Camp Soap Review

Product: Coghlan's Camp Soap
Stockist: Amazon
Cost: £6.99

Before my long distance walks on the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way I was looking for ways to reduce my pack weight. Granted a multipurpose soap, which can replace washing up liquid and shower gel won't save a great deal of weight.  It did eliminate the hunting for one particular soap and the hassle that can create, especially when it's raining. 

I did a quick search and came across Coghlan's Camp Soap and an all purpose soap from Life Adventure, unsure which one would be the best, I decided to buy the former. I used this during my trip to wash stove pots, my clothes and myself. It was a benefit that the bottle was only 118ml size as it was easy to store in your pack. The top has a flip top nozzle which allowed you to squeeze a small amount of soap out at a time. This works really well on the pots and was able to give them a good wash in cold water. The pots and utensils felt clean afterwards with no greasy residue that you may get with inexpensive washing up liquids. Since it's a small bottle, I had to ration it when it came time to wash clothes.
The Bottle Nozzle

It worked best on small items like underwear and it left these items smelling clean and refreshed.  Larger items like t shirts had the nice clean smell mixed with some old sweat so it refreshed the clothes enough to use during the 6 day hike. Some stains didn't wash out, like grass but the soap did enough to let me use the clothes again the next day.
It should have maybe used more soap on the larger clothes and this could have resulted in them smelling better. The soap is biodegradable so I didn't feel guilty about washing my clothes in the river.
The soap does a decent job as a shower gel. It has a soft citrus smell and I found this fine to use as a shampoo and body wash.

Verdict

This is a decent soap that is good to use on the trail. It works fine at different temperatures and leaves clothes and your body feeling mostly clean and refreshed. 

Pros:
  • Works well on all washable items
  • Smells good.
  • Doesn't leave pots and pans greasy
Cons:
  • An option to buy a slightly larger bottle would be nice.
  • Might struggle to eliminate stains from clothes. 
  • Some larger clothes may still have a faint sweat odour.
Score 4/5

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