Bar your bar soap — and listen up for the best ways to
freshen up.

Most drugstore brands of bar soap are great at doing their job — if you define their job just as “getting the dirt off.”

Define their job as “getting dirt and other things off without damaging your skin,” however, and it’s a different story. First off, there’s a job just as important as cleaning off dirt that most bar soaps are not very good at doing: exfoliation, or removing dead skin.

Skin is made of dozens of layers of cells. New ones are constantly being made on the inside and pushing the old ones to the outside, where they dry up and, if dry enough, will visibly flake off. Usually, however, they tend to come off invisibly when you wash.

And that’s what bar soaps are just not good enough at doing. They only get some of the dead cells off, and they leave behind a residue (including those dead cells) that tends to clog pores, which can even increase acne breakouts.

When you use a higher-quality exfoliating cleanser, you not only scrub more of the dead cells off, revealing the younger, fresher skin below. You also open up those same pores, so they don’t clog and cause breakouts. (On your face, removing more of that outer layer also means hair and beard follicles are better exposed, for a closer shave.)

But the other important reason to use something other than that bar soap your dad used is that bar soap contains grease-cutters which not only do their job, they overdo it. They cut through both the oils you build up during the day — and the oils you need to keep your skin from drying out. And it’s dry skin that ages, wrinkles, damages in the sun, and chaps in the winter.

The combination of a better-formulated exfoliating cleanser with — when and where you need it — a moisturizer will enable you to be even cleaner than someone using that old yellow bar, while allowing your skin to keep its natural protection against aging and damage.

Here are a few alternative solutions SIR Spa recommends for everyday use: Art of Shaving Body Wash:  The Art of Shaving Body Wash lathers up luxuriously rich. Its blend of rare botanicals helps keep your skin healthy and maintains proper pH balance. Tangerine essential oil delivers a fresh clean, energizing aroma. Jack Black All-Over Wash :   Here’s the choice for the man who wants only one product on his shower shelf — a specially formulated, pH balanced gentle cleanser that works on face, body and even hair, producing a thick, rich lather with a fresh scent. Wheat protein helps strengthen hair, while panthenol conditions and moisturizes skin. Anthony Logistics Body Cleansing Gel - Citrus :  Marinate yourself in a revitalizing blend of glycerin, aloe vera, wheat protein and refreshing citrus extracts. Baxter of California Vitamin EDA Cleansing Bar :   Lightly scented with Bergamot Pear, this bar is fortified with antioxidant vitamins A, D and E and infused with green tea extract, a very potent topical antioxidant that promotes elastic tissue remodeling and helps prevent sun damage to the skin.