yes, nothing to worry about the bowl - these are made specifically to hold soap and are finished correspondingly. as churchill said, just leave it open for a bit after use, so that the soap can dry (I leave the lid on top but offset). i lather on my face, which means that i just swirl the brush over the soap to get it loaded and then build the lather on my face. some people prefer to use a separate bowl (the soap bowl is way too small to build lather).