Tamper evidence
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A lighter question here than anywhere else in this estate, and worth understanding rather than copying.
Not required, and rarely expected
There is no tamper-evident packaging requirement for soap.
And the category convention runs the other way: handmade soap is frequently sold unwrapped or banded, specifically so customers can smell it, and nobody finds that surprising.
What a wrap signals
A shrink wrap says untouched and industrial.
A band says handmade and touchable.
Which is a positioning decision rather than a safety one, and for many makers the band wins because the positioning is the product.
Where it matters
Wholesale, where a buyer may prefer sealed units for a shelf that is browsed all day.
Hospitality, where a guest bar is expected to be visibly unused, and where a small wrapped or boxed bar is the norm for that reason.
And mail order, where a wrap is really protection in transit rather than tamper evidence.
The hygiene question
An unwrapped bar on a market table is handled by everybody who passes.
Which is worth a practical answer: a tester bar for handling and smelling, with the stock behind it, banded.
That gets you the smell, which is the sale, without selling a bar forty people have picked up, and it costs one bar per fragrance.