Bathing Culture Reviews Are Everything Right With the Internet

Photo: Bathing Culture

I understand if you don't read soap reviews for entertainment, but Bathing Culture—a new biodegradable soap brand made from all-natural products ingredients—might change that.

Bathing Culture's website comes with a whole CV detailing why the product is good for the environment, safe for you, and the type of woo-woo body wash you would generally expect from a San Francisco company. But the customer feedback is where this product really cleans up. 

When a brand either (1) launches or (2) launches reviews, there's a push to generate comments. I've been there: I worked for a company that launched reviews. While employees at my former company were never told what to say in the reviews, leadership begged us to start writing about our bestsellers. The reasoning: we needed words, any words, on the review pages. Because employees and their friends were the ones talking about the products, most of those words were over-the-top and positive.

Looking at the Bathing Culture's comments, I would guess the same thing happened here.

First up, let's hear from Bathing Culture co-founder Tim Hollinger, who says, "A great shower is nothing short of magic. With great body wash, it becomes a revelatory experience." Hollinger explains that Bathing Culture's scent will transport you to the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais before concluding, "This cosmically-blessed wash is happy up, in, and on every nook and cranny." High praise, indeed, considering he's reviewing his own product, but it's still not the most effusive review on the site.

Mackenzie, who declined to include her last name, raves, "This soap is the best thing that ever happened to washing up. It suds up like a dream, keeps me sweet and clean, and smells spicy and earthy and good."

My favorite review, however, comes from Adam Hebert, who says, "The first thing I noticed was the amazing smell. It's as if the Free Love movement is having an orgy in your nose. I couldn't get enough. I was hooked. Next was my favorite part. Those suds are smooth! It felt like I was lathering on a velvet robe. I didn't want to take it off. Finally, when you are forced to wash off that velvety robe you just rubbed all over yourself, your skin will feel radiant and smell great for the better portion of the day."

Personally, I think the "Free Love Movement having an orgy" would reek of B.O. and bodily fluid, but other folks say this body wash smells good; I'm just going to assume Adam got carried away trying to avoid cliché aroma comparisons. 

In all seriousness, both Veer & Wander and General Store are carrying Bathing Culture, which suggests it's a pretty decent product. So if you want an ick-free, non-toxic, biodegradable body wash (which may or may not smell like group sex), now you know where to look.

Update: I've tried Bathing Culture, and it's lovely. It has a gender-neutral, sandalwood-adjacent woody smell, and it doesn't dry out my skin. Absolutely worth buying!