Showering with Soap or Shower Gel ?

mummyfrugal

Hi, i've been moneysaving by using soap instead of shower gel in the shower every morning and I've found the cheapy Sainsburys soap at 13p for 3 bars doesnt go mushy like other soaps so they actually last well, but, I wanted to know whether or not its greener to use soap or showergel??? using the soap means no plastic bottles, but then does the soap have more harmful chemicals than the shower gel going down the plughole? or if there is a soap that wont go all mushy that is better to use....

was hoping someone who knows about this kind of thing would be able to advise? as i want to be more environmentally friendly - but please dont tell me not to shower as there is no way im ponging myself around other people!! :eek:

Mcfi5dhc

I don't know which one is better environmentally (probably soap, because less packaging and it lasts 5 times longer at least), but for the last two years, I have made all my own soap, and its a million times more satisfying than buying expensive shower gel

You won't get it cheaper than the sainsburys basics soap (I had some of that as well!), but you will make it cheaper than Lush soap - and it'll be better

A lot of charity shops sell soap (Save the Children do quite often), it may not be greener or cheaper, but at least the charities get something out of it.

xrjtg

The environmental impact of treating and heating the water will massively outweigh that of the soap, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

vonjosrob

Check out this new company. Ive tried their products and they are really good. Looking forward to trying their worlds greenest showere gel when it comes out. http://www.facebook.com/beautykitchen

Gigervamp

It depends on the ingredients of the soap. Glycerine soaps such as Lush sell and bars like Dove aren't real soap, but syndet (synthetic detergent) bars. They may contain some fats which is what real soap is made from, but they also contain surfactants like SLS.

A very basic soap can be made from just olive oil which is reacted with caustic soda. Once set and cured, it's a very hard bar.

Now, having said all that, there will still be an environmental impact with real soap, from the processing of the chemicals to make the lye, and the processing of the oils, to the actual soap itself as it's rinsed off down the drain.

But, I think that real soap is better than shower gels and a good real soap will leave your skin feeling clean AND soft.

skelly01

Mcfi5dhc wrote: »

I don't know which one is better environmentally (probably soap, because less packaging and it lasts 5 times longer at least), but for the last two years, I have made all my own soap, and its a million times more satisfying than buying expensive shower gel

You won't get it cheaper than the sainsburys basics soap (I had some of that as well!), but you will make it cheaper than Lush soap - and it'll be better

A lot of charity shops sell soap (Save the Children do quite often), it may not be greener or cheaper, but at least the charities get something out of it.

I would be interested in hearing from you with regards to your soap recipes.

foxgloves

My old Gran & Great Aunt who shared a house & like most people their age were pretty Old-STyle about these things, used to buy multi packs of soap and always unwrapped them and kept them in the airing cupboard. They swore by their theory that this dried the soaps out & they lasted for a lot longer thus saving money. Don't know if it works, but they always did this. I prefer bar soap because of having a paper wrapper instead of a plastic bottle.

Fedz

Deffo prefer soap over shower gel even though we have shower gel all over the bathroom cos OH won't use soap but, I use the soap & I'm a bloke - don't see the need myself, unnecessary packaging, over priced ... etc

Lesley_Gaye

many years ago I was thinking about how to reduce the cost of keeping clean when I heard a radio piece about someone who never washed - yeergh

turned out he didn't do that, what he did was not use soap OR shower gel, just hot water

I tried it as an experiment, and it worked fine. I have also tried not using shampoo, but couldn't get on with that. I use products in my hair and not using shampoo left it feeling too sticky and flat

not using soap etc is fine, I have done that now for 35 years or so

I shower as normal, and do all normal things except I don't use any cleanser other than water. After cleaning bod, I wash my hair. Shampoo gets my hands clean after washing personal bits, sorry if that's tmi

Ben84

Gigervamp wrote: »

It depends on the ingredients of the soap. Glycerine soaps such as Lush sell and bars like Dove aren't real soap, but syndet (synthetic detergent) bars. They may contain some fats which is what real soap is made from, but they also contain surfactants like SLS.

The detergent bars are a good low packaging option if you can't use bar soap. I can wash my hands with bar soap, but for general use it's bad for my skin. I use dove bars for showering and washing my face, and a shampoo bar from lush for my hair.

Mcfi5dhc

skelly01 wrote: »

I would be interested in hearing from you with regards to your soap recipes.

The usual one I use is:
100.5 grams NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide or Caustic Soda, white crystals, not liquid)
269.4 grams water (I live in normal water area - if you think your water is very hard or soft, you should use distilled water)
298 grams olive oil
227 grams coconut oil
198.5 grams palm oil
Yellow soap dye and buttercup fragrance for the latest batch (this varies from batch to batch, i have about 20 different combos I use)

Very approximate process is:
Weigh the water
Put on safety goggles and gloves (***Very important***)
Weight NaOH and it goes into the water (***Very important that the NaOH goes into the water and not the other way round. The reaction is violent if you add water to NaOH and very very corrosive***)
Water + NaOH makes a lot of heat, so stir and wait for it to cool a bit

Coconut oil and plam oil are solid at room temperature, melt in a saucepan over gentle heat (only about a minute)

Add olive oil

Add NaOH/H20 (which is now called lye for some bizarre reason)

Stir like crazy for about 20 mins to half an hour until you get a stage called trace (basically you dribble some of liquid over the remainder and if it leaves a trace on the top, its ready)

Pour into a wax-paper lined tray (or a non-lined silicon mould)

Take out the next day, cut into bars, cure on a shelf at normal room temperature for about four weeks, flipping over once after two weeks

All the receipes I get are from either the internet, or soap books



At least with making your own, you know what goes into it. The only ingredient that people are always a bit unsure of is the sodium hyroxide. Well Sodium Hydroxide = soap (or rather, no sodium hydroxide = no soap). It does the big chemical reaction that turns oils & fats into soap, and done properly, leaves no harsh chemicals, just pure soap.