Looking to ditch your chemical-filled aerosol? We’ll shave you some time by introducing your stubbly skin to some good old-fashioned shaving soap bars.
Wait, you can shave with bar soap?! Yes! In fact, we’d argue that you not only can but should because it means no harmful fillers, synthetic foaming agents, or wasteful packaging—except maybe a little paper wrapper.
So we’ve rounded up our fave soap brands for shaving that not only do away with conventional packaging but also stick to natural, healthy ingredients that we can all understand.
We’re also rolling out a new Brand Rating System soon that we’ll use to refresh this article with. It will assess much more than just ingredients and plastic-free packaging, like climate impact, transparency and chemical use. You can learn about here.
Now grab your zero waste razor because these solid shave bars are here to prove that eco-conscious grooming can be razor-sharp and ‘bar-none’ in terms of effectiveness.
We independently research all featured brands, and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. We explain this further in our Terms of Use.
Best Shave Bars For Sustainably Stubble-Free Skin
EcoRoots’ shaving soap is packed with organic ingredients and essential oils and if you pair it with one of their reusable razors, you know you’re being as green as possible with your shaving routine.
We love Ethique’s shave bar, we’ve personally been using it for over two years and can say it’s as effective as it is clean and green.
Index: Bar Soaps For Shaving
- EcoRoots Jump to brand
- Craftsman Soap Co Jump to brand
- Jungle Culture Jump to brand
- Ethique Jump to brand
- Suds & Eco Jump to brand
- Lusitania Soaps Jump to brand
- Badger Jump to brand
EcoRoots
EcoRoots’ Shave Bar
Price Range: $13
Say goodbye to prickly skin, packaging, and unpronounceable ingredients with the organic men’s or women’s shaving bar from EcoRoots.
It’s handmade in the USA with USDA organic coconut oil, avocado oil, and essential oils, along with other natural and organic ingredients that come together in a rich lather. You can incorporate the organic shaving soap bar as part of a Shaving Kit that also includes one of EcoRoots’ rose gold safety razors.
About EcoRoots
From skin and hair care products to beauty essentials and items for around the kitchen, EcoRoots offers a decent selection—without plastic. In addition to low-waste packaging, they feature products that are always cruelty-free, mostly palm oil-free, SLS-free, non-toxic, and mostly organic.
Craftsman Soap Co
Craftsman Soap Co’s Shave Soap Bar
Price Range: $8–$11
Hands-on techniques and minimal processing keep Craftsman Soap Co’s select ingredients in their natural, preservative-free soaps as close to the source as possible.
Pure oils, waxes, sustainably-sourced beef tallow, and nourishing butters are the critical ingredients, together with essential oils such as peppermint, tea tree, lemon, and Scotch pine. Or, in the case of their unique line of Beer Soap, locally sourced beer!
Even if you don’t want your face smelling like your favorite IPA, their cold-pressed soap range includes plenty of other earthy scents, like Campfire or the milder, more refreshing Sea Clay Eucalyptus.
About Craftsman Soap Co
Craftsman Soap Co’s production processes ensure minimal waste as the complete range is handmade in small batches in their Los Angeles workshop.
Labeled “All-Natural”, Craftsman’ products contain minimally processed ingredients, no synthetic fragrances and colorants, and no palm oil. The tallow used in the soap products is purified from suet collected from local butcher shops, thereby keeping travel miles to a minimum. This does mean the soaps are not vegan-friendly, but they never test on animals.
Jungle Culture
Jungle Culture’s Shaving Bar Soap
Price Range: $11
With Jungle Culture’s help, you can switch out your shaving gel or shaving foam and reduce your plastic waste output significantly.
Their range of vegan shaving soap bars are handmade using organic ingredients like organic coconut oil. To infuse the calming fragrances of the natural essential oils, they cold-press their recipe for 40 days.
If you think that sounds like a long time, wait until you find out each bar lasts between 6–12 months, depending on frequency of use. We can tell you from testing that it does indeed last a long time. We’ve yet to put much of a dent in ours, even after using it regularly for several months.
About Jungle Culture
Jungle Culture’s natural solid shaving soap bars are handmade by artisan soap makers in Vietnam. You can keep your conscience clean when you’re shaving because Jungle Culture’s zero waste shaving cream bars are SLS-free, cruelty-free, palm-oil-free, and contain no animal products.
Ethique
Ethique’s Shaving Soap Bar
Price Range: $4.50–$16
The only thing better than an affordable bar soap for shaving is one that also doubles as a shampoo. Ta-da!
Presenting: Ethique’s Tip to Toe, the do-it-all shampoo and shave bar. Made with plant-based ingredients like kaolin clay, cocoa butter, lime, and mint oils, the ingredients in the Ethique shaving bar work together to create a soft and rich lather that lifts hairs for a close shave. We personally love how this thick lather helps us shave even the most sensitive areas with ease, knowing we never need to worry about razor burn.
It’s also vegan, not tested on animals, certified palm oil-free, and saves 2,750 mL of water per bar.
About Ethique
Ethique is the Certified B Corp and a carbon-neutral company that’s prevented millions of plastic bottles from being manufactured since 2012. Every one of their shampoos, deodorants, organic body washes and more come as a plastic-free bar or a cardboard push tube.
Aside from their two operating locations (in New Zealand and the US), they have a positive presence worldwide—especially since 2% of their sales are donated to charity.
Suds & Eco
Suds & Eco’s Solid Shaving Bar
Price Range: $14–$20
Suds & Eco, the in-house zero waste shampoo and soap brand for ZeroWasteStore.com, has created a multipurpose soap bar that’s super effective for the skin, truly zero waste and provides the perfect barrier for a clean smooth shave.
Best of all, this shaving bar for shower, bath, and beyond (sorry, not the bed!) contains only seven ingredients, including plant-based glycerin (made in-house using production waste), apricot seed color, USA-mined mica, and extracts of mango, pineapple, orange and vanilla Each ingredient is carefully chosen to both lock in moisture and create a protective skin barrier.
Non-toxic, non-allergic, vegan, palm oil free, and plastic-free, you can be confident the ingredients used in this make it one of the best bar soaps for shaving (legs, face and more) and keeping our water systems safe.
Choose the Sunshine Soap Bar Bundle and you get a bar and agave soap saver bag to create a sudsy lather and keep your solid shave bar around for longer.
About Suds & Eco.
As you might imagine, at ZeroWasteStore.com, all zero waste bathoom and home products are free of plastic packaging. 100% biodegradable shipping materials are used which means every part of the package you receive can be composted, reused, or recycled.
Carbon offsets make every order you place a carbon-neutral one, and they’re a proud contributing member of 1% for the Planet.
Lusitania Soaps
Lusitania Soaps’ Cream Bars
Price Range: $10
If you’re looking for the closest thing to classic shaving foam, this is it. Lusitania Soaps uses sustainably sourced ingredients in its shave soap bar recipe that contains no palm oil, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, tallow, or other animal-derived ingredients.
The soaps are enriched with a blend of coconut, shea butter, sweet almond, olive, castor, and babassu oils. These ingredients deliver unsurpassed hydration, smoothness, and plenty of lather. Unlike other bars, this solid shaving cream comes in a compact tin that makes it perfect for travel.
About Lusitania Soaps
Lusitania Soaps is a family-owned business that has its roots in traditional soap-making techniques passed down from grandparents in southern Portugal. From soap, they moved on to laundry detergent, body lotions and creams, natural make-up remover, and more encased in waste-free packaging.
Badger
Badger Shaving Bars
Price Range: $13
Badger offers a good selection of clean and organic products including beard oil, mustache wax, beard balm, and a balm for hardworking hands.
Their shaving soap bar recipe is formulated with moisturizing ingredients, like hydrating aloe vera, nutrient-rich organic coconut oil, and a good dose of certified organic glycerin. All these combine to create a good “slip”, lots of moisture, and a luxurious lather.
They do contain organic palm oil, but we’ll be reaching out to find out if it’s otherwise sustainably sourced.
About Badger
Badger is a family-owned Certified B Corp that started almost three decades ago in a family kitchen.
Many of the minimally-processed ingredients in their zero waste sunscreens, natural bug repellents, and more are certified USDA organic, NSF and Fair Trade certified. The brand is a big fan of all things organic, values close supplier relationships, uses 100% renewable energy, and is a passionate advocate for sustainable and regenerative farming.
How to Use Your Shave Soap Bar
It’s one thing know you can use a shave bar in place of shaving cream, but to ensure you’re using it effectively, here’s a step-by-step guide to ensure the best shave ever:
- Shave in the shower or immediately after a shower. You want your skin warm and clean because it will make for a smoother shave.
- Use your hand or a shaving brush to work the soap into a lather. The foamier, the better. If you’re having trouble, soak the soap and brush in warm water for several minutes. This will soften the bristles of the shaving brush and make the soap easier to work into a rich lather.
- Spin the shaving brush around so that it’s adequately covered with soap (or do the same with your hands). You should see soap cling to the brush bristles.
- Create a thin lather, visible as a light coat covering your skin. You want to do this quickly so that it locks in moisture before moving to the next step.
- Once the first coat is layered on, add a thicker layer to protect your skin and make the shaving process easier.
- Begin to shave. Be sure to use light strokes and let the weight of the razor head do all the work. For faces and pubic regions, shave with the grain of the hair—this way you won’t get razor burn or nicks.
- Keep skin wet the entire time and rinse your razor regularly. You’ll want to learn how to clean a safety razor properly at the end of your shave.
For a longer life, don’t store it wet or leave it covered with hair or other residues. After you’ve removed any particles or hair, dry the bar before returning it to its container to prevent it from getting mushy. Alternatively, store in a hanging soap saver bag or on a well-draining soap dish.
Lyall studied a Bachelor of Arts in film at AFDA before obtaining a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) at the University of Auckland. Lyall is an Australian based South African who enjoys dedicating his working (and a lot of weekend) hours to promoting social and environmental solutions to everyday issues through online media. As a ‘recovering lawyer’, he finds purpose in building media platforms focused on making sustainability the status quo. When he’s not working with his outstanding team, he’s playing super heroes with his son, reading books or hitting the trails for a run.
im not sure how brooklyn made natural is cruelty free??? their soaps use lanolin which comes from sheep i believe and their shaving brushes use boar bristles.