Looking for the best natural soap made in Canada? Finding the best natural soap depends on two things 1) your values, and 2) what you’re looking for in a soap. As a soap maker I can tell you that there are endless possibilities when it comes to soap recipes and additives, and they are all good soaps. To narrow down what the best natural soap is to you, you need to know a few things about yourself.
Your Values: What’s important to you
1.Do you want a plant-based soap?
You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy the benefits of plant-based ingredients. But vegan excludes soaps made with animal milks and honey. If you aren’t vegan, these are soaps you might be interested in trying. Especially honey soaps because they are so soothing and nourishing to the skin.
2.Do you want a locally sourced tallow soap?
Do you want your soap maker to get their tallow locally or is amazon ok for them to shop on? We sourced our suet fat from a local butcher and made our own tallow because we wanted to make sure it was local and grass fed.
3.Is cruelty free important?
None of our soaps or natural ingredients are tested on animals. And that is likely the case for all small soap makers. Our ingredients come from reputable Canadian suppliers that are transparent about where their ingredients come from.
4.Do you want all natural essential oils or fragrance oils?
Fragrance oils are synthetic but their fragrance lasts longer in soaps. Essential oils fade over time but are steam distilled from natural sources.
5.Do you want your soap to be coloured with natural clays or are Micas ok?
A lot of people don’t consider micas to be natural. Mica goes through different processes to show up in different colours. It’s makeup grade but do you want to be washing your skin with it? Also natural clays add more than colour. Natural clays are known to be detoxifying to the skin. Something to keep in mind if you have sensitive skin or skin prone to dryness, clays can be drying for some people.
6.Does the presence of Palm oil matter to you?
problem with palm oil now is that it all seems to say “sustainably sourced”. There’s so much greenwashing how do you now if it was sustainably sourced and who oversees that it is?
7.Are you a price driven consumer?
There are some pricey soap makers out there. I’ve seen $17.95 for a bar of soap that is the same size as ours. Let’s say the bar is 135g, that’s $0.13 a gram vs our price of $0.06 a gram!
8.Does the use of plastic in the packaging matter to you?
Many soap makers wrap their bars in plastic once they’ve finished curing. This helps preserve the smell of essential oils. But a lot of people are choosing soap bars because they want a plastic free lifestyle. They want minimal packaging and are eco conscious.
9.Does it matter to you if the soap is made in small batches? And what do you define as a small batch?
The soap company that charges $17.95 a bar is a “small business” that employs soap makers and makes hundreds of bars of soap a day! Not factory scale, but it’s a whole lot more than our batch sizes of 5-10 bars a batch. Are you looking for a smaller artisan or one with a bigger business?
What are you Looking for in a soap bar?
1.Does how long the bar lasts matter to you?
Some recipes will last longer than others, it all depends on the ingredients and how the bar is used and stored. It also depends how long the soap has cured before it was put up for sale. Curing times should be 4-6 weeks for cold process soap. This allows excess water to evaporate resulting in a harder bar that lasts longer.
2.Does the scent matter to you or would you prefer fragrance free?
This personal preference may vary day by day or maybe you can’t have fragrance because you have sensitive skin or allergies. Every essential oil, though natural, contains allergens. If you’re shopping in Canada, new regulations that went into effect April 2026 requires that soap makers provide a list of allergens for their fragrance and essential oils. Any allergen present above 0.01ppm for soap needs to be declared on the label or the website for that product.
3.Lather, do you want a bubbly lather or a creamy lather?
Lather is a sensory experience. Bubbly and creamy bars mimic the experience you had with synthetic detergent bars. So they might be a nice place to transition to so that you get what you’re used to out of the lather. Different ingredients will effect the lather differently.
4.Do you want your soap bar to be moisturizing?
All cold process soap bars are conditioning, some more than others. That will be the case for all soap makers. The moisturizing value of a bar is determined by the ingredients used and the superfat chosen for the recipe. Superfat is the oils and butters left in a bar after the saponification process has taken place. Saponification is the chemical reaction that coverts oils and fats into soap.
5.How versatile do you want it to be? Do you want to use the same bar on your face and body? Or have a separate face bar?
Face bars traditionally have a lower cleansing value so they don’t strip your skin of valuable moisture. For most people the skin on their face is more sensitive than the rest of their body.
6.Do you want animal milks, or honey, or vegan milks in your soap?
Milks and honey add so much to the conditioning and lather of a bar. Honey is a humectant and draws moisture to the skin from the air. These additives make beautiful bars of soap! Are you willing to try them?
7.What’s your budget per gram?
We talked about this in “are you a price driven consumer?” We all use the same ingredients, but soap makers price themselves differently. Some account for product, some account for their time, some are bigger companies so they have employees to pay. Do you have a price in mind? What’s the value to you?
8.Are you allergic to coconut?
If you have a coconut allergy you can still try some cold process soaps. You have a few options, but they are most often made with tallow. So if you’re vegan and allergic to coconut your options are very limited.
9.Do you want a scrubby exfoliating soap?
Additives like coffee grounds, poppy seeds, oatmeal, and activated charcoal can give you a scrubby experience in the shower. This may be something you’re after or maybe it’s not. If you’re a gardener you might love a scrubby soap during the height of gardening season, but not in the winter. You can enjoy any exfoliating bar without the scrub by using a sisal soap bag.
Looking for the best natural soap made in Canada is not as simple as finding the one GOLDEN bar of soap that is perfect. It’s a matter of individual choices that started with the soap makers recipe, and ended with what you valued the most.