Go Back to Bar Soap
Posted on March 1, 2009 by
Want to make an easy change in your daily routine and lessen your impact?
Switch back to bar soap. Body wash is great, and there are a lot of green body washes out there, but almost all of them come in plastic bottles. Switch to soap that comes in a cardboard box without any plastic wrap (or better yet, no packaging at all), and cut down on waste instantly.
How timely! I bought my first bar soap ever from Wegmans Nature’s Marketplace yesterday. Only to realize I don’t really have something to keep it in, to keep it from getting all gross and disintegrating in the shower. I’m trying to find a small tupperware or something I already have that will work, because I really don’t want to buy something new!
Since moving to Europe I’ve been at a loss to find products that don’t have tons of perfume or coloring, both of which irritate my skin. Lo and behold, after a year of itching and driving my poor boyfriend nuts, I finally found a gentle olive-oil based soap that’s oh-so-good to my skin. I even make laundry detergent from it.
@ Stephanie:
put the soap in an old pantyhose, and tie off the open end. Then you can just let it hang to dry.
My mom’s fond of buying body wash. She just loves trying out new products and experimenting with different scents. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but we are left with a lot of plastic body wash containers! Next time we go to the grocery store I’m definitely finding her nice, fragrant, more ecofriendly soaps!
[...] simple, good idea The Greenists love to focus on. And then I searched the archives and realized… Allie already wrote about it. Of course she did! OK [...]
We are going to make the switch. How did we get into this liquid bodywash place in the first place?
Anyway, Simple Human makes a draining 2 level metal soap dish. Soap sits on top, the water drips to the bottom. Simply take off the top and drain the water. It comes in chrome; brushed nickel is more attractive, but this will certainly do to keep the bar lasting longer.
Yes! I am about to run out of the bodywash I was given a year or so ago, which will then be replaced by my first home made batch of soap!
A pharmacist friend of mine also swore that the liquid stuff made her fingernails more brittle. I have brittle nails anyway, so I can’t tell a difference!
Don’t stop with the soap. They are several bar shampoos and conditioners, as well as, bar moisturizing butters with essential oils (usually packaged as a massage products). Try to get products without packaging or at least biodegradable packaging for an even bigger impact.