RHS bath and body: soaps, shower gels and hand creams
The RHS bath and body range is made by The Somerset Toiletry Company under licence from the Royal Horticultural Society, and it runs to three fragrances: White Blooms, Wild Rhubarb and Mint, and Strawberries and Cream. Each comes as a triple milled soap bar and a 500ml bath and shower gel, with hand cream and body mist in the Wild Rhubarb and Mint line.
The fragrances are drawn from RHS garden planting rather than invented in a lab and given a floral name afterwards, which is the part that makes the range worth stocking in a garden shop rather than a chemist.
- The three fragrances
- Soap bar or shower gel?
- Who makes it, and why that matters
- The bits that actually help after gardening
- Putting a gift together
- Frequently asked questions
The three fragrances
White Blooms
Soft and floral, built on lily, jasmine and peony. It reads as spring blossom and clean linen rather than anything heavy, and it is the one most people reach for at the end of the day rather than the start of it. Available as a 200g soap bar and a 500ml bath and shower gel.
Wild Rhubarb and Mint
Sharp and cooling. The rhubarb gives it a tart edge and the mint lifts it, which makes this the useful one after physical work. It is the fullest line in the range, running to soap bar, shower gel, hand cream and body mist.
Strawberries and Cream
The nostalgic one, and the least complicated. Sweet without tipping into confectionery, and the fragrance most likely to be bought as a present for someone whose taste you are guessing at. Currently a 200g soap bar.
Soap bar or shower gel?
They are not simply two formats of the same thing, and the choice usually comes down to where it is going to live.
- Soap bar, 200g. Triple milled, which means the soap is pressed and refined three times before it is shaped. That squeezes out excess water and air, so the bar is denser, holds its edge instead of going to mush in the dish, and lasts noticeably longer than a standard bar.
- Bath and shower gel, 500ml. Lathers richly, rinses clean, and is the better choice for a shared bathroom or anywhere a bar would sit in a puddle. Doubles as a bath soak.
A bar by the kitchen sink and a gel in the shower is the combination most people end up with, and the fragrances hold together well enough across both that you can mix them.
Who makes it, and why that matters
The Somerset Toiletry Company has been making bath and body products in the UK for years and holds the RHS licence for this range. In practice that means two things worth knowing.
The first is formulation. The gels clean without stripping, which sounds like packaging copy until you have used something that does the opposite on hands already dried out by soil and repeated washing. The second is that the range is cruelty free and the packaging is designed with recycling in mind, which is a reasonable expectation for anything carrying the RHS name.
The botanical illustration on the boxes is not incidental either. It is done properly, and it is why these get left out on a shelf rather than shoved in a cupboard.
The bits that actually help after gardening
Most of a bath and body range is pleasant rather than necessary. Two pieces here are genuinely useful to a gardener.
The Wild Rhubarb and Mint hand cream is the first. Gardening hands take a beating from wet and dry cycles, grit, sap and repeated washing, and the skin barrier gives up long before the season does. A cream applied after the last wash of the day is what stops the cracking that turns up around the thumbnail in February. Ours sits alongside the rest of our hand care.
The soap bar is the second, and the rhubarb and mint one in particular. Triple milled soap holds up to being used with dirty hands several times a day in a way that a softer bar simply does not.
Putting a gift together
The range is built for it, and a few combinations work better than others.
- Soap and gel in one fragrance. The straightforward pairing, and the one that looks most deliberate.
- Hand cream with a pair of gloves. The most useful gift on this page for anyone who actually gardens.
- One fragrance each way. White Blooms for the evening, Wild Rhubarb and Mint for after the allotment.
Beyond the RHS range, The Somerset Toiletry Company also make the AAA gift sets we stock in Lavender, Rose Petal, Orange Blossom and Hibiscus Flower, which sit at a similar level and arrive already boxed. The rest is in Bath & Body.
Shop The Somerset Toiletry Co.
Frequently asked questions
What fragrances are in the RHS bath and body range?
Three. White Blooms is the floral one, built on lily, jasmine and peony, and reads as spring blossom and clean linen. Wild Rhubarb and Mint is sharper and cooling, with a tart rhubarb edge lifted by mint, and it is the most practical of the three after physical work. Strawberries and Cream is the sweet, nostalgic one. White Blooms and Wild Rhubarb and Mint each come as a soap bar and a shower gel, with hand cream and body mist available in the Wild Rhubarb and Mint line.
Who makes the RHS bath and body products?
The Somerset Toiletry Company, under licence from the Royal Horticultural Society. They are a UK maker with a long track record in bath and body, and they hold the RHS licence for this range, which is why the fragrances are drawn from RHS garden planting rather than chosen at random and given botanical names. The range is cruelty free, and the packaging is designed with recycling in mind. The botanical illustration on the boxes is part of the licence rather than generic floral decoration.
What is triple milled soap, and does it last longer?
Triple milled means the soap is passed through rollers and refined three times before it is pressed into a bar. That process forces out excess water and trapped air, leaving a denser, harder bar with the fragrance distributed evenly through it rather than sitting on the surface. In use, the practical difference is that the bar holds its shape instead of softening into the dish, produces a finer lather, and lasts considerably longer than a standard cold process bar of the same weight.
Which RHS products are best after gardening?
The Wild Rhubarb and Mint soap bar and hand cream. Gardening is hard on hands because of the constant cycle of wet and dry, grit, plant sap and repeated washing, and that is what breaks down the skin barrier over a season. A triple milled bar copes with being used repeatedly with dirty hands, and a hand cream applied after the last wash of the day is what prevents the cracking that shows up around the nails in late winter. The mint in the fragrance is a pleasant extra rather than the point.
Is the RHS range suitable for sensitive skin?
The range is formulated to be skin friendly for everyday use, and the gels are designed to cleanse without stripping, which is the usual complaint with heavily fragranced products. That said, every one of these is scented, and fragrance is the most common trigger for reactive skin. If yours is sensitive, patch test on a small area first, and pick White Blooms over the sharper Wild Rhubarb and Mint. Anyone with a diagnosed skin condition should check the ingredient list on the pack before buying.
Written by David Hurrion
David Hurrion is a trained horticulturist, teacher and journalist who has worked on nurseries, taught at colleges, and edited some of the nation's leading gardening magazines. He chooses everything Norman & Vera stocks, and makes practical gardening videos for BBC Gardeners' World Magazine.