Do you have any sorbolene body wash products in the US?

Not massive bulk, but lovely soap, IMO. The only soap I buy now, also because of frequent washing and dry/sensitive skin. https://alamaisondeprovence.com/collections/refill/products/fragrance-free-all-purpose-soap-33-8-fl-oz-copy

Also worth considering: https://www.drbronner.com/products/baby-unscented-pure-castile-liquid-soap-refill?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=a12653de3&pr_rec_pid=7837012230331&pr_ref_pid=7837021208763&pr_seq=uniform

Have you tried Dr. Bronner's castile soap? Good stuff.

Buy Unscented Castile Baby Soap Refill Cartons - Reduce Plastic – Dr. Bronner's

Unscented - Pure-Castile Magic Soap – Dr. Bronner's

I should add that I consider these gentle, but I don’t know that I’d call them moisturizing. I have L’Occitane Shea Butter hand lotion next to all my sinks.

I buy Dr Bronners at TJXX even if th fragrances are hit or miss.

@colleenoz I looked up sorbolene & it is available in US. It’s classified as a barrier rather than a moisturizer. Clinica Lase site has this info about it:

”While Sorbolene products are usually marketed as moisturisers, they are more properly classified as barrier creams. This is because Sorbolene products are created using the by-products of petrochemicals, including paraffin and mineral oils. These by-products may appear under several different names in an ingredients list, including paraffin oil, liquid paraffin, petrolatum, and mineral oil. It is the same ingredient that makes up the majority of petroleum jellies and baby oils.

I have used Dr Bronner's liquid castile soap so many times throughout my life for various purposes. It seems like it would be too thin to use in a normal soap pump especially once you add enough water to appropriately dilute it. It would seem like it would just gush out and be hard to lather. Do you use it in a regular soap pump?

I moisturize my hands in the morning and if I remember, before bed. But, I wash my hands so many times a day, I can't imagine stoping to moisturize with lotion each time.

I’ve become a fan of moisturizers that are more like a thin gel than an oily cream. They apply very quickly. You don’t have to spend time rubbing them in, the stuff just absorbs right away and your hands aren’t at all slippery after, you can turn the doorknob. No ”stopping”, just blob and wipe.

Lots of companies make this stuff. Tula ”weightless” is great, Clinique makes gels in pump containers, DD just got some K-beauty stuff in a tube that is excellent and cheap.

Yes I spend more time than you’d guess at Ulta and other beauty stores. It started as stock research and now I just like it. And you should see my skin!

@KW PNW Z8, my doctor here recommends sorbolene not only as a barrier but for its moisturising effect.

To put Dr. Bronner’s in a pump bottle, dilute! dilute! dilute! OK!!!

I think that you can buy Dr. Bronner's in a gallon. You'll want the Baby one that is unscented. You can use it in foaming bottles, just put like an inch of soap then fill with distilled water the rest of the way. I use my empty Bath and Bodyworks bottles.

It is amazing to me how FEW fragrance free products there are. Even though so many people are super sensitive to fragrances! Just a small handful of soaps that don't smell! *smh*

I never diluted the Dr. Bronner's. ?

Dr. Bronner's castile soap is highly concentrated, and meant to be diluted. Here's a chart:

https://drbronner.co.uk/pages/dilutions-cheat-sheet-for-castile-soap

I have always diluted my Dr B's for other uses, just never put it in a soap pump. Will give it a try. Have never used foaming soap before. Is that the kind of pump container you recommend? And will it be moisturizing enough without using moisturizer? It has never seemed particularly moisturizing to me.

Consider using hand sanitizer - yes, even though it's at least 70% alcohol, it's less drying than frequently washing hands with soap and water, and is probably better unless your hands have visible material on them. This is from the CDC (ABHS = alcohol-based hand sanitizer):

Unless hands are visibly soiled, ABHS is preferred over soap and water in most clinical situations because it:

• Is more effective at killing germs on hands than soap.
• Is easier to use when providing care, especially when moving from soiled to clean activities on the same patient or when moving between care of patients in shared rooms.
• Results in improved skin condition with less irritation and dryness than soap and water.
• Improves hand hygiene adherence.

"Dr. Bronner's castile soap is highly concentrated, and meant to be diluted."

Well, I learned something today. :0)

Soap's purpose is not to moisturize. It is to bind dirt particles and germs so they will rinse away when you rinse the soap lather off. Some soaps are less drying or irritating to the skin, but that doesn't make them moisturing.

If you dilute Dr. Bronner's castile soap per directions, you may find it less drying than you used to. I really like A La Maison de Provence, which I don't dilute. If you want a bar soap, look for an unscented olive oil soap—sometimes called Aleppo soap. What all these have in common is that they are derived from olive oil (and often other vegetable oils).

I don't use a moisturizer every time I wash my hands, but I like to keep moisturizer handy at the sink so that I can replenish moisture with as little effort as possible. If your skin is really dry, you might try pure African shea butter rather than a product with shea butter in it. And over that, use something like Aquaphor, or even straight petroleum jelly.

I am not a doctor. (I don't even play one on TV.) So remember that free advice tends to be worth what you pay for it!

The CDC recommendation above is for clinical situations. The CDC recommendation for non-clinical settings is a bit different:

About Handwashing | Clean Hands | CDC

Regardless, I hate ABHR's -- I think they feel gross when applying, and I don't like how my hands felt afterwards (I used to work in a clinical setting, so yes I am plenty familiar with them).

"I really like A La Maison de Provence..."

That is what I use in the kitchen. I'm sensitive to scent, the ones I can deal with in this brand is the Rosemary Mint and Sweet Almond. The scents are soft and don't linger. Never dries out my hands. IDK if it comes in unscented, though.

I used to use the Dr. Bronner's in the kitchen dispenser, but I found it was too liquidy and squirted out in weird directions if there was any build-up on the pump, so I switched to the A La Maison. It is good stuff, though -- never dried out my hands. It just didn't work well in the particular built-in pump I have. But then again, I wasn't diluting it so might be user error there :0p

Now, hand moisturizer is a different story. It must be unscented for me. I've been using Curel fragrance-free for as long as I can remember. I, too, keep a big bottle near the kitchen sink, and one at work. It absorbs quickly, doesn't leave a greasy residue, and no scent whatsoever.

Kendrah needs unscented, and I wouldn't have recommended A La Maison de Provence if I didn't know for sure they offered an unscented variety. I linked to it in my first comment. I have a couple of bottles I bought recently. Here's the link again:

https://alamaisondeprovence.com/collections/refill/products/fragrance-free-all-purpose-soap-33-8-fl-oz-copy

Some scents don't bother me. I like A la Maison's Sweet Almond, Provence Lemon, and Citrus Blossom scents. And the Fresh Sea Salt is okay. The others don't appeal to me.

What makes a soap pump foam vs not? I find the foam pumps to be so bulky and unattractive looking on my tiny sinks. I'm sure I should just get over the aesthetics. Am I alone here in finding them really ugly?

A friend recommended Moon Valley unscented foaming hand cleanser.

I prefer handwashing over Purell, which really dries out my hands. Plus handwashing is often more effective at getting rid of viruses like norovirus. In 2018 we started handwashing first thing when we walk in the door, before we touch anything. The number of days spent in bed with colds and general sickness has drastically reduced. (Could be from myriad other things too.)

I bought A La Maison de Provence for a friend. Sweet almond. She adored it. Way too scented for me. I have tried olive oil bars in the past that were too strong for me too.

You don't need a foaming pump bottle. Most of them, in my sad experience, aren't built to last. A regular pump bottle will work just fine with diluted soap (as will a squeeze bottle), and will likely last longer. I do keep a small box of toothpicks handy, as occasionally the soap will congeal at the end of the pump, and a toothpick is the easiest way I've found to clear that out.

For what little it's worth, the longest lasting foam pump bottles I've ever found are the ones Method sells, containing their hand soap. They don't have unscented, alas. Also, I found their hand soap too drying to my skin, so I stopped using it. But I kept the bottles and refilled them with diluted Dr. Bronner's till the springs finally gave out.

You might try the A la Maison unscented to see if it suits you. But if you already know that you like Dr. Bronner's unscented, you can skip it. You'll probably get a better deal on the Dr. B bulk prices anyway.

I think part of the reason they recommend hand sanitizer in clinical settings is because practitioners will actually comply with it more than they will with handwashing.

I love my scented everything and buy essential oils for my scenting. When looking for high quality essential oils they often had supplies for the people who have small businesses making candles, soaps, lotions. . .

You should be able to find a good moisturizing unscented moisturizing liquid hand soap that is sold by the gallon and used to make the scented soaps made by crafters.

Great idea, @Jennifer Hogan!

Here's one option: https://www.bulkapothecary.com/unscented-liquid-hand-soap-base/?setCurrencyId=1&sku=B030-008-002b&msclkid=4c54acd6645c18d2ea33c55c332e82fd&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%20%7C%20All%20Products&utm_term=4580909059730742&utm_content=all%20products

Note that this contains sodium laureth sulfate, one of the things that makes soap foam. It's also one of the things that makes my hands dry out with frequent use. That's why I personally prefer castile or pure olive oil soap.

We’ve used this: Beesential, but not specifically the unscented.