Are you upset about all the plastic in the world?! Do you want to avoid toxic chemicals in your cleaners and personal care products? Major strides can be made toward a non toxic home by replacing most of those single use plastic containers with simple bar soap, no container necessary! There are so many plastic free products out there but the coolest things about a simple bar of soap is that it requires no added detergents to be effective or preservatives to keep it from spoiling. Soap is underrated and has been taken for granted! It works. We’ve all heard the old adage "If it ain’t broke, don‘t fix it".
Bar soap is so old fashioned. Being an 80’s babe I sometimes forget that people have used soap for centuries and that before my time department store shelves were not lined with plastic jugs of liquid soaps meant for every type of cleaning imaginable. There was not a bottle of liquid detergent at every sink and below every sink and in every bathtub and cupboard. Now that the world is full of plastic, just the idea of a bar of soap can be so satisfying. It requires no plastic bottle or packaging at all. If it’s the right type of soap it can clean everything. Well, almost everything, I can not recommended it for hair washing or teeth brushing!
Soap is oil saponified and to make it, oil is mixed with lye and then left to cure. When you mix soap with water it interacts with both oil and water and binds grease, dirt and germs to it so it can be wiped away from surfaces or your skin. When a soap is made without additional synthetic or harmful ingredients, it is a safe and effective way to clean your house and your body.
For health reasons, wanting to contribute less to plastic waste and bring more simplicity into my life, I switched all plastic containers of soap out for bar soap and haven’t looked back. The switch was not easy and did take some getting used to. I had to figure out what soap dish to set the soap in-between uses (my personal favorite is any dish that drains back into the sink) and in some cases soap doesn’t work as well as a powerful detergent like when cleaning up grease. It does work, though, and the tradeoff is huge imo. When using bar soap I’m contributing to less toxic chemicals going down the drain and entering the waterways. I’m contributing to less plastic containers in the trash. I’m contributing to my own health and well being by not applying toxic chemicals to my skin. Many plastic containers we put in the recycle bin don’t make it to be recycled. This is another subject for another day.
How to use soap to clean everything? Just add hot water to a scrubby, get the scrubby soapy and use it to clean counters, dishes and tubs. With sinks and tubs you can rinse clean with water. With counters, wipe with a dry cloth like a paper towel or something reusable like a clean towel or dish cloth. I really like Swedish dishcloths because they are like an infinitely reusable paper towel. People started using a lot more disinfectants. Disinfectants kill bacteria and viruses but are dangerous to human bodies as well. Using them at home isn’t necessary when soapy water will wash germs and dirt away while also not adding toxic chemicals to our home environment like the spraying of disinfectants will!
♡M