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Best CBD Company Reviews: Top CBD Oil Brands & Manufacturers [2022]
Evidence based

Top 5 CBD Soap: Benefits of CBD-Infused Soap

CBD soap isn’t used to treat any condition — but it can reduce dryness, cracking, & irritation from frequent hand washing.

Here are the best CBD soaps on the market for 2022.

Article By
Justin Cooke , last updated on January 12, 2022

With the recent pandemic sweeping the globe, the amount of times people wash their hands in a given day is estimated to have increased tenfold.

Washing your hands often is important, but there are some downsides too. The most common issue to arise from frequent handwashing is dryness.

A good solution for people experiencing dry skin caused by soaps is CBD-infused soaps.

No, I’m not joking.

CBD is a powerful anti-inflammatory and analgesic, but it’s a lot more than that too.

Here, you’ll learn what to look for in a quality CBD soap, what red flags you should avoid, and offer our top five CBD soap brands available today.

Best CBD Soaps For 2022

1. Mission Farms CBD Goat Milk Soap

$20
Mission Farms

Mission Farms CBD Goat Milk Soap

5 / 5

Total CBD : 200 mg
Potency: High-Potency
Cost per mg CBD: $0.10
Extract Type: Full-Spectrum

The primary ingredient of the Mission Farms CBD goat milk soaps is, of course, goat milk! They consist of over 25% goat milk by volume along with 200 mg of full-spectrum hemp extract.

Goat milk is especially soothing for the skin and absorbs very efficiently into the skin (carrying the CBD along with it). These soaps are, by far, the best we’ve tried yet. They’re on the pricey end of the spectrum, but the use of organic ingredients and high-potency CBD makes them worth every penny.

These soaps come in four different versions:

  • Rest — lavender blossom
  • Relieve — spearmint & eucalyptus
  • Relax — honey & grapefruit
  • Pure — honey & oatmeal

2. The CBD Skincare Co. CBD Infused Body Bar

$12.60
The CBD Skincare Co.

The CBD Skincare Co. CBD Infused Body Bar

5 / 5

Total CBD: 100 mg
Potency: Medium Potency
Cost per mg CBD: $0.13
Extract Type: Full-Spectrum

This brand is all about skincare. They make several high-end skincare products, each infused with full-spectrum hemp extract.

We really like the products offered by this company. They place a lot of emphasis on making all-natural formulas using organic ingredients whenever possible.

This particular soap has especially good value. It’s made with organic ingredients, avoids using any synthetic fragrances or detergents, and provides a relatively high concentration of CBD (100 mg per bar). At just $12.60 for this soap, this is one of the better value options on our list.

This soap comes in ten different versions:

  • Purple Haze Body Bar
  • Black Magic Woman Body Bar
  • Harvest Moon Body Bar
  • Citrus Lavender Body Bar
  • Green Power Body Bar
  • Shea Honey Body Bar
  • Lavender Body Bar
  • Peppermint Leaf Body Bar
  • Lemongrass Tea Body Bar
  • Oatmeal Spice Body Bar

Ingredients: saponified oils of sunflower and safflower oil, coconut and palm oils, essential oils (varies by formula).

3. LEEF Nooks & Crannies CBD Soap

This is one of the nicer-looking CBD soaps on the market. I like the exposed uncut end of this soap — it gives it a unique look, perfect for giving as a gift.

These soaps also contain a wide variety of premium botanical extracts and no synthetic fillers, preservatives, or binding agents — making them great for anybody with sensitive skin or those looking for a more natural soap.

The only real downside to this soap is the low potency in terms of CBD. The whole bar only contains 20 mg of CBD per bar. The use of other premium ingredients justifies the price, but the cost per milligram for this soap is exceptionally high — roughly 11 times the cost compared to our top pick in this category.

Ingredients: Distilled water, organic dehydrated coconut milk, organic tapioca maltodextrin, organic acacia fiber, organic coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic palm oil, organic sunflower seed oil, sodium hydroxide, kaolin, spirulina powder, natural fragrance oil, whole-plant CBD (hemp) extract.

You can get this soap in five different versions:

  • Cucumber melon
  • Black Chamomile
  • Charcoal & Clay
  • White Tea & Ginger
  • Cactus & Agave

4. Cannuka CBD Soap

Cannuka specializes in making products that combine both CBD and manuka honey — which is a particular type of honey made in New Zealand from bees that feed off the manuka flower. This honey is thought to have especially powerful health benefits compared to other hobbies. On average, you’ll pay about 15 to 20 percent more for manuka honey compared to regular honey, so these soaps are considered a premium product.

We like this soap, and the addition of honey is excellent for a premium hand soap product.

The only downside to this product is that we don’t actually know how much CBD is inside. This company has a bad habit of not including the CBD content of their products on the packaging or website.

However, as a soap product, this is still a top-notch product. Each bar also contains other ingredients, such as tea tree oil, black pepper extract, and the usual variety of plant-based carrier oils.

5. CBD American Shaman Soap

CBD American Shaman has one of the largest product lineups we’ve ever seen. This company carries a little bit of everything. It was no surprise to see CBD soaps on their roster.

We’ve liked almost everything we tried so far from this company, but we’re still pleasantly surprised with the quality of these soaps.

The only non-organic ingredient in these soaps is the addition of vanilla fragrance oil. Fragrance oil is not the same as an essential oil. It’s a bit of a tricky word used to describe a synthetic compound that resembles the original aroma of the plant extract.

They also use CBD nanoemulsion as the source of CBD. A nanoemulsion is a water-soluble form of CBD.

We’re not quite sure why they did that because it actually helps to have a fat-soluble form of CBD to allow it to soak into the skin more efficiently and avoid being rinsed away under the tap water.

You can get this soap in three different versions:

  • Deep Spicy Wood
  • Sweet Almond
  • Fresh Mint

Ingredients: Distilled water, coconut & palm oils, sodium hydroxide, avocado oil, shea butter, hemp seed oil, jojoba oil, bitter almond seed oil, clove oil, coconut oil, vanilla fragrance, hemp fiber, wheat germ oil, tussah silk fiber, and CBD nanoemulsion.

What Are The Benefits of CBD Soap?

CBD soap may seem gimmicky at first — at least, that’s how I felt. But after trying a few of the brands above and giving it some thought, I realized there are some legitimate benefits of a quality CBD soap product.

The main benefit is that soaps made with CBD are much more gentle on the skin than conventional soaps. They use the same ingredients — a soap base (sodium or potassium salts with a fatty base), carrier oils, fragrances (preferably essential oils), and various stabilizers or thickening agents.

The only difference with a CBD-infused soap is the addition of CBD at the very end.

While you’re washing your hands, the soap works to bind and remove dirt and grease. As you scrub, CBD is absorbed into the surface layers of the skin along with some of the fatty acids contained in the soap — nourishing and hydrating the skin as you wash.

With that said, don’t expect too much from a CBD soap. The amount of time the CBD remains in contact with your skin is negligible — lasting up to two minutes max for even the most thorough of hand washers. Most people spend less than 30 seconds washing their hands — which doesn’t give the CBD much time to soak in.

These products are not meant to treat any disease — they merely offer a way to offset the harsh drying action of most soap products. They’re great for people with dry or sensitive skin.

Here are the main benefits of CBD soap:

  • Provides all the same benefits as any other soap product
  • Reduces the harsh drying or irritating action of soaps on the skin
  • May help with skin that’s already dry or cracked
  • Often made from all-natural ingredients (but not always)
  • Great for use with sensitive skin types

CBD Soap vs. CBD Topicals

CBD soap could be considered a CBD topical. Its primary action is on the surface layers of the skin, just like any other topical. The main difference between a CBD soap compared to something like a CBD cream or gel is the duration of contact the CBD has with the skin.

Soaps only remain on the skin for a few seconds at a time, giving the CBD very little chance to absorb into the deeper layers of skin. The majority of the CBD in soap is rinsed down the drain when you’re done — which also makes it a fairly inefficient way of using CBD.

Other forms of topicals, like CBD creams or salves, are always going to offer stronger and more reliable benefits to the skin than a CBD soap.

Keep in mind, the goal of using a CBD soap isn’t to treat any specific condition. Their primary purpose is to offset some of the negative effects of regular bars of soap (like drying or irritating the skin on contact).

If you have particularly dry or irritated skin, it’s better to use a combination of both CBD soap for washing up and a high-quality CBD topical to apply for more long-term support afterward.

Suggested Reading: The Best CBD Products for Skincare.

How Much Does CBD Soap Cost?

Cheap vs. Premium Soaps: Is There a Difference?

The cost of soap is highly variable. You can go to your local Walmart and pick up a new bar of soap for a dollar or less — or hit up an artisanal soap shop and spend more than $20 for a bar of the same size.

So what makes the cost of soap so different? Is expensive soap worth the price tag?

If you want a product that’s going to leave your skin in the best condition and avoid causing issues with acne formation, dryness, or irritation — then premium soaps make a big difference.

The main differentiator between a cheaper soap and something more expensive is the ingredients.

Cheap soap contains a variety of synthetic detergents, preservatives, and fragrances — many of which can damage and irritate sensitive skin.

Common ingredients in cheap soap products include:

  • Sodium cocoyl isethionate — synthetic detergent
  • Stearic acid — a hardening agent
  • Sodium stearate — also used as a cheap stabilizer for plastics
  • Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate — synthetic detergent
  • Fragrance oils — synthetic aroma
  • Sodium chloride — table salt
  • Titanium dioxide— whitening agent
  • Trisodium EDTA — ingredient in industrial cleaning products (harsh on the skin)
  • Trisodium etidronate  — preservative
  • BHT — preservative

Premium soaps contain much more expensive but gentler ingredients. They tend to use a natural soap base — made from plant sources like hemp, olive, sweet almond, or goat’s milk — and use natural preservatives and fragrances like essential oils. Premium soaps are often “detergent-free” because these are some of the key ingredients that make soaps harmful to the skin.

Even the addition of CBD is considered more of a premium ingredient. The concentrated extract of CBD can add several cents to every milliliter of soap produced.

Premium soaps are worth it if having products that are all-natural are important to you or if you have particularly acne-prone or sensitive skin.

Common CBD Soap Ingredients & What They Do

1. Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)

Lye is the primary ingredient in most soaps. It’s extremely caustic in its raw form but combined with a fatty acid (such as vegetable oil) to form sodium hydroxide, which is much gentler on the skin. You can’t make soap without using lye; it’s one of the core ingredients in the entire formula.

Lye itself is made by leaching wood ash. It’s completely natural but requires some skill to make it safely. Getting even small amounts of pure lye on the skin can cause chemical burns.

2. Oils & Fatty Acids

The second most important ingredient in soap is a source of fat. Fats bind to the lye to create sodium hydroxide, the active ingredient.

The choice of fatty acid contributes a lot to the overall qualities of the soap. Cheaper soaps are usually made from palm oil, coconut oil, or MCT oil — all of which are very cheap to produce in bulk.

Most premium soap companies will use a combination of this cheaper fatty source with something a little more premium-like argan, shea, sweet almond, or sunflower oil.

3. Essential Oils or Fragrance Oils

What’s a good soap without some fragrance? This is half the reason we use soap, to begin with — the addition of an aromatic compound leaves the skin smelling fresh after we’re done in the wash.

There’s a big difference between fragrance oils (synthetic) and essential oils (natural).

Fragrance oils are very cheap but can cause irritating side effects on the skin. They also tend to block the receptors in our nose that detect aroma — temporarily blocking our sense of smell. Additionally, some synthetic fragrances can trigger allergies or interfere with hormones in susceptible people.

Essential oils are always a better choice compared to fragrance oils — but they’re many times more expensive. Essential oils have a better aroma overall and offer additional health benefits that a fragrance oil simply can’t match. The benefits of the essential oil depend on its source — some are analgesic or anti-inflammatory, others provide a gentle, soothing action to the surface layers of the skin.

4. Scent Binder

Most people don’t use their entire bar of soap in a single day — right? Unfortunately, the essential oils in a premium soap will immediately start to float away once the bar is exposed to the air. This is why you can smell the bar so strongly when you open it from the package. What you’re essentially smelling are all the molecules of essential oils that have managed to escape the bar and were sucked up through your nostrils.

In order to limit this effect and prolong the lifespan of your soap, binding agents are added to lock in the scent until it’s time to use it.

A few of the most common binding agents include:

  • Arrowroot
  • Corn starch
  • Orris root
  • Beeswax

5. Other Ingredients

Aside from the core ingredients listed above, there are a lot of additional compounds soap manufacturers can add to make the soap more effective for a given application.

Here are just a few examples of additional botanicals, minerals, or synthetic agents companies can add to their soap mix:

  • Exfoliants — Anything from plastic beads to bits and pieces of seeds can be added to give the soap an exfoliating effect.
  • Herbs and flowers — Adding flower petals or small pieces of dried leaves can enhance the look of the soap and give it a fresher aroma as you use it.
  • Preservatives — soap doesn’t rot, but the ingredients can start to separate and give it an unattractive gooey texture. Preservatives and stabilizers are added to prevent this from happening.

Key Takeaways: Best CBD Soap

CBD-infused soaps aren’t meant to treat any condition. The amount of time the active ingredients in the soap remain in contact with the skin is minimal.

However, CBD soaps are a great option for people who find their skin is often dry, cracked, or irritated after handwashing. The CBD content of the soap helps protect the skin from inflammation and irritation, and other natural ingredients and oils protect the skin from drying out.

In Review: Best CBD Soap Products:

Number Product Total CBD Potency Cost per mg CBD Link

1

Mission Farms CBD Goat Milk Soap

200 mg

High-Potency

$0.10

2

The CBD Skincare Co. CBD Infused Body Bar

100 mg

Medium Potency

$0.13

3

LEEF Organics Nooks + Crannies Soap

20 mg

Low-Potency

$1.10

4

Cannuka CBD Soap

Not Listed

N/A

N/A

5

CBD American Shaman Soap

75 mg

Medium Potency

$0.27

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