We are living in the age of $150 hand soap | Canada Voices

Back in 2010, when indie beauty retailer Jacob & Sebastian first opened on Toronto’s Queen St. West, it carried Aesop’s Resurrection Aromatique hand wash. At the time, convincing customers to pay upwards of $50 for soap wasn’t easy.

“It did do well, but not naturally,” says owner Joel Dart of the soap, which currently retails for $58. “People didn’t just bring it to the cash. It took a lot of work to sell a $60 hand soap then.”

Launched in 2006, Aesop’s hand wash was stocked in posh hotel and restaurant bathrooms around the world, with the sleek amber bottles coming to signify a certain “if you know, you know” wink. The Australian brand pioneered the idea that hand wash could be seen as more than just good hygiene.

“I think it set a benchmark to say we should all have $60 hand soap, and this, A, proves that we have money, and B, we have taste,” Dart says.

For years, Aesop reigned as the go-to status soap, but after COVID hit in 2020, things changed. For one thing, we were all stuck at home, which meant it became even more important for our surroundings to feel cozy and inviting.

“I think the concept of home ritual really changed,” says Amit Mohan, senior beauty buyer at Holt Renfrew. The shift initially affected mainly candles and diffusers, he explained, before slowly making its way into the world of bath and body.

And with hand-washing becoming not just good practice but a vital health measure done with intention multiple times a day, brands had an opportunity to heighten the experience. It wasn’t long before a slew of new luxury hand washes arrived, such as offerings from the likes of Diptyque and Loewe.

“It allowed us to decorate this primary safety precaution in a way that’s maybe perhaps not as intimidating, so it makes it a little bit more attractive,” Mohan says.

These recent contenders have also increased the sticker shock: Diptyque’s Softening Hand Wash, which costs $115 for 350 ml, is one of Holt Renfrew’s bestsellers. A 360-millilitre bottle of Loewe’s Liquid Soap retails for $125. Last month, French beauty-brand Sisley released its Exfoliating Hand Wash as part of its new bath and body line, Maison Sisley collection. The price: $150.

“We wanted to provide our customers with – it sounds a bit pretentious or arrogant to say – but a new way of washing your hands,” says Sisley’s chief marketing officer Marie-Laure Pons. “It’s about going one step further in terms of the pleasure you can have in something that can look very banal.” Pons says that the soap’s sensory exfoliating aspect (as a result of ​​the addition of fine volcanic lava particles) makes the wash not only more hygienic but encourages the user to pay more attention to the task.

The packaging of these products is just as premium, with attention to design details. Sisley’s bottle, which has a fluted design at the top, makes it an object “you’re proud to display in your bathroom when you have guests coming over,” says Pons.

The numbers confirm that consumers are eager to spend on bath products. In 2024, the Canadian soap, bath and shower market was valued at $1-billion, according to Mintel, which attributed the growth in part to a renewed focus on self-care.

The recent crop of high-end hand washes favours scents that speak to that idea, with garden and vegetal aromas such as tomato leaf being a massive trend, according to Mohan.

“When you smell your hands afterward, you’ve been transported to a garden,” he says. “There’s a type of experiential escapism that comes from those olfactive experiences.”

Another reason these earthy notes are resonating may be because our need to connect to nature is stronger than ever. “Through the world of AI and how we over-convenience ourselves, being tactile is almost seen as a luxury in itself now,” Mohan says. “When you’re washing your hands and smelling them, it’s bringing you back to your body.”