Find natural and cruelty free soap. Eco friendly and sustainability ratings for 92 brands of soap bars, liquid handwash and shower gel, with recommended buys and what to avoid.
In this guide to ethical soap, we look at the ethics of soap companies, from the big brands like Dove, Palmolive, Pears and Simple to high street shops like Boots and Superdrug, as well as smaller eco brands .
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Avoiding palm oil
How a company sources and traces its palm oil products will affect whether it is linked with the clearing of rainforests and peatlands, and the degree to which its products negatively affect local communities, biodiversity and climate change.
The plight of orangutans has been a key feature of palm oil campaigns, due to so much of their habitat being destroyed by plantations, and the serious risk they face of extinction.
Social impacts of palm oil are also wide-ranging, and economic gains are far from evenly distributed. Millions of Indigenous people, comprising hundreds of distinct language groups, make up a quarter of Indonesia’s population, and many traditional communities have lost their lands to plantations. Along with loss of forest for mining, biomass, or rice, palm plantations contributed to a 66% surge in Indonesian forest loss in 2025.
Palm oil consumption worldwide has been steadily growing for decades.
Palm Oil in Soap
Palm oil is widely used for its properties and because it is cheap, but as with other mass produced crops, the environmental and social costs go unaccounted for.
Many products aren't clearly labelled, and palm oil and its derivatives can appear under many names, including:
Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hydrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol.
However, it is possible to buy soap that is palm-oil-free.
