Solid soap or liquid soap?

Deciding whether to buy a bar of soap or a package of liquid soap usually depends on your habits and needs, but which of the two possibilities is to be considered more environmentally friendly? Let's try to reflect on the possibility of purchasing these products in their common commercial form or in the types made using organic and environmentally friendly ingredients, without forgetting the very important opportunity for self-production.



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Deciding whether to buy one bar of soap or a pack of liquid soap usually depends on one's habits and needs, but which of the two possibilities is to be considered more friend of the environment? Let's try to reflect on the possibility of purchasing these products in their common commercial form or in the types made using organic and environmentally friendly ingredients, without forgetting the very important opportunity for self-production.

In the case of commercial products, it is always necessary to pay attention to the ingredients contained in both liquid and soap bars. Usually the latter have a rather short list of components and a lower presence of polluting ingredients. To realize the polluting potential of each ingredient, simply enter the name on the label inside the Biodizionario.

Other advantage of the bar of soap, even in the case of the most common ones, is the small footprint of the product, usually packaged with a single layer of paper or plastic, which can often be recycled. This leads to a reduction of packing and transport costs, as well as the related CO2 emissions, as there are no bulky and difficult to stack packages, as can happen in the case of liquid soap.

As for liquid and solid soaps prepared with environmentally friendly ingredients and of biological origin, the soap still has an advantage, as it can be found as sold by weight it's completely without packaging, that is, of an envelope that would be immediately transformed into waste just before its use. THE ecobio liquid soaps they are formulated with respect for the environment, but the problem of disposal and the encumbrance of their packaging remains, unless they are bought on tap, endlessly reusing the same container.



Let's move on to theself-production of soap, a procedure that we had already described in detail regarding the home preparation of solid soaps. Homemade natural soaps are not polluting at all. In the saponification process, soda is used, necessary for a reaction to take place between the aqueous part and the fatty part of the soap, but once the soap formation process is complete, it disappears completely, giving us a completely safe and non-polluting.

Il homemade soap, depending on the more or less valuable oils and the percentages of soda used, it may be suitable for washing hands, face and body, but also for laundry. It will be free of packaging, of long duration and comfortable and satisfying use. The soaps prepared at home can be grated by hand and used as if it were washing powder to be placed directly in the washing machine drum, in the quantity of three or four spoons depending on the volume of the laundry, or to be used for hand washing.

From liquid soap to use for laundry it can be prepared using the leftovers left in the pot in which you have prepared your homemade solid soap, after having poured everything into the molds. What is left over from the preparation of the soap bars can be diluted in water and used immediately for laundry, or stored in well-closed bottles or bottles.

How to make liquid soap at home

From the solid soap for the person prepared at home, or from the pure Aleppo soap eventually purchased, liquid soap can be obtained to be used normally for washing hands, face and body. The process to quickly make homemade liquid soap is very simple and requires the following ingredients (for a bottle of approx. 500 ml):



100 gr of solid vegetable soap

500 ml of tap water

The solid soap to be used must be composed of vegetable ingredients, free of additives as sequestrants or industrial preservatives, preferably prepared at home or purchased, being sure to choose pure Aleppo soap or vegetable soap for the person, completely safe and ecological. Common supermarket soap bars and laundry soaps may contain ingredients that do not allow the soap flakes to dissolve completely or that can cause the liquid soap obtained initially to solidify.

proceed grating the chosen soap and pouring it into a pot containing hot water in the amount indicated above. Stirring with a wooden spoon you will notice that the soap flakes will begin to melt. To speed up the process, you can place the pot on the stove. Let it all cool down before pouring the soap obtained into a special container. If it should be excessively liquid, proceed with adding and letting new soap flakes dissolve. Conversely, it is possible to dilute the mixture with a little water. It is also possible to add to the preparation a tablespoon of olive oil or rice, in which to dissolve a few drops of essential oil to make a scented soap. To obtain a soap with a homogeneous consistency. puree the mixture obtained with an immersion blender before transferring it to the container you want to use.

Solid soap or liquid soap?

In case you prefer to use soap bars and do not want them to wear out due to frequent contact with water, try to keep them handy next to the sink a jar with soap flakes to be used little by little. A similar idea sparked the inventiveness of the designer Nathalie Stampfli, which has decided to replace the liquid soap containers present in homes and public buildings with soap holders equipped with grater, so as to be able to use only the desired amount of soap each time, avoiding any waste.

Marta Albè

Read also:

- How to make vegan soap at home

- How to make homemade soap with just three ingredients

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