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 Antibacterial hand soap is a good thing, right?
Probably not. Doctors have become increasingly concerned that the indiscriminate use of antibacterial cleansers is contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. For most people, plain soap and warm water is just the thing.
You can still enjoy the convenience of liquid hand soap by making your own. It's easy, doesn't contain potentially irritating sodium laureth sulfate, and works great! Here's a natural formula recipe:
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1/4 cup Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap
- 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
Combine in a reused pump bottle, and you're good to go. If you choose unscented castile soap and tolerate essential oils well, try adding a few drops of your favorites. Sandalwood and lemongrass is a fresh-smelling combination. Lather up!
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Readers have left 7 comments. 1. The Rise of Liquid Soap
weee recycling, Guest has been very bad for the environment. Think of the difference between the packaging of a bar of soap and a pump dispenser.
The bar of soap I buy has a cling film wrapper that can't weigh more than a few grams; the dispensers (that the supermarkets place in the premium buying positions!) use more than 100 times more packaging (poss. as much as 500 times!)
Total waste. 2. Re: dispensers
Stephanie, Guest But... if you keep the pump dispenser and refill it with homemade soap, you should rarely (if ever) need to throw the dispenser out! 3. Deb C
Guest, Guest I love the convenience of pump soaps, but once I buy the pump I then buy the refill packages. Still I could be more environmentally aware using this recipe. Thanks so much. I will try this! 4. Do it all yourself!
Guest, Guest While this do it yourself recipe is neat, it's very similar to cake-in-a-box baking. If you look online and in bookstores you will lots of information on doing your own soap-making. Google "homemade liquid soap" to find some information.
The most uncommon product is lye which you can order online. I do not recommend anyone actually try the Fight Club method of procuring lye. If you google "order lye" you'll find sites that have it.
Make sure to follow the safety instructions to the letter, but then have fun!
5. Grandma's Lye Soap
Blogen Geezer, Registered Great old song about "Grandma's Lye Soap" was fun to sing with ad libbed words, in years past. County Fairs had amateur entertainers singing all sorts of fun songs back then. Fun way to spend days and evenings. Ya'all would have liked it. 6. And more...
Guest, Guest I also heard that the increased used of antibacterial products is also responsible for the large number of allergies we seem to suffer from. And I can say I tested it on myself. Before becoming a 'responsible adult' and trying to keep all the bacteria away, I had no problem with allergies :) I guess spending my summers at my grandma's playing all day, running around and eating untreated but never washed fruit helped :D 7. question?
Jovan, Guest uhmm...what is the point of glycerin? |
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