Here’s the deal. Not having liquid soap is incredibly difficult! I come into this year believing that swapping my liquid hand soap to bar soap, would be super simple. In fact so simple, it would literally be as easy as my next purchase is so going from liquid to bar. But, what I’ve come to find, is old habits die hard. Now, I did really, really, really try to make that switch; and, we did it room-by-room to help soften the blow. But alas, there is still liquid soap in our household. What I have come to understand, is the need for soap for each room that has a sink and what it really means to have soap.
First, we have the kitchen. And I know I’ve seen things on social media about a bar soap that you can use to wash your dishes, I haven’t bought into it just yet. Not saying they are good products, I’m just saying, the Dawn soap really does what I needed to do. And since the mister does the dishes most of the time, (I know I’m super lucky) this is just an easier method for him as well. I have tried, for this particular instance, to buy large bottles of Dawn soap to which we can refill our dispenser. I’m hoping, that with this, we’re able to clean out these large tubs enough to be placed in the recycling at the end of their use to help limit our plastic waste. It’s not my favorite method, but I do like having a single dispenser for hands and dishes.
Bathroom sinks. So this is an area that I thought would be incredibly simple to make a change from liquid soap to bar soap. And, it worked for a time. Not to say I wouldn’t continue, but I found myself using the hand soap to wash my face at night, and let’s just say, it didn’t do me any favors. I actually had a moment of realization. We wash our hands with these bar soaps, to try to get bacteria off our hands down the drain. But what happens to the suds that remain on that bar of soap are we finished using it for the moment? With the pandemic still ongoing, and after doing a few articles with my work on antimicrobial and antibacterial, I started to wonder if there were some actual negatives to using a bar of soap for your hands at a hand-washing sink and letting it sit there, but then also using it to wash other parts of your body.
Bathroom shower. Alright, this is where it has all started: getting rid of the liquid soap in the shower area. I am proud to say that I have really stuck to my bar of soap for my body, I have even transitioned to a shampoo bar, and you know what – I actually like it way more than a bottle of shampoo! Here me out – it’s strange at first, and it does take a moment to get sudsy, but, I really feel like I can get in and under my super thick hair where I couldn’t reach with the other stuff before it “ran out”.
Overall reaction
So, with the bar of soap sadly not working out as much as I would’ve like to in 2020, I have taken a look at some other sustainable options. The mister really likes liquid soap to wash his hands, and frankly, it is so much easier to get sudsy! So I’ve looked into a product that uses sustainable Packaging long-term use glass bottles, and tablets that I drop into the water I fill at my sink. So far, I don’t mind it. We have had an issue with a pump not popping back up and becoming pretty much useless. The Mister is also trying to accept the fact that the soap comes out foamy already rather than building up his own lather by washing (another interesting point I hadn’t thought of when it come to cleaning until now!)
We do have liquid soap in our house still. However, we have done a pretty decent job at transitioning to more sustainable options, I think.
Will we continue this resolution for 2021? Maybe. But, I think, the end goal is really more about reducing waste, rather than just limiting liquid soap as a whole.
I’d call this:
a successful attempt
Feature photo credit by Dippyaman Nath on Unsplash
