When Did Hand Soap Become So Fancy

This week's Asking for a Friend segment may be a little odd as hand soap is not something I tend to wax lyrical about but it has been bugging me for quite some while now. When did hand soap become so fancy?

As someone in their twenties I'm not exactly old but I do remember growing up, all we washed our hands with was a bar of soap. If I recall rightly it was either Dove or Imperial Leather depending on who's home I was visiting - my Mother loves the scent of Imperial Leather soap, my Grandmother is a fan of Dove. As a child I couldn't have cared less and if I'm really frank I still don't.

Then I recall the sudden influx of blue pump dispensers full of Carex Anti Bacterial Hand Wash sweeping bathrooms and kitchens everywhere. I'm not sure who or want caused such phenomenon, all I know now is that we are all a touch weirded out if gel soap is not on offer. Hey if it kills germs you know I am on board. I mean could you imagine going into a public bathroom and all that was on offer was a bar of soap? Growing up this was exactly the norm, I shudder at the very memory.

Not only has liquid hand soap very much the norm but we expect it to offer so much more than cleansing ability, it best fight germs, tackle food smells and moisturise too. The kicker? The majority of us expect to pay nothing more than £2! I'm all for value and multi-tasking properties but wear have all the weird and wonderful fragrances come from? I now feel boring if my hand soap isn't bubblegum or at the very least chocolate scented? I mean why wash your hands with a boring, generic aquatic scent when you can have a soap that is reminiscent of the inside of a sweet shop.

It hasn't stopped there either, everyone and anyone has at least one bottle of weirdly scented anti bacterial hand gel don't they? I've now seen that this has evolved into hand wipes much like the Strawberry Lace scented hand sheets I now own. I can't help but wonder if this fad for sweetly scented hand cleansers is most likely aimed at kids to encourage them to form good hygiene habits, rather than to appease the sweet tooth of a fully grown woman.

Yes I am thinking out loud but isn't it bizarre to think much like beauty products in general, the humble world of soap also follows trends? First we had bars of soap, then it was basic anti-bacterial hand wash and now the world is your oyster as far as fragrance options are concerned? Where to next?