High-end Bathrooms Need Foam Soap

This is the second part of a three-part article on restroom care in Class A facilities.

Just like high-quality paper products, high-end soap is a must-have for Class A facility restrooms. In fact, high-end, spa-inspired hand cleansers for the commercial market have become the standard. Manufactured with natural ingredients, today’s spa-inspired soaps come in foam form and contain added moisturizers and emollients such as aloe vera, Vitamin E and other natural oils. These soaps also contain pleasant scents.

Traditionally, facilities avoided putting fragranced hand soaps in restrooms as they could be off-putting to users and discourage hand washing. Today, however, consumers’ preferences have changed, especially when it comes to high-end restrooms. Distributors say spa-like fragrances such as lavender and eucalyptus are popular sellers.

These luxurious foam soaps offer a better user experience and encourage proper and frequent hand washing to help prevent the spread of illnesses. Distributors say users are more likely to wash their hands — and wash them for the recommended 15 seconds — when luxurious hand soaps are available.

“If the products are nice, people tend to wash their hands for the recommended time and more often,” says Miller. “The experience is better.”

Distributors say high-end foam soap sales have begun surpassing liquid soap sales in Class A facilities in recent years. Liquid soaps can be messy, dry out hands and be perceived as cheap.

“A foam product will feel to the user more luxurious and soft and silky than a liquid will because the product has already had oxygen introduced before the user has to start lathering their hands,” says Cadell, “where with liquids the user is the one who introduces the oxygen through the lather, so it takes a little longer to get a full lather.”

Besides providing an upscale environment for restroom patrons, high-end foam soap also provides cost savings over time. A single application of high-quality foam hand soap provides enough lather to wash hands, thus eliminating the need to return a hand under the dispenser for more product.