Modern families have become reliant on liquid shower gels and plastic-pump dispense liquid hand soaps. But really, is all that plastic packaging necessary? And think of how often the average family goes through these products, only to have to buy yet another container. Much of that plastic gets thrown out and ends up in a landfill, depending on your municipality’s recycling program.

A better option for the environment, and cheaper for your wallet, is a return to good old-fashioned bar soap. It is usually wrapped in paper or recycled paper, or you can cut the packaging altogether by  buying it  loose in natural food stores.

It’s a little messier, and can be slippery for little fingers, but it’s much better for the planet. And bodywash and liquid handsoaps usually cost about four times as much as bar soap!

I don’t have the stats for Canada, but if every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of shower gel with a bar of soap, roughly 2.5  million pounds of plastic bottles would be diverted from the waste stream! That is staggering.

In our household, we went back to the bar a few years ago with no regrets. We still use liquid handsoap at our bathroom sink for quick cleanups, but we refill our plastic container with a natural handsoap we purchase in bulk from our neighbourhood natural food store.  We just take our container in, have it weighed, and refill when necessary.

Our online eco store, Kai Kids, also carries some excellent bar soaps:

• Organic Baby Soap, by Bare Organics, which we use for the whole family
• Avocado Cleansing Bar, by Dimpleskins (very gentle and great for babies)
• French-Milled Vegetable Soap, by South of France (lasts for months, and comes in two lovely scents: Honey and Lemon Verbena)

Happy washing!