Skip to main content

Soap

I was reading the April, 2016 Real Simple magazine.  It's all about spring cleaning--home and life.

I don't know why I am such a sucker for the cleaning and organizing topic.  I click on those Pinterest teasers, "Secrets of People Live in Pristine Homes."  The secrets are always tidy, clean and put away every day.  Never a magic bullet or advice to hire a cleaning service!

Which is not to say that I never learn something new. There was an article in RS about "eco-habits."  It recommended using soap bars for washing up as much as possible.  Now I do have a liquid soap dispenser in my kitchen and I have some body wash in the shower that I use on occasion, but I do love a bar of soap.

Don't know what to give me for a present? A bar of chocolate or a bar of soap.

I love handmade soaps from craft fair.  I love fancy French milled soaps from expensive boutiques.  I love scented soaps (even though they may make me sneeze).  I love the Publix store brand of cream-based soap.  I, of course, love these soaps.


The thing I learned--something I never even thought to consider before--is that liquid soaps require five times more energy for raw material production and almost twenty times the energy for packaging over bar soap.

Plus, according to this article, people tend to use seven times the liquid soap compared to solid soap when washing hands.

It made me stop and think.  It's easy to be seduced by advertising and not even think about the impact of something as small as the choice of how to wash up.

Another small step in my quest to save the earth.  And I really have to remind myself to stop and think about the products I use and the packaging they come in.





Comments

  1. One of the grocery stores we shop at sell designer hard soaps. Yikes the fragrance from the section of the store gives me a sinus headache. In my shaving quests I have looked hard and wide for unscented shaving soaps and have only found two that are acceptable.

    Interesting point on the liquid soaps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm - a bar of chocolate scented soap might be nice. I'm really careful about products because of my allergies. I do use Dr Bronner's Castile soaps for body and also for cleaning although the "moral ABC's" printed on the bottles kinda leaves me cold.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use the Castile soap in making home cleaning products and in the kitchen soap dispenser. I buy from VT Soap because they leave out all the moralizing.

      Delete
  3. It was unique for me to see a person in found of soaps. I too have seen different varieties of soaps and liked them, but not like you...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hadn't thought of the manufacturing of liquid soap versus bar soap and the packaging involved. I just know that I hate when the bar gets mushy sitting in the moisture of the soap dish. Perhaps I'm using the wrong type of dish.

    It must be spring here as I've been thinking more about cleaning. Yesterday I found a quick trick for cleaning the microwave, equal amounts of water and vinegar are nuked for 5 to 9 minutes, with a wooden spoon or chopstick in the bowl (to keep from boiling over or exploding). It works well, everything wiped right up - but I couldn't find my white vinegar so used red wine vinegar instead. The house stunk for most of the evening! I wish I could just snap a finger and the cleaning fairy would take care of it all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm in trouble on this one. I never use bar soap (husband does). I really do not like sharing a bar of soap with someone else, freaks me out. I find bar soap very messy. Sorry to learn I'm not doing what's best for the environment but not enough to use bar soap. I'll try to make up for it some other way, like no plastic grocery bags, or paper books and newspapers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an interesting point! Good for you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Never thought about this and thanks for helping me a better person on the earth. Once I finish the last bottles I am going back to bar soap.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You and I are alike. I love soap too. I have terrible allergies, so I only use certain soaps. I was so excited the other day when I found a bar of Basis soap. I hadn't seen it in years. I love the clean smell and the way it is good for my poor sensitive skin. Thanks for your PSA. Fancy liquid hand soaps are one of the things I dislike most in life. They are so perfumed they make me nauseated, and they aren't good for the environment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting. I confess that I never thought about the eco effect of bar vs. liquid soap. Glad I am bar person already. I use Oil of Olay bar soap for my face and shower. My skin is dry from the diabetes and I find it has the least drying effect on my skin. I keep Dove or something easy on the skin for the little girls. They get super sweaty/dirty playing outside and I have to scrub them up. LOL. I do love a good smelling soap.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hub likes bar soap, but I always opted for liquid.However you convinced me to be nicer to the environment, so will now also use a bar soap. Different one from hub, however - he uses the manly stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I never thought of the ecology of soap before. We use good old Ivory bar soap in the shower. I have a bar of soap in the downstairs bathroom to use with the nail brush for washing up gardening hands. In the kitchen liquid soap is easier.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am with you and Tabor. Going back to bar soap. Thanks Olga for the good information.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oops. I was totally unaware of the problems of liquid soaps which are all over my house. Only place I don't use it is for laundry. Bad Patti. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I use Ivory bar soap for my face, and Irish Spring bar soap for my body. For hand wash, I use liquid soap. Works for me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I never even thought about what the impact of my shower wash might be on our planet. Thank you for this! I will make a change. Little things do help and you are a good role model for all of us!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

Updates

 On September 29, I had the closing on my condo. Everything that was not going to the buyers was out and packed in the ABF moving truck which had by the been taken over to the storage units. Don thought it would take him until Wednesday to finish packing the truck with the help of his son. It took him until late Thursday with Chris' help and mine. Kevin was supposed to help load as well but he was in a mountain bike accident and wrecked his shoulder the week before. That added driving him to doctor appointments to my to do list and dong some shopping for him plus jobs around the house that might need two functioning upper limbs.  We stayed with Kevin on Friday night after the closing and then had a suite in an extended stay place for the coming week. This was the worst possible time to have to get a room because the prices balloon during leaf peeping season if you can even find a room at all. But it was close to the storage units where we were working and it was dog friendly. We ju

Wedding

 Don and I drove to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my step-grandson, Will. Will Will and Katie The wedding took place on Dataw Island, a beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the country club. We stayed in a tiny cottage in the historic center of Beaufort, rented from Vrbo. Since the wedding was at 5 p.m., we had time to explore the area a bit. I really like the low country scenery and historical charm. Sitting quietly in the curtained gazebo I was visited by multiple cardinals. They came to visit the feeder, not me, but I can always pretend! How I will always remember Will!

Rest In Peace

 In a summer that has been so wet, Sunday was a reprieve. The humidity dropped and the sun came out. It was a day that could have been special ordered by the family of a friend's husband. It was the day they had arranged his celebration of life ceremony set on the shore of Lake Champlain. I was not looking forward to the gathering, even couched as a celebration. This is a family fraught with relationship tensions. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. A Catholic priest gave a brief but meaningful homily and two Air Force members played "Taps" and presented the American flag to my friend. I am not a Christian, but I do know about Christ Consciousness. That priest's word's filled me with such a sense of peace and love. I hope it did the same for the family members and neighbors who attended.