Solid bar soaps have been around since forever. The French are credited with inventing the modern solid bar soap making it more accessible for daily use. Liquid dish soap was first patented in 1865 but we didn’t start using it widely until the early 1900s and in the 1980’s liquid hand and dish soaps became the norm.
So why did we switch to liquid? It was seen as more hygienic than bar soap and fun pump dispensers started being produced with, you guessed it, plastic. It was also more convenient to use…convenience is our enemy in so many things.
Liquid soaps typically have 60 – 90% water in them. Make this make sense. We ADD water to the soap when using it to clean. AND we are shipping this all around the world. Why do we need the water to begin with? Also, preservatives need to be added when water is added to any product to prevent bacteria growth. Most of these preservatives are not good for us either. This is usually the ingredient that raises a red flag for us to consider the product.
There are some pretty amazing solid alternatives, or should they be originals, that work great and have less packaging and none of the preservatives needed with products with water. Solid is a better option.
What Are Solid Soap Alternatives?
Solid dish soap is a concentrated block of soap that can replace several bottles of liquid dish soap. Place it on a soap dish next to your sink and use your scrub brush or plastic-free sponge to get some lather going and start washing your dishes! This is also a great way to wipe down and clean your countertops and everything else. It is slightly more difficult to use when soaking an entire sink full of dishes but just hold the bar under the water as you fill up the sink and you’ll have your suds!
Bar soaps for hand and body are absolutely hygienic, they are soap. All you need is a soap dish to set it on and go ahead and wash those hands and bodies! Did you have especially dirty hands? Rinse the bar after use to keep the mud off of it. Simple as that! Keeping the bar dry in between uses with a well-draining soap dish will help reduce any bacteria build-up and help the bar last longer.
Hair care bars, shampoo and conditioner, can help declutter your shower and help you ditch several single-use plastic bottles! Keep the bar dry in between uses and you’re good to go.
An honorable mention is powdered or compressed powder tablets for laundry and dishwashers. While these typically aren’t bars, we do have an alternative that doesn’t require preservatives, shipping water all around the world, and the packaging can often be recycled or composted. Again. We ADD water to the cleaning process, we do not need to ship it around the world.
The Benefits of Going Solid
Better packaging options that are not plastic. Most solid options come in minimal or compostable packaging. Less plastic in the world would be amazing!
Fewer preservatives are needed and solid soaps often contain simpler, more natural ingredients.
Solid alternatives take up less space and weigh less reducing emissions from shipping.
Solid alternatives are often more concentrated allowing them to last longer than their liquid counterparts.
Less waste! A lot less risk of over-pumping or over-squeezing liquid soaps.
Fly with as much solid soap as your bag can hold (stay within weight limits). Solid soaps also won’t spill in your bags.
Multipurpose! Take one bar of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap on your trip to wash your dishes, or clean your clothes, and use it as hand soap and body soap, it is technically safe for hair too.
Small Swaps, Big Impact
Imagine a life without plastic bottles all around your home. Without shipping water all around the world. A life without having to buy your recycling over and over again.
Imagine a life saving money and getting back to our roots with solid bar soaps. Let’s stop giving up all of our hard earned dollars to the plastic industry and swap out solid bars where it makes the most sense for each household and refill where liquid is the better option for your lifestyle.
PS-we carry liquid laundry soap by Root and Splendor, and shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, and body wash by Plaine Products without water! Just soap!
