Soap

Sharks may induce fright among some people, but they're an essential part of the balance of marine life. Unfortunately, tens of millions of sharks are killed each year for their oil, cartilage, and fins (the latter is often used to make shark fin soup). It's a rough practice: after being captured and de-finned, sharks are tossed back into the water only to eventually suffocate, bleed to death, or be eaten.

Hoping to put an end to the practice, Lush has just released a limited-edition Shark Fin Soap ($6). All proceeds from the exfoliating cleanser, which is formulated with fine sea salt, softening seaweed, and lime oil, will go to Shark Savers, a nonprofit that works to protect and preserve sharks. Soft skin and happy critters at sea: what's not to like?

I came to an odd realization this morning: I love soap, but I never actually use it on my body. When I get a fancy bar, in fact, I recoil at the suggestion that I would ever actually put it in the shower. It's not that I'm a soap hoarder, or even that I have a problem with using soap to clean yourself up. To see what actually makes my soap usage out of the ordinary, just keep reading.

Spring has sprung, and with it comes that most delectable of seasonal confections, the Peeps bunny. As a vegan, I'm not inclined to eat the real thing, but these Peep soaps ($12) make a nice substitute. They're hand painted, covered in sparkles, and come in three Peeps-accurate colors. An adorable way to be nostalgic without actually consuming a ton of gelatin and high fructose corn syrup (delicious as they are).

French soap maker Compagnie De Provence Marseille has come up with some truly adorable packaging to help celebrate the company's 20th anniversary. Right now, you can buy the brand's extra-large 180 gram soaps ($8) wrapped in origami paper. That way, when you open up your bar, you just follow the directions to make your own sweetly-scented little paper critter. You can even see a short unwrapping stop-motion video by Studio Plastac, which designed the origami wrappers. Which fun foldable would you most like to make?

When I heard about Swell Skin's two-step skin care regimen, which includes a bar soap and an oil, I knew I had to try it. First, how easy is that? Second, products are made using wonder ingredient sea buckthorn oil, rich in antioxidant vitamins C and E, emollients, and essential fatty acids.

The brand's Face Treatment ($32), used in step one, is a very mild soap in bar form. It has just the perfect amount of sudsing action with a faint, fresh nonsynthetic aroma. Skin feels clean and refreshed after use, with no painful stinging sensations or can't-move-my-face tightness. See more when you keep reading.

You may have heard about 19-year-old Floridian Tempestt Henderson, the young woman known for eating soap. In the past few weeks, she's appeared on TLC's My Strange Addiction, and she's also been featured on the Daily Mail. To find out what's really going on, just keep reading.

Most bathroom soap these days are liquid, which, although certainly nice feeling and easy to use, requires a lot of plastic and other landfill-bound packaging for shipping. That's exactly why designer Nathalie Stämpfli decided to come up with a fun, elegant way to use eco-friendly bar soap instead. Her Soap Flakes Dispenser uses a grater to shave off pretty little soap flakes in a way that's smart and sanitary, so people don't get germs from sharing hand soap. Plus, it looks pretty cool. She also created a personal version of her soap flake maker with a cap, so you can store your soap in the shower without getting it soggy. Great ideas, and the sort of thing I'd like to see get wider distribution.