Kiss My Face 3-in-1 soap bars are available at the Grocery Outlet! This is exciting news for me because I want to try out a shampoo bar and am already a fan of Kiss My Face. In fact, I’ve covered Kiss My Face products four years ago here on Ethical Bargains but want to do an update now that I’ve found these 3-in-1 products. The three things that they are good for are body, face and hair – so, basically everywhere!
Over the summer I’m planning to do a series of posts on the Green Stars Project that cover our everyday needs, highlighting social and environmental issues and picking out some ethical options. Shampoo is one that needs updating – back in 2016 I recommended Nature’s Gate and Avalon Organics shampoos, both of which use post-consumer recycled plastic for their bottles. I occasionally use a regular soap bar on my hair but, as anyone who has tried it knows, it’s not ideal as a long-term solution, although it’s perfectly fine now and then.
Review of Kiss My Face 3-in-1 soap/shampoo bars
The 3-in-1 bar that I bought at the Grocery Outlet was part of the Kiss My Face goat milk range and was blackcurrant and vanilla scented. All of their products are cruelty-free, by the way, and most are vegan except for this goat milk range. I’ve tried it four times now and have to say I’m converted! I’m pretty fussy about the shampoo that I use as I have dry hair and most shampoos just dry it out even more. I’ve tried shampoos from my local refill store and found them to be serviceable but not great, compared to Nature’s Gate. So when I found Nature’s Gate Goat Milk 3-in-1 Bar Soap at the Grocery Outlet ($4 instead of the normal price of $10) I snapped it up like a greedy child.
The soap lathers quickly and a single lather-rinse cycle is sufficient to wash my hair with this bar soap. It doesn’t leave a residue as normal bar soap does, so there’s no need for a special rinse. (Some people use apple cider vinegar as a rinse after washing their hair with regular soap.) My hair feels clean afterwards and, importantly, is not dried out afterwards. Many shampoos will strip your hair of its natural oils too much, especially if your hair is on the dry side. Kiss My Face is generally known to be moisturizing as it contains glycerin, generated during the saponification of olive oil. This 3-in-1 soap contains glycerin but also contains shea butter and coconut oil.
Even at the normal price of $10, I think this soap is a good deal – shampoo bars tend to be pricey – but at $4 it’s a total steal. I can see it lasting for several months of normal use, and perhaps as much as 6 months if I restrict its use to just washing my hair. There are also regular Kiss My Face body soaps available at the Grocery Outlet (only $2 each) so it’s a good time to stock up on all of them, if you’re lucky enough to find them in your local store.
Kiss My Face goat milk 3-in-1 bar soap, Ingredients:
Here are the ingredients for the blackcurrant and vanilla variety that I’ve been using for my hair:
Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Starch, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Parfum, Hydrolyzed Goat Milk, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Isoamyl Laurate, Coco Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea Butter), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Maltodextrin, Lactobacillus Ferment, Linalool, Limonene
Most of the other Kiss My Face soaps contain very minimal ingredients such as saponified olive oil, water, and one or two other ingredients or fragrances (e.g., lavender, aloe, or green tea) depending on the soap. The 3-in-1 soaps also come with this message:
This 3 in 1 bar soap combines our 3xBiotic™ Complex which delivers pre-, pro- and post-biotic benefits, plus nourishing Goat Milk, Coconut Oil and Shea Butter to moisturize, balance and clean your hair, face and body.
Ethical rating for Kiss My Face 3-in-1 soap bars
I’ll refer you to my previous post on Kiss My Face for details on the company founders, the new owners, and the environmental impact of olive oil (the main ingredient for most KMF soaps).
Overall, I think that Kiss My Face deserves 4 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
- The 3-in-1 soaps are not vegan as they contain a small amount of goat milk. However, most other Kiss My Face products are vegan.
- Products and ingredients were never tested on animals. Kiss My Face is PETA-endorsed as cruelty-free.
- All Kiss My Face products are free of palm oil, avoiding the ethical issues with that ingredient. Many popular brands of soap are made by companies with a poor track record on palm oil sourcing (e.g., Dove).
- Bar soap is a better choice than liquid soap, which has a significantly higher carbon footprint and usually requires more packaging. Liquid soaps also don’t last as long: on a per-wash basis consumers use more than six times the amount of liquid soap than bar soap.
- The Kiss My Face 3-in-1 soap is packaged in a simple, recyclable cardboard box.
- Kiss my Face are not as transparent about their operations as some companies like Dr. Bronner’s – there’s no information on topics such as energy use or ingredient sourcing. Aliph Brands, which acquired Kiss My Face in 2018, does a pretty poor job on communication/transparency.
- Interesting that the main ingredient is wheat starch as wheat has lower environmental footprints than most oil crops. Be warned, if you have celiac disease, that it’s not gluten-free.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Kiss My Face:
- 4.5 gold stars for quality and value
- 4 Green Stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, be excellent to each other.
Join the Green Stars Project!
Join the Green Stars Project (GSP) movement by including a Green Stars rating whenever you write a review. This is one of the most effective ways to hold corporations accountable while sharing our knowledge on ethical issues.
For more information, see these articles on the GSP:
Why we need crowdsourced ethical ratings
How to decide on an ethical rating, taking the example of a café
Grocery Outlet Ethical Bargains 
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