Sunday, March 1, 2009

Soap duds


I don't know whether it's the desire to rid every evil germ from my home or the spirit of spring cleaning in the air, but I took time this weekend to do another exciting task, refill soap containers.

The focus here is on refilling containers rather than buying new containers each time. There are more and more earth-lovin' suds available today. Method and Mrs. Meyers are two I use right now because they are both somewhat widely available. But I know I need to find something better. They have their downfalls like they both contain fragrance and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). Method provides refill bags which use 83% less plastic than the tradition plastic soap container.

Soy is the New Black has a great post about soap this week and a link to Method's defense of SLS usage.

What soap do you use? Who has found the best Mama E lovin' kind? Do you use refills? Is there an even better way?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

i love meyers' products!!! the scents alone are wonderful!!!!

Anonymous said...

I haven't tried Meyer's products. Up here in rural Canada we seem limited on what we can get our hands on. I do have access to Method but have questioned their 'greenness'. Not only have I noticed the SLS on their label, but their scents are also really strong, often resulting in my getting a headache. This is usually a dead giveaway to me that fragrance is being used rather than essential oil. Is Method really green or are they guilty of greenwashing? I WANT them to be green because they are easily accessible to me, but I really have my doubts.

I am also a big fan of Dr. Bronner's soaps.

Lucy Pursglove-Jones said...

Hey Willo, long time no read, sorry. I have missed checking you blog and what a great post to catch while I wasd online! Mmmmm yummy smelling soap (I like to clean!) we use 'Ecover'. They've pretty much got the whole of the 'eco' market over here in my opinion. I'd like to see more options for green cleaning available on the shelves to be honest. Although I have been putting your 'lemons' to the test and they work a treat!
Well, I must be off once again!
Hope you and yours are well.
Happy bubbles.
Lucy :)

Lucy Pursglove-Jones said...

PS: Look at my terrible typos! Note to self: Read through comments before hitting the submit button! ;) x

Over Coffee - the green edition said...

I hope Method is green too cuz I Love Them! I use their soap and refills. I do like the idea of adding a little water to them.

Cynthia said...

Why have I never come across this product? Curious...

Shauna said...

I am new here! What a great blog :)

babies said...

my skin is very sensitive to soap, it gets all red and itchy, so as horrible as it sounds, i don't use soap. i make my own "thing" with just olive oil and sugar. the olive oil i use is from a friend's olive grove from an island in croatia, all organic, and the sugar is usually dark molasses sugar. it washes off nicely, but some of the olive oil remains and feeds the skin.

i love your blog, the fact that you post so frequently about great things that make me rethink the way i live. it is quite a commitment to think so hard and write on regular basis, so thank you, and the earth is grateful too, i am sure!!!

Willo said...

Jenni-I think Method is more green then a lot of things out there. I give them credit for at least listing ingredients and giving reasons for using SLS but I still feel there has to be a better way. I am going to investigate Dr. Bronner's some more.

Lucy-I MISSED YOU! Glad to have you back! And we don't mind typos! We know what you meant!

Over Coffee-adding water is a good idea, it makes it go further and maybe dilutes the fragrance a little.

Shauna-WELCOME! Thank you! I am glad you are here and hope you will stick around!

Eva-Once again you fascinate me with the homemade recipe! Do you worry at all about germs or do you find that the mixture works pretty well to get rid of them? And thank you so much! It is so kind of you to notice!

Leighann of Multi-Minding Mom said...

Thanks so much for linking to me!

Method does have a book out called Squeaky Green. I got a copy of it, but haven't read it yet. So I can't say if they are green or greenwashing yet.

I hope they are in fact green because their products are reasonably priced and easily purchased.

RootsAndWingsCo said...

I love your blog! In our house we are doing the same thing. We are tackling one thing at a time, that we can do to reduce our "footprint" on the earth. It's a lot of fun and something my oldest child (who is not that old) is really pushing me to do as well. I am glad she is so thoughtful of the world around us. We are careful with our school lunches and don't use ziplock baggies. I am almost at the point of getting the "Laptop" lunch system. The price tag is what has held me back, but really you continue to use it every year so it's even "Greener" and not expensive! We also garden and have a compost. These are some of the things that are most important to us. Thanks for your great ideas, I will be coming back for more!
Rebecca
RootsAndWingsCo.blogspot.com