Choosing a gentle hand soap is very important for keeping hand eczema under control. Unfortunately, many liquid hand soaps contain dyes and fragrances, which can aggravate your skin for no good reason. Bar soaps can be a good alternative, since it’s often easier to find a fragrance-free bar soap than a fragrance-free liquid hand soap. But if you’re looking for a gentle, effective liquid hand soap that won’t aggravate your skin, look no further than Seventh Generation Free & Clean Fragrance-Free Hand Soap—and its copycat, Amazon Presto! Biobased Fragrance Free Hand Soap. Today, we’ll compare both of these ingredients and see if Amazon Presto!’s version is a viable option for the name brand, Seventh Generation.

Seventh Generation Free & Clean Fragrance-Free Hand Soap ingredients

water, sodium coco-sulfate (plant-derived cleaning agent), decyl glucoside (plant-derived surfactant), aloe barbadensis leaf juice (plant-derived feel enhancer), sodium chloride (mineral-based viscosity modifier), magnesium chloride (mineral-based viscosity modifier), glycerin (plant-derived foam enhancer), glyceryl caprylate/caprate (plant-derived skin conditioner), citric acid (plant-derived pH adjuster), tetrasodium iminodisuccinate (synthetic preservative enhancer), coco-glucoside (plant-derived skin conditioner), glyceryl oleate (plant-derived skin conditioner), sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate (synthetic preservatives)

Amazon Presto! Biobased Fragrance Free Hand Soap ingredients

water, sodium coco-sulfate (plant-derived cleaning agent), decyl glucoside (plant-derived cleaning agent), sodium chloride (mineral-based viscosity modifier), magnesium chloride (mineral-based viscosity modifier), glyceryl caprylate/caprate (plant-derived skin conditioner), glycerin (plant-derived foam enhancer), glyceryl oleate (plant-derived skin conditioner), citric acid (plant-derived pH adjuster), coco-glucoside (plant-derived skin conditioner), aloe barbadensis leaf juice (plant-derived feel enhancer), tetrasodium iminodisuccinate (synthetic preservative enhancer), potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate (synthetic preservatives)

My Dad the Chemist’s review of Seventh Generation Free & Clean Fragrance-Free Hand Soap vs. Amazon Presto! Fragrance-Free Hand Soap

Both ingredient lists are remarkably similar, with subtle differences in order. The Amazon brand has aloe barbadensis leaf juice later in the list, and has glyceryl oleate earlier in the list than the Seventh Generation version. My dad confirms that both of these products are almost the same and that they should have a similar cleansing effect and feel the same after rinsing off.

When I pointed out that Product 2 (the Amazon version) also contained aloe barbadensis leaf juice, he responded with this:

Because this is a rinse-off product, the aloe gets washed away, which means that it doesn’t necessarily make a difference in moisturizing the skin, cleansing, or the afterfeel of the product. In this case, both products contain all the same ingredients, but this is still useful knowledge. This means that if you see two similar soaps where one contains aloe and the other doesn’t, don’t pay more just for aloe if it’s meant to be rinsed off. If it’s a leave-on product, then it may be worth paying more for the aloe.

Seventh Generation Free & Clean Fragrance-Free Hand Soap vs. Amazon Presto! Fragrance-Free Hand Soap review and comparison

Seventh Generation Free & Clean Fragrance-Free Hand Soap and Amazon Presto! Fragrance-Free Hand Soap are virtually identical in terms of packaging, smell, and experience. They are packaged in a plastic pump. To make sure that you’re not wasting any product, don’t start off with a full pump—I usually find that it dispenses too much soap. I usually only need half a pump’s worth to get enough coverage.

These soaps are fragrance-free but they do have a nice “clean” smell about them that reminds me of rain, or something really pure and unobtrusive. The soap suds up nicely and doesn’t leave your hands feeling super dry or perfumed after it’s rinsed off. I really like these hand soaps and honestly can’t tell the difference between the two unless I peer closely at the label and see “seventh generation” vs. “presto” staring back at me.

All things considered, if you’re looking for a more affordable soap, go for the Amazon version as you will virtually be getting the same product for a fraction of the price. If you care about minimizing single-use plastics, though, one downside of Amazon’s version is that Amazon Presto! unfortunately only sells six-packs of the small pumps. I don’t see a larger refill for sale. Seventh Generation does offer refills, but they are absurdly expensive on Amazon, so you should probably buy them from another store.

Related reading

• Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar: My favorite way to wash away the day
• Softsoap Soothing Aloe Vera Hand Soap review
• Target Up & Up Classic Clean Hand Soap review
• Whole Foods Fragrance-free Hand Soap review