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Thursday, June 21, 2018

Bar soap vs liquid soap

"Also consider ditching the liquid soap, which now accounts for 70 percent of hand-and-body soap sales. Bar soap costs a lot less per wash than liquid soap and has a lighter environmental impact. Still, soap bar sales continue to slip. Among the main reasons for this depressing shift, which only began around 1980, is the belief that liquid soap is more hygienic. Not true, according to authorities such as the Mayo Clinic. It may be easier to handle liquid soap because the bottle doesn’t leap out of your hands or get gooey. If that’s an issue for you, try the recently invented SOAPSTANDLE, a nifty little plastic gadget that fits onto a soap bar. It elevates the bar just enough to prevent it from getting soggy, while also helping you maintain a firm grip on the soap. "

Liquid soap is referring to soap used in bath or shower and soft hand soap for the bathroom sink, I suppose. Since I use cheap, cheap shampoo as my hand soap, I doubt I spend more. Plus, I have been using the same pump for ten years or more, so I am not buying new plastic. 

I still stand by my frugal practice of using shampoo I do not like or  shampoo bought on a super cheap sale, often gotten for free. In the past I had a friend who gave me her shampoo she hated. It was good for hands.

As for the Soapstandle, I am still using the little pink soap "stand" I bought from TG&Y in 1966. It has little feet-like spines on both sides and the soap dries perfectly. I put the little pink thing in a flat soap dish that can be washed and drained if necessary. I also have a white one, too. I used one in the tub and one at the sink. People have suggested I get rid of one or both and get a new plastic dish that has a matching stand. Matching? Why?

Oh, my little and very old soap "stand" is hard enough to poke it into the soap, but I won't/ 

For the rest of the Sierra Club article Read here.

Have you abandoned bar soap? What do you have that is still useful and works just fine that is over 50 years old? Okay, how old is your oldest thing, something that can be replaced by something new and improved?

13 comments:

  1. I still use bar soap in the shower although my husband insists on liquid soap at the hand basin. I don't know why.

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    1. I think it is because the pump is easier to use. He does not have to actually put the slippery soap down so it does not have to slide off onto the floor, counter, or into sink.

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  2. I only use liquid hand soap in the bathroom. TheHub has an issue with bar soaps and can never manage to put it on the little thingy (I have one too) I got tired of throwing soap soup out after he washed his hands. We have used the same pumps for 20 years and just continue to refill them with watered down liquid soap purchased in gallon jugs. The jugs are recyclable number 1 plastic so they get rinsed and tossed in the recycling bin.
    I use both bar and liquid soap in the shower, but only liquid soap in the guest bathrooms. I have found our guests prefer using something that has never been rubbed over another persons body.
    At the lake place I save all the hotel small soaps, so that each weekend we have company they will have a new unused soap for bathing in the guest bath. All hand soap at the lake is liquid though.

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    1. I would not throw out soap if he dropped it on the floor. But, that would mean I would have to wash it off, wetting it and rubbing until I got past the dirty layer. I would get liquid soap for hand soap in the bathroom, too.

      I, too, prefer not to use soap that has washed other bodies. However, I can only use Dove, so I carry a small bar with me.

      Bar soap is not clean. It only makes the germs slip off our skin more easily. Germs can and do live on bar soap according to an article I read.

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  3. I prefer bar soap and don;t have any liquid soap in the house at this time. Right now I'm using a specialty soap that gives a bar away for every one sold. I requested it for Christmas 2 years ago. It's called Hand in Hand and Targets ells it or mail order. I save the little soaps from hotels too.

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    1. Nan,
      I prefer bar soap for bathing. However, with slippery soap and my clumsiness right now, liquid soap works best at the sink for me. I am going to check out that soap. Thanks.

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    2. Linda - you might want to try a SoapStandle. It will accomplish what your TG&Y stand will, but it will also keep the bar from slipping from your hand. It's pretty nice.

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  4. I have both but I like to use the bar soap better.

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  5. I like bar soap in the shower, but use liquid soap at the sinks. Though DH does also have a bar of Lava soap at the sink for when his hands are really dirty. I'm looking forward to our new house, where he can have that ugly bar of soap at the sinks in the laundry room and out in his shop. It won't need to be in my bathroom. LOL.

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  6. I still have a pencil holder I bought as soon as I arrived at my university in September 1966. It is on my nightstand. It has traveled with me to all the places we have lived. It is like an old friend. I see it everyday and it is still full of pencils, pens, a ruler and a small pair of scissors. It looks as good as it did 52 years ago. I will never replace it.

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  7. tana50,
    And, why should you? I am not a fan of getting something new to replace something that works! The little "soap holders" are the same with me--I will never replace them. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. We prefer bar soap. We use liquid soap for hand washing.

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  9. I used to love using bar soap - don't know why I stopped using it!
    But it's liquid soap now.

    All the best Jan

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Okay, hoping the annoyances have gone away.