What Makes Our Hand Soap Different — True Liquid Soap

You pump it. You rinse it. You reach for the towel. It doesn’t take long before hands washed fifty times a day start to show it — tight, dry, faintly stinging at the knuckles. Most people assume that’s just what hand washing does.

It isn’t. It’s what the wrong kind of hand wash does.

What Most Hand Washes Actually Are

Pick up almost any liquid hand wash from a pharmacy, supermarket, or even a boutique skincare shelf and read the ingredient list. The base is almost certainly a synthetic detergent — sodium laureth sulfate, coco glucoside, lauryl glucoside, or a similar derivative. These are the same surfactant families used in dishwashing liquid and car shampoo. They’re efficient at cutting grease. That’s the problem.

They don’t distinguish between the oils and bacteria you want to remove and the lipids your skin needs to stay healthy. They strip both, disrupting the skin’s natural acid mantle and leaving hands that absorb moisture badly — until the next wash strips them again.

The ‘natural’ or ‘botanical’ labelling that often sits above these ingredients doesn’t change the base chemistry. A sulphate derived from coconut is still a sulphate.

What True Liquid Soap Is

WØRKS makes true liquid soap — not a hand wash, not a body wash, not a detergent product of any kind.

The method is saponification: the centuries-old process of combining plant oils with an alkali, which triggers a chemical reaction that produces soap and glycerin. This is how all soap was made before the synthetic detergent industry emerged in the 20th century. It takes longer and requires more precise manufacturing than blending a surfactant base — but what it produces is fundamentally different.

Our soap base is 98% certified organic olive and coconut oils. The result is naturally lathering — the foam is a byproduct of saponification, not added foaming agents. The glycerin produced during saponification is a natural humectant that draws moisture to the skin. There are no sulphates, glucosides, or petrochemicals — none of the detergent bases that compromise skin barrier function. And it’s gentle enough for sensitive skin.

Why This Matters for Skin Health

The skin barrier — the outermost layer of the epidermis — depends on a precise balance of lipids, proteins, and a slightly acidic pH to function correctly. When this barrier is compromised by repeated harsh detergent use, the results are visible: tightness, flaking, sensitivity, increased dryness between washes.

True liquid soap, made from organic plant oils and producing glycerin as a natural byproduct, cleans without stripping. The lipids in olive and coconut oil are structurally similar to the skin’s own sebum, which means they support rather than compete with the skin’s natural chemistry.

You’ll feel the difference the first time you use it — a wash that leaves hands soft rather than squeaky-clean.

What WØRKS Contains — and What It Doesn’t

Every WØRKS hand soap and body soap is made by saponification from 98% certified organic oils. Free from SLS, sulphates, glucosides, parabens, and petrochemicals. Fragrances are IFRA-certified — meeting the International Fragrance Association’s highest global safety standards — and phthalate-free. Bottled in refillable, dishwasher-safe smoky glass, with a 1L kerbside-recyclable aluminium refill canister.

Available in three hand care fragrances: Bergamot · Neroli · Cedar, Cumquat · Jasmine · Moss, and Vetiver · Nettle · Petitgrain — and three body care fragrances, each formulated to the same standard.

The 1L aluminium refill canister keeps the glass bottle going indefinitely. Fill it, refill it, keep it. That’s the point.

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Hand-filled in Melbourne. Plastic-free from bottle to cap.