Best Hand Soap

Hand soap is the product your family touches most, often a dozen times a day, so small ingredient choices add up fast. The good news is that the safest options are also some of the cheapest. Here is the order I use to separate a genuinely clean soap from a greenwashed one.

1. 1

   Skip antibacterial, plain soap is enough

   The FDA and CDC are clear that plain soap and water remove germs as well as antibacterial soap for everyday handwashing. The FDA banned triclosan and 18 other antibacterial ingredients from consumer hand soaps in 2016 because makers could not show they were safe and effective over the long term. Agents still in use, like benzethonium or benzalkonium chloride, were not part of that ban but offer the same lack of proven benefit. Treat an antibacterial claim as a reason to put the bottle back, not pick it up. Dial Antibacterial lands near the bottom of my list for exactly this reason.

2. 2

   Avoid the preservative allergen MI and MCI

   Scan the preservative line for methylisothiazolinone (MI) and methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI). MI was named Allergen of the Year by the American Contact Dermatitis Society in 2013, and the EU lowered its allowed level in 2015 to a point where it no longer works as a preservative. On hands you wash all day, it is a top cause of cracked, itchy contact dermatitis. Also watch for formaldehyde-releasing preservatives like DMDM hydantoin and quaternium-15. Method Foaming carries an isothiazolinone preservative, which is why it scores 6.3 despite the eco branding.

3. 3

   Check for fragrance or parfum

   The single word fragrance or parfum can legally stand in for around 3,500 different chemicals, the EWG notes, including hormone-disrupting phthalates that are never listed by name. For a rinse-off product you use constantly, that is an exposure with no upside. Prefer a soap labeled fragrance-free over one labeled unscented, since unscented can still use a masking fragrance. If you want scent, a soap that names its essential oils is more honest than a hidden parfum line, though essential oils are still common skin sensitizers.

4. 4

   Avoid 1,4-dioxane from ethoxylated surfactants

   1,4-dioxane is a likely human carcinogen that forms as a byproduct of ethoxylation, the process that makes a surfactant gentle and sudsy. It is a contaminant, so it is never on the label. The tell is the ingredient list: sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), anything ending in -eth (like laureth-7), and PEG compounds all signal possible contamination. New York law caps it at 1 part per million in soaps. Castile soaps like Dr. Bronner's use no ethoxylated surfactants at all, which sidesteps this risk entirely.

5. 5

   Pick for skin-gentleness if you have eczema

   If you or your kids have eczema or dry, cracked hands, gentleness matters more than any kills-99.9-percent claim. Plain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), the non-ethoxylated harsh surfactant, strips the skin barrier and worsens flares. Look instead for a mild surfactant base plus humectants like glycerin. True castile soaps are very gentle but can feel slightly drying on their own, so a glycerin-rich plant-based formula like ATTITUDE Unscented is a good middle ground for sensitive skin.

6. 6

   Consider a refill to cut plastic

   The safest soaps also tend to come in the most economical formats. A concentrated castile soap like the 32 oz Dr. Bronner's can be diluted into a foaming pump, which stretches one bottle for months and cuts down on single-use plastic. Buying one large refill instead of several small pump bottles lowers both your cost per wash and your packaging waste, without trading away any of the safety that put it at the top of my list.