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"Almost" and "usually" here means that while "alternative" is definitely used,
vast majority of people is still using the mentioned version. Just look at
google results count!

Also, note that kanji used in words like 暫く and 敢て are jōyō while 鹸 is not.

(I understand the common variants are generally suggested by IMEs and
dictionaries and people simply are used to seeing しばらく written in kana. But my
question is, how did this situation come into existence?)
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history kana-usage
Why words such as しばらく are almost always written in kana while words such as 石鹸 are usually in kanji?
A lot of the times, but not always, this originates in literature. A word like
しばらく came up through Heian and Kamakura female writers, so they were written
in hiragana from the beginning. 石鹸 on the other hand has its origin in Meiji
when a lot of new and fancy Western products entered Japan. There was a need
for words that would also describe its utility and Kanji simply does that
better, think 電話.
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Most modern style guidelines say that adverbs, including しばらく, should be
written in hiragana. ([examples of adverbs](http://www.yamanouchi-
yri.com/yrihp/techwrt-2-4s/t-2-4s03a.htm) which should be written in
hiragana.) It is true that some adverbs are simple enough even in kanji, but
many people are conscious of this rule and tend to use hiragana versions.

I think this rule came into existence somewhere during [the simplification
process in
writing](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E4%BB%AE%E5%90%8D%E9%81%A3%E3%81%84)
after WWII. Pre-war documents are full of kanji adverbs. I found that
[当用漢字表](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/joho/kakuki/syusen/tosin02/index.html),
predecessor of 常用漢字表, issued in 1946, already said
「代名詞・副詞・接続詞・感動詞・助動詞・助詞は，なるべくかな書きにする」.

According to such guidelines, I believe 石鹸 should be written as 石けん because
"鹸" is not in jōyō kanji list. Frankly, I am a native speaker of Japanese and
I don't remember how to write 鹸 in kanji by hand. But IMEs are so powerful,
and people do not strictly memorize which kanji is in the jōyō kanji list. And
such mixture of kanji and hiragana in a single noun is simply not pleasant to
the eye. So it's not surprising people use 石鹸 often, and I would probably do
the same in casual situations.
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