[analog31]

You used to be able to get bar "soap" that was based on detergent, not soap. Detergent is identified by things like sodium lauryl sulfate etc. Remember "you're not really clean until you're Zest-fully clean." because Zest was made from detergent.

Soap is listed in the ingredients as being based on tallow or lard. When my family moved to a hard-water region, I looked at ingredient labels, and discovered that you can't buy detergent based "soap" any more -- even Zest is based on soap. This could be due to a glut of those materials triggered by rising meat production.

So we switched to liquid hand and body wash, which is detergent based. It's not as luxurious as soap, but I'm the one who cleans the bathrooms, so I make the rules.

Soap scum is calcium stearate, which is not soluble in water, and remarkably difficult to remove from the inside of bathtubs and showers. And your water softener has to work remarkably well to completely eliminate soap scum.

[jdswain]

Some people have problems with sodium lauryl sulfate. In toothpaste it gives me mouth ulcers, and in soap I get skin irritation. It’s quite hard to find SLS free toothpaste, or even shampoo, but it could be worth trying if you have unexplained skin irritation. I haven’t had one ulcer since swapping toothpaste and before that I was getting them all the time.