Dial and Ivory are two of the oldest names on the soap shelf, and they sit at opposite ends of one question. Dial has built its whole identity on being antibacterial. Ivory has spent nearly 150 years selling the idea of simple, pure soap. So which is antibacterial, and does it matter?
Dial vs. Ivory at a glance
| Dial Gold | Ivory Original | |
|---|---|---|
| Antibacterial | Yes, benzalkonium chloride 0.10% | No |
| What it's made of | Soap from palm, palm kernel and coconut oils | Soap from tallow and/or palm, plus palm kernel or coconut |
| Scent | Classic Dial fragrance | Light, clean fragrance |
| Bar size | 4 oz | 3.17 oz |
| Price at Target | $3.89 for 3 bars | $6.99 for 10 bars |
| Made by | Henkel (Dial dates to 1948) | Procter & Gamble (Ivory dates to 1879) |
Labels and prices are from Target listings as of November 2026. Check the box in your hand, since formulas change.
Is Dial soap antibacterial?
Yes. Dial Gold carries a Drug Facts panel listing benzalkonium chloride at 0.10% as its antibacterial active ingredient. The other Dial bars we checked, like Spring Water, use the same active. Underneath, Dial is true soap, made from palm, palm kernel and coconut oils.
The active ingredient has changed over the years. Dial launched in 1948 with hexachlorophene, later switched to triclocarban, and moved to benzalkonium chloride after the FDA's 2016 rule pulled triclocarban, triclosan and 17 other ingredients from consumer antiseptic washes. Benzalkonium chloride was one of three ingredients the FDA set aside for more study instead of banning.
Is Ivory soap antibacterial?
No. Ivory has no antibacterial active ingredient and no Drug Facts panel. It's plain soap, mostly tallow and/or palm with coconut or palm kernel, plus a little fragrance.
What does "99 44/100% pure" mean?
It's one of the oldest slogans in American advertising. Back in the late 1800s, chemists found that Ivory contained just 0.56% of anything that wasn't soap, and Procter & Gamble turned that into "99 44/100% pure." It describes how much of the bar is soap. It was never a claim about skin.
Does Ivory soap still float?
Not anymore. The famous floating bar came from air whipped into the soap, and "It Floats!" was part of Ivory's advertising from 1891. The current formula is more concentrated and, according to Target's customer care team, no longer floats. Some retail listings still say otherwise, so don't be surprised if you see both.
Does antibacterial matter?
For everyday hand and body washing, less than the labels suggest. The FDA has said there's no evidence that consumer antibacterial soaps work better than plain soap and water. Soap works by loosening oil and dirt, germs included, so water can rinse them away, and the twenty seconds of scrubbing does most of the work. We dug into this in is bar soap sanitary.
So if you like Dial, use Dial. If you like Ivory, use Ivory. Both are inexpensive, real soap that's easy to find.
Where we fit in
We make plain soap too, just by hand and in small batches, from organic plant oils with no tallow and no antibacterial additives. Our bars cost more than either of these, and we'd never pretend otherwise. What you get is a short ingredient list, scents you won't find at the drugstore, and a fragrance-free option, our Castile Soap. The rest of the soap shelf is right here, and we've given Irish Spring and Zest the same honest look.