Oh, the pure, unalloyed joy of unwrapping a fresh bar of soap to take into the shower. Specifically, this one, the SheaMoisture 100% Virgin Coconut Oil & Shea Butter Soap, $7.50 CAN, amazon.ca. A hefty half-pound of lightly scented, skin-nourishing happiness, it also contains finely ground coconut fruit and shell to gently exfoliate. All you have to do is rub it all over your skin after a day spent outdoors to gently remove grime and now past-it sunscreen. It’s as soothing as a head scratch but for your entire body.
Ah, bar soap. The world has slowly capitulated to body washes and in the mid teens bar soap sales declines precipitously as millennials viewed it as unhygienic and hard on skin so only men should use it on their rough, beardy faces. Body wash was convenient (shudder) and bar soap was a fusty relic of your grandmother’s powder room. (Remember all those pale blue, shell-shaped guest soaps in milk glass dishes?) And thus began the global domination of body wash and pump hand soaps and we lost the sensorial delight of unwrapping a fresh bar, the engraved letters still crisp under our fingers. I remember reading someone declare that if they won the lottery, they would open a new bar of soap every day for their bath.
Unlike pricy scented bars from fragrance brands — my favourite Sisley soap is now $135, which is patently absurd — SheaMoisture’s coconut oil and shea butter soap is very well priced. Each half pound bar (227 grams) is only $7.50, so you can make a pleasing stack of them in your linen closet to greet you every time you open the door to grab a towel. Because that too is one of life’s great pleasures: being welcomed by tidy, all-white towers of neatly folded linens, towels and an ample soap stash. It’s the little things.