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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters buy a bar of soap instead of a container of the liquid stuff, we'll avert the weight of eight paralegals in packaging waste.
COCKTAIL FACT
Guam's bar exam once boasted a 0% pass rate - but then, only three wannabe lawyers actually took it that session.
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home › tip library › Bar Soap vs. Liquid Soap
Think you could pass it?
The Bite
The bar soap, that is, 'cuz the verdict's in: Bars are eco-friendlier and cheaper than liquid latherers. Plain(tiff) and simple.The Benefits
- Eco-friendly evidence. In terms of weight, packaging waste accounts for 31% of the waste we send to landfills. Bars use way less.
- Saving to pay your law school loans. Bar soaps cost less than their liquid equivalents.
- An injunction against germs. Studies have found that bar soap (even when you share it with others) keeps you just as clean as liquid.
Personally Speaking
Toshio often washes his hair with bar soap instead of shampoo. His SO says it makes his hair smell like pennies.Wanna Try?
- Skinnyskinny Soap Set - gift-y set of six bars (many made with food-grade ingredients such as exfoliating black pepper), packaged in a zero-waste, book-shaped reusable box, with soaps wrapped in pages of discarded tomes ($48).
- SoapRocks - superlong-lasting, gemstone-inspired soap hunks ($15).
- Sappo Hill Glycerine Crème Soap - inexpensive and made with glycerine and coconut and palm oils; order without packaging for less waste ($2).
Oct 07,2008
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Cleaner World, Dirtier Mouths
As someone consumed by all of the wonderful nuances of the English language, I tend to favor a great many colorful terms in my everyday vocabulary.
Which means I say words like @#%!, &@$%, and #*%!@ quite often.
My mom was definitely not OK with that when I was a kid. During those occasions whereupon a bar of soap was crammed into my mouth (there were at least three), I was told that the next time "It'll be liquid." Bar soap was unpleasant, yes, but nothing like I imagined liquid soap, the nuclear option of soap mouth washing, would be. So I hit pause on the swearing.
Since Mother Earth clearly disapproves of liquid cleanser - a huge deterrent to childhood cursing - there is only one rational thing to take away from this: The environment likes dirty words. You heard it here first.
-Senior Editor Mike...off to $%^@, &%#$!, and maybe even &*$@...
Biter Comments...
Yep, love Dr. Bronner's, but Kirk's hard water Castile soap is cheaper and rockin awesome. Lathers great in hard water (we have a well with very hard mineral water). Wash hands, body, hair, dishes, laundry, floors, & even emergency toothpaste...excellent stuff in the laundry aisle at the grocery store for about a dollar a bar.
http://www.kirksnatural.com/
"Committed to market only natural, hypoallergenic personal care products which are environmentally safe and also free of animal by-products."
And for a fabulous, inexpensive, all natural, cottage industry soap that is really luxurious (also works great in really hard water) try Simmons Special Soaps. http://simmonsnaturals.com
A small business that specializes in natural bodycare basics and products for those with chemical sensitivities.
Promoting products that contain palm oil is a bit counter-productive, don't you think? (You tout it as an ingredient in one of the soaps.)
I mean, it's absurd to on the one hand recommend bar soap so as not to waste packaging materials, and on the other hand tell people to go out and buy products containing palm oil--when it's global demand for palm oil that's leading people to cut down vast swaths of Indonesian rainforest at record rates to grow the stuff (imperiling orangutans, scores of other species, and our climate in the process). There are plenty of bar soaps you could recommend that don't contain palm oil. All you're doing is substituting one environmental evil for a decidedly eviler one.
when I moved to a arid climate I had super dry itchy skin. Wanting to only use bar (no plastic involved), I found Tilvee's Essential Fatty Acid Soap, and now the itch and dryness are gone! I don't even have to use lotion anymore.
http://tilvee.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73&products_id=202
I've been told that bar soaps last longer if you unwrap them (if they come wrapped)for a while before you use them. I unwrap the next when I put a new one in the shower.
Hillary - I came here to say something along the same lines as you.
In addition to what Hillary said, there have also been a few news stories recently about the loggers in Indonesia raping teenage school girls. A new one was just released today: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/10/6/lifefocus/2150772&sec=lifefocus
Is that soap (or anything else for that matter) really worth it?
Every time the subject of bar soap comes up I am reminded of the time when our now 26 year old granddaughter was 3 or 4 years old & spent some time terrorizing us. My wife thought that she would give her some of those miniature wrapped bars of soap we had from hotels & motels as a treat. After all, they were just the kid's size.
Our granddaughter studied the tiny bar of soap my wife handed her for her bath, looked up at my wife, and very seriously stated: "Next time I come over I'll bring some real bars of soap for you from home. My mommy can afford to buy real ones."
Sigh, just can't win.
Another great brand that's really inexpensive is Soap Works (about $2 a bar). Available in a variety of options (shampoo bars, shaving bars, exfoliating bars, etc.), they're made of all-natural ingredients and are sold without packaging.
I also agree with Hillary. At what price should we obtain natural ingredients? Shouldn't sustainability be the primary concern? The clear-cutting of Amazonian rainforests and the health risks posed by pesticides to entire local communities, Walkerton-style, also constitute my major objections to the increase in the consumption of soy products. Our insatiable appetite for "environmentally-friendly" commodities is far too often detrimental to the very things we claim to care about.
While waiting my turn at the doctors office, I read a magazine article that said to use liquid soap in the shower because bar soap has ingredients that cause soap scum on the shower walls and curtain. (It also said to spray salt water in the shower walls and curtain to prevent mold.) Are there any bar soaps that will not cause soap scum?
The recent increase in deforestation for palm plantations in Indonesia is fueled largely by the speculation that biofuels are/were going to take off. Palm is added to most natural vegetable oil soaps to make them hard and long lasting, and the demand for palm oil for soap making is a pittance compared to biofuels needs.
Deforestation in Indonesia (as well as other parts of the world) has always been encouraged by world demand for lumber, especially by nations who have limited or depleted natural resources of their own. Deforestation is also caused, in small part, by traditional slash and burn agriculture in parts of the world such as the Phillippines. Thankfully there are groups working to teach farmers ways to maintain the fertility of their soil so they do not feel compelled to do it.
So yes, palm oil is in natural bar soap. Most commercial soaps are made with soap pellets made with animal fat instead. Also with a lot of synthetics. Nothing is black and white - and stopping using bar soap will not make much difference in the production of palm oil.
Sigh. There is much to be done to make the changes we would like to see in the world.
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We have hard water and use bar soap and find the best thing for our shower is a blend of vinegar and a small amount of natural cleaner in water. We keep it in a spray bottle and spray the shower walls after each shower. I never heard about adding salt - I'll have to try that.
The thing is, slash and burn agriculture is nothing compared to clear-cutting for the use of industrialised nations. Such agricultural practices can actually be good for the soil & plants around the area that was burned, plus it's usually only an acre or two at a time. The difference between subsistence agriculture and deforestation for mass consumerism (regardless if it's for lumber, agriculture, livestock, etc) is staggering and I'm surprised that it would even be compared.
As for oils in soaps, many are now made from vegetable oils rather than animal fat. There's always a more sustainable option, it's just making the effort to find it.
Julie, you are absolutely right - slash and burn agriculture is nothing compared to clear-cutting for the use of industrialized nations. I only mentioned it to note another reason forests get cut unnecessarily. It can, however, also be detrimental to the environment by way of erosion and other problems.
You also noted: "The difference between subsistence agriculture and deforestation for mass
consumerism (regardless if it's for lumber, agriculture, livestock, etc)
is staggering" and that emphasizes my point - the use of Palm Oil in handmade bar soaps is not the cause of clear cutting for palm plantations. And thanks also for mentioning deforestation to clear for livestock - one of the causes of logging in South America.
I live in an area that is (was?) based on a timber economy. There are many aspects to this industry. Many ways to do it, many reasons why and why not. And it tends to polarize the community. Sigh.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Suz | October 07, 2008 at 05:17 AM