A celebrity headlining brands or collaborating on products is nothing new. Sometimes, they add a personal touch to give it that limited-edition, premium value. But something about Sydney Sweeney’s limited-edition soaps has left everyone (even fans) absolutely flabbergasted.

Yes, launching a new line of soap bars isn’t a big deal, but the catch lies in the fact that these are made with Sydney’s used bathwater. Yes, really. It’s called Sydney Bathwater Bliss.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already heard about her viral soap bars. For the unversed, Sydney Sweeney, a popular American actress known for her roles in – The White Lotus, Euphoria, and The Handmaid’s Tale – recently collaborated with a men’s skincare brand, Dr. Squatch, to launch a soap bar (among many other things). If the claims are to be believed, the soap bars are infused with her “used” bathwater.

A picture of Sydney in a bathtub, lathered in soap and holding a bar in her hand, broke the internet. That’s how Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss became the talk of the town.

“In collaboration with Sydney Sweeney, we created a limited-edition soap infused with her actual bathwater,” read the social media caption. This tongue-in-cheek way of promotion is part intriguing (for the fans) and part confusing, too.

However, she is not the first one to do so. Belle Delphine, content creator, aka Gamer Girl, made headlines in 2019 because she made money selling her used bath water. Sounds gross, right? But here’s the catch: it was sold out!

Point being, products like Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ candle, farts in a jar, etc., as strange as they sound, have become a big market.

Sydney Sweeney’s soap opera’

The brand is selling Sydney’s bathwater as “one of nature’s finest aphrodisiacs.” While it states this to be a narrative element, Sweeney confirmed in an interview that it is, in fact, her “real bath water”, and how she finds this a cool way to engage with fans.

“When we were at the (Dr. Squatch) shoot, they had a tub for me. And I actually got in there and I took some soap, and we had a nice little bath and they took the water. So it’s my real bath water. I wanted to have it lean towards my home roots, so there’s this really outdoorsy scent of, like, pine and earthy moss and fir. So it smells super manly. But then there’s some city bath water mixed in,” she told GQ USA.

In case you want your hands on the soap, it goes live on June 6 and will be sold for $8 per bar.

Now, whether the soap bars have Sydney’s used bathwater infused in reality is debatable, but what we know is that the latest announcement has divided the internet.

Netizens are calling out the irony of the actress voicing her discomfort with being oversexualised in the past, while now, she is seemingly leaning into the male gaze. One user commented, ‘We are never getting out of patriarchy.'”

Several threads on platforms like Reddit are filled with discussions where people are expressing their disgust over the idea and how it is enabling objectification of women.

Soap from used bathwater. Is it possible?

As per the ingredient list, this soap bar is made of pine bark extract, sand, actual droplets of her bath water, sea salt, shea butter, and other ingredients. However, experts in India think it is a gimmick and merely a marketing strategy with no potential scientific basis.

If we break it down, bath water contains dirt, grime, dead skin cells, body sebum, etc. Which brings us to the real question: how is this sensational soap bar actually made, and what about hygiene?

Experts reveal that soap can be made using water collected from a bath, but it would require multiple levels of filtration, microfiltration, chemical treatments, and UV sterilisation to make it safe. Therefore, safety-wise, if thoroughly processed, the final soap could be microbiologically safe, but its “effectiveness” would be purely symbolic or marketing-driven.

“From a dermatologist’s standpoint, there’s no added benefit in using water that once touched a human body. If not properly treated, the product could risk contamination or skin irritation. In short, it’s safe if handled professionally, but it’s not more effective than regular soap, its appeal is emotional or experiential, not scientific,” Dr Ameesha Mahajan, cosmetic dermatologist and founder, Eden Skin Clinic, tells India Today.

The soap itself would be made using standard saponification methods, combining fats and alkali, possibly with a few drops of this filtered bathwater added as a novelty. Scientifically, there’s no skincare benefit to using someone else’s bathwater in soap. Its value lies in the perceived intimacy or celebrity association, not dermatological science, Dr. Mahajan explains.

Hygiene is not completely off the table. It centres on whether the bathwater is adequately sanitised before being used, if at all. If not properly filtered and treated, bathwater can harbour microbes, bacteria, and organic waste, making the final product unsafe.

However, most commercial formulations claiming to use such ingredients might incorporate only a negligible, sterilised trace of that water, more for branding than for real skin contact, is what experts think.

Should we even be using a soap bar?

Which is a better option for your skin – soap or body wash? This is an age-old debate. People mostly think it’s body wash or gel for the win. But this is a myth. The only ground for comparison is the ingredients being used.

“It’s about the formulation of the bar and whether it is made with good ingredients. Then, of course, the bar will win. It’s all about the formulation and the ingredients in the product. If the ingredients are not harsh, they are hydrating, they are soothing, and of course, that will be good,” Dr. Geeta Grewal, founder and CMD – 9 Muses Wellness Clinic, explains to India Today.

While she believes that the ‘Sydney Sweeney soap bar’ is purely a gimmick, Dr. Grewal highlighted that the inclusion of pine bark extract might actually make it a decent soap. She further explained that pine bark extract is an age-old molecule and a powerful antioxidant. It’s beneficial for acne-prone skin, hydrating, and helps with anti-ageing.

“Reputable manufacturers would follow cosmetic safety regulations, ensuring that the end product meets microbiological standards. Still, the idea of applying a product made from another person’s bathwater—no matter how purified—triggers an ‘ick’ factor for many consumers. It’s safe if done right, but the perception of hygiene is just as important as the actual microbial content in a product like this,” Dr. Mahajan concludes.