FAQ 1: What is a lotion bar?
A lotion bar is a solid block of lotion, used for moisturizing skin as part of your personal care routine. Lotion bars are typically made with natural ingredients that stay solid at room temperature, but melt a little from body heat, making it easy to apply the lotion bar as needed and store in a reusable container. Basically, lotion bars take the best of natural skin care — gentle, simple ingredients like shea butter and essential oils — and pack them into a small bar, rather than a large plastic bottle. This eliminates both the plastic waste from the bottle and water added to traditional lotion. Lotion bars pack in all the best moisturizing ingredients, concentrated without excess water or plastic waste.
FAQ 2: How do people use lotion bars? Can you use lotion bars in the shower?
Lotion bars can be used many different ways, depending on skin care needs and personal preferences. We recommend holding the lotion bar in your hands for 1 – 2 minutes before use; the warmth of your hands melts the solid bar, freeing up the lotion ingredients for application to the body. If the bar feels hard or tough to use, keep warming in your hands or start by rubbing on your arms to get the lotion to melt enough to spread easily.
Many dermatologists and skin care experts recommend using a moisturizer right after showering or bathing, to lock in water left on the body and use it to hydrate skin throughout the day. Like any lotion, lotion bars are also an important go-to skin care product any time skin feels dry, cracked, or irritated.
FAQ 3: Why is a lotion bar better than drug-store bottled lotion?
While local recycling facilities are typically able to recycle lotion bottles, overall plastic recycling rates are shockingly low; in 2019, only 25.8% of U.S. recyclable household waste was actually recycled, the rest was incinerated or dumped in landfills by local recycling facilities due to numerous challenges. Thus, it is better to reduce plastic consumption up front, and rely less on recycling by simply not buying lotion bottled in plastic when possible. Further, many drugstore lotion brands make far-fetched claims about their use and effectiveness, use ingredients unidentifiable to the average consumer, and are watered down to make certain ingredients feel less greasy. Lotion bars may be the right choice for those looking for natural skin care made with simple ingredients and low-waste packaging.
