Did you know that the filling in Jammie Dodgers isn’t actually raspberry (or strawberry) jam?

Nope ― they’re filled with apple jam which is “raspberry-flavoured” using natural ingredients, manufacturer Burton says. 

The red hue is reached with annatto (which makes food appear orangey-red; it’s completely natural) and anthocyanins, which come from fruit.

And now, another blow to my sense of sanity... it turns out that those creamy, white bars from Dove, embossed with that iconic bird logo, aren’t actually bars of soap at all.

What are Dove bars if they’re not soap?

According to the company (and to the packaging on Dove bars, if you look closely), the product is actually a “beauty cream bar”.

“What’s shaped like a bar soap, cleanses like a bar soap but cares like a moisturiser? Our world-famous beauty bar,” Dove shared on its site. 

The company adds that it “may look like a bar soap but appearances can be deceiving”.

Dove says that one of the differences lies in the pH of both products, with bar soap being a lot more alkaline. It explains that that’s why its Beauty Bar doesn’t strip your skin as much.  

On the blog, The Beauty Brains, cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowsk explained that “true” soaps are “specifically defined as fatty acids that are neutralised by an alkali such as lye”.

When they react, a process called saponification happens.

“But Dove is not soap – it’s what is known as a Syndet bar (which stands for synthetic detergent),” he added.

It’s not news, either ― a 1957 ad says “ordinary soap dries your skin, while Dove creams your skin while you wash”.

So... do Dove Beauty Bars clean?! 

Dove says it still has a “gentle cleansing formula” to clean you. 

“Both are just as effective at washing away dirt and germs, but soap can be harsh and strip away your skin’s natural oils,” the company’s site reads. 

According to The Beauty Brains, Syndet bars are not actually all that uncommon and they do the job well.

In case that doesn’t cut it for you, well ― Dr Andrew Pavia, chief of the division of paediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah, told The Fast Company: “In my house we use plain old Palmolive and Dove bar soaps to wash our hands.”