body Wash

Anyone who’s struggled with dry skin knows that Cerave offers a complete godsend with their range of hydrating products, which make use of cutting edge ceramides to lock in skin’s moisture and provide unparalleled hydration. Their body wash for the shower offers these benefits with a gentle foaming formula that still feels like you’re getting the greatest clean possible. Developed by dermatologists and favored by the National Eczema Association, no one understands the magic of this particular product better than the customers themselves. We’ll let reviewer stevieleec say it: “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this brand has nothing but amazing products including this. Your skin will be like new when using this!”

Luxury: SANTAL 33 Shower Gel by Le Labo

SANTAL 33 Shower Gel by Le Labo

Now, if you’re looking for the most luxurious shower gel experience that money can buy, don’t waste your time with any brand but Le Labo. This Brooklyn-based powerhouse may have single handedly pioneered present scent trends with their zeitgeist fragrance, SANTAL 33, a veritable olfactory calling card amongst the literati jetset crowd. Their shower gel blends the famous scent with Vitamin E, Olive Leaf Extract, Aloe Vera and Flaxseed extract for a sensory performance replete with actual utilitarian benefits. At $57 a bottle, that’s at least some bang for your buck!

Stay Fresh all Day: Old Spice Pure Sport Bar Soap 

Old Spice Pure Sport Bar Soap 

There’s a palpable difference between smelling good and staying fresh, especially if you’re playing sports, on the move, or working in a labor intensive scenario, whatever that means to you. If you need a bar soap for men that’s gonna protect your pits all day, Old Spice has you covered with more gusto than any other name out there. Really, they make the best soap for men. Their Pure Sport line packs a crisp, fresh scent that promises to stick around well into bedtime. What’s more, bar soap is actually preferable to body wash for these situations, because bar soap helps strip skin of oils that create natural odors throughout your day. At about $5 for an 8 pack, this drug store brand delivers luxurious power at ultra affordable rates. Sometimes the classics really are classic for a reason.

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