As with EVERYTHING ELSE in life, I am oddly picky with the scents of soap I use. IDK if my sense of smell is just way more sensitive than most people, but the majority of stuff on the market makes me… very uncomfortable. (I was gonna say gag, but let’s not resort to hyperbole.) The worst offender of liquid hand soap is public washrooms. IDK what that shit is or what it has in it that makes it smell so awful, but I can’t use it at all. (I’m talking about places like McDonald’s or the mall or wherever. That pink crap. Blech.) I can’t stand it on my skin and having to smell it for the rest of the day. It’s so bad that I carry my own hand soap in my purse for emergencies. (Don’t get me started on hand sanitizer…) I don’t even let Hubby wash his hands with that stuff (or give him shit when he does) because I can smell it several feet away.

We had been using a particular scent of hand soap at home for the past few years – Method green tea – but they recently changed something and now it stinks like over-the-top old lady flowers. I was distraught. This meant I had to find an alternative. Unfortunately, green tea is one of the only ‘flavours’ that isn’t wholly offensive to me. Most things are way too strong or just gross.

I remember Softsoap used to make a white tea that was nice. Like everything else I love and grow attached to, it was discontinued. And before that, I forget the brand but I can picture what the bottle looked like, there was a ‘green tea and verbena’ soap I used. I think that was the first green tea one I came across. I actually shed a tear when they quit that one.

I knew it was going to be a task to find something I could use. I went to the store and picked up several bottles of crap to try. Here’s how it went:

We were using Method’s Green Tea & Aloe Foaming Hand Wash. Before they fucked it up, it was nice. I like the foaming ones. And since it’s a ‘hand wash’, not soap, it was light. Good for the environment too. That was a plus I’ll miss.

Next I tried this~ Bio-Life Green Tea & Aloe Foaming Hand Soap. Hubby works for Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada’s biggest drug store chain – like a Walgreens? Maybe?). Bio-Life is their store eco-brand. It’s basically a knock off of the Method one. But smelled nothing like it. It was okay but too strong smelling. Now, I haven’t used aloe since I was a kid and had chicken pox, so I’m unclear but I don’t remember it smelling like that. There was no detectable green tea smell either.

I thought I’d try to get away from the green tea soaps (but still stay on the Asian continent… Lol.) and attempt something else. I picked out this Softsoap Jasmine Oasis Foaming Hand Soap. *barf* I couldn’t even use it a second time.

Let it be known, I DO sniff these out thoroughly at the store before I buy them. I guess when it’s on your skin or mixing with water or something, it changes. Also you can’t tell how strong something is going to be by just sniffing at it.

My last bottle was the final option. If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what I was going to do. (The fact that these all made it home with me just means that there were literally hundreds of others that don’t make it off the shelves into my shopping cart.)

President’s Choice (a grocery store brand that branched out to become something bigger – honestly, IDK how to explain it…) Coriander Tea Hand Soap. Not a foaming one. Too bad. And not an eco-option. Boo. And although it’s green, it’s not labelled as green tea. Just tea. Which I guess is good because it doesn’t smell anything like green tea. I’m not sure I know what coriander smells like either, but this… Hmm.

I like it.

*ding, ding ding* Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Thank. God.

It’s bizarre. When we were in Japan in 2010, we stayed one night at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi and, like I always do, I pilfered the bathroom supplies. Since we were only there one night and I didn’t have foresight to raid the maid’s cart, we only got one bottle of each of the shampoo, body wash, and body lotion. I have no idea what it was but it smelled lovely. Even after it was all used up when we got home, I kept the empty bottle.

This soap smells very similar. Every time I wash my hands, I inhale and remember that trip. Really, what more can you ask from a hand soap!?

We’ve now been using this one for months. Please, please, please, PC… Don’t discontinue it.

I would like to say~ this IS a review but I wouldn’t necessarily take what I say to heart too much. I’m sure most people would have no problem with the other soaps I tried. Or with the dozens and dozens I passed up at the store for that matter. My reviews of things are just for fun. I have odd and extremely narrow tastes.  …Except when it comes to music, movies and fan fiction. 😉  Hahaha. Oh, I’m still picky with what I like in those areas, but you can trust that if I do actually find something I like enough to tell you about, it will definitely be great.

That said, if you ever see this soap, try it. It’s beautiful.

Update: I like to hoard it. You know… just in case.