Soap is more popular in liquid form than in bars in the UK – but there are good reasons to stick with the old traditional way of keeping clean, says Gareth Rubin. According to market research company Mintel, 87% of Britons usually buy liquid soap, compared to only 13% who buy bars of it. And solid soap is losing the popularity. But why do some people still prefer traditional solid soap? 1. It’s what they’ve always known. Some people are just traditionalists. According to Mark Constantine, he thinks it’s always lovely when we’re using something that’s been about for 3,000 years. Solid soap has got a huge history and they’re very beautiful. 2. Solid soap is more pleasant. Smelling a plastic bottle doesn’t feel very comfortable, while you can get bars of different textures and smells – some bars have sea salt, nuts, fruits or flowers in them for a bit of a surprise. Others come in beautiful or even funny shapes and sizes. You can tie attractive bars of soap up in silk ribbons ( 丝带 ) and present them as a gift to a loved one – the effect isn’t quite the same when you do this with a liquid soap. 3. Less packaging ( 包装 ) is better for the planet. All those bottles has to come from somewhere and go somewhere. Recycling can only do so much, whereas typically a bar of soap comes in a little paper wrapper and that’s it. If you care about the environment, you can even buy bars of soap without paper around them. “And about 60% of the cost of a bottle of soap goes on the packaging and the pump ( 泵头 ).” says Constantine. 4. The bottles are a little bit difficult. You can hold a bar of soap in one hand and it works. With the bottles you first have to use both hands to unlock the pump, and shut your eyes to the liquid slowly dropping the sticky thing onto your bathroom floor. When the bar of soap runs down, you can still use it until it is no more, but with the liquid soap it is a difficult task to get the last drop out of the bottom.