Irish Spring is an American personal care brand marketed by Colgate Palmolive since 1970.
An American multinational consumer products company headquartered in New York.
Irish Spring produces deodorant bar soap and body wash for men, but it also seems to have a crossover appeal for some women.
Early this year, Irish Spring redesigned its packaging and also changed its original scent formula to appeal to young consumers.
This recent development has not been well received by the general public with an off-putting increase in negative reviews.
The public dissatisfaction is understandable; if the product is safe, why change it? And if it wasn’t safe all these years, why change it now?
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Is Irish Spring Soap Good for Your Skin?
The bottom line is that Irish Spring is not the perfect soap. It does clean you up and leave you smelling good for hours. It has been doing that for decades, but it also has its compromise: some ingredients might be potentially harmful. A healthy piece of advice would be to know your skin and what irritates it – and check for those ingredients in your cosmetic products.
How Irish Spring Changed Its Formula
The reason why we keep going back to the same product is that it offers stability.
Redesigning the packaging would’ve been pleasant, but changing the formula wasn’t.
It took away the stability, and this might take a while to regain.
The content of a product is all that really matters, not the fancy/flat design of its package.
If Irish Spring has been good these past decades, then a new formula means another look at its ingredient list.
So, let’s take a look at what makes this new formula thick, and see if it’s good for your skin, or not.
Soap Variants
Irish Spring deodorant bar soap comes in seven different variants:
- Original clean
- Aloe mist
- Moisture blast
- Icy blast
- Active scrub (exfoliating)
- Sport strength, and
- Charcoal fresh
Irish Spring Soap Ingredients
The chemical ingredient in each variant differs slightly from the rest, as it is what gives it its specific scent or texture.
It is always a good idea to read the ingredient list on a product, and also know what they are/do.
The main ingredients (listed in descending order) present in Irish Spring deodorant bar soaps:
- Sodium laurate/tallowate/palmate/cocoate – animal/plant-derived fat used as a surfactant. Cleansing agent and foam booster. Little to no health concern.
- Water – solvent (used to mix the other chemicals)
- Glycerin – a naturally occurring alcohol compound that is of animal or vegetable origin. A humectant, denaturant, and fragrance ingredient.
- Fragrance – a combination of undisclosed natural and/or synthetic substances to produce distinctive scents. It has been associated with allergens and immunotoxicity.
- Sodium chloride (table salt) – a crystalline solid used as a binding agent/thickener. Low health concerns
- Charcoal powder – dried, carbonaceous material. Removes impurities and improves skin texture. Little to no health concern.
- Tetrasodium EDTA – a chelating agent used to decrease the reactivity of metal ions that may be present in a product.
- Titanium dioxide – an inorganic compound used as an opacifying agent and colorant.
- Iron oxides – inorganic chemicals used as colorants. Low health concern (enhances skin absorption)
- Ultramarines – a mineral-derived blue pigment composed of sodium, aluminum, silicate, and sulfate. Low to medium health concern (risk of ingestion and absorption).
- Linum usitatissimum (linseed) seed oil – expressed oil from the dried ripe seed of usitatissimum. Skin conditioning agent and surfactant. Little to no health concerns.
Ingredient data retrieved from Ewg’s skindeep website and Cosmetics info.
Verdict on the Ingredients
It’s important to also know your skin, and be aware of what ingredients have the tendency of causing skin reactions.
The soap has minimal ingredients, and is alcohol and paraben free, but could also be a possible allergen due to the numerous undisclosed chemicals used for fragrance.
The glycerin is a good moisturizer for dry skin, and titanium oxide also serves as a UV protector, which is beneficial to those with sensitive skin.
Can You Use Irish Spring Soap on the Face?
Most bar soaps aren’t made for the face, some ingredients are too harsh and can cause irritation.
Irish Spring soaps are called ‘deodorant’ soaps because they’re heavily scented.
You might want to keep it off your face as a general recommendation, but then, maybe it works for you.
Customer Reviews on Irish Spring Soap
Going through unsatisfied customer reviews on Irish Springs’ site (most complaints are on the scent though), many chose they wouldn’t recommend the soap to friends.
Comparing Irish Spring with Dove’s beauty bars, you might find that Dove offers variants not just on scents, but also on skin specifications.
This is especially useful in helping you avoid several trials and errors, hoping to find which soap works for your skin.
Also, Dove offers you the choice of unscented soap; this might be a better option when you consider using bar soaps on your face.
Final Words on Irish Spring Soap
The bottom line is, Irish Spring is not the perfect soap.
It does clean you up and leave you smelling good for hours – it has been doing that for decades, but it also has its compromises.
Some ingredients might be potentially harmful.
A healthy piece of advice would be to know your skin and what irritates it – and check for those ingredients in your cosmetic products.