Starting anything new is always tricky. So much weight seems to be placed on the first of anything, so I figured a fitting first post would be a little about me.
My name is Jaclyn, and I am a recent graduate of Florida State University with a degree in English and a minor in communications. I worked at a tutoring company for a year and a half (I leave for a new job in 3 days!) and am moving into the marketing field.
I started this blog because I had a break through (not breakdown, break through) a few days ago thinking about my passion. In high school, I would have told you, hands down, that it was writing, but recently, I’ve been feeling that passion subsiding. Stories used to get stuck in my brain, and I just couldn’t shake them until I wrote them out. But the past few months I haven’t been writing stories much. When I graduated from college, suddenly, no one was over my shoulder telling me to write or giving me deadlines. I wondered, maybe my passion for writing was slowly trickling away.
But then I realized, that though writing stories wasn’t my primary interest anymore, it didn’t take away the fact that a) I still love writing even if it’s not in short-story form – hell, I still journal every day – and b) this love for writing could become the conduit for my other passions: helping people, exploring mental wellness, and pursuing a more eco-friendly lifestyle and leading others in the same direction.
So I made this blog, primarily for spreading the word about my tips and tricks on how to be eco-conscious in such a plastic, capitalistic society. If I can help just one person in any capacity, creating this blog and putting in the work will be worth it.
Thank you for being here, and I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I know I will!
If you would like to know more about me, I’ve added a link to my personal Instagram below.
If I’m ever feeling unmotivated to make a green choice in my life (or more often feeling discouraged that I’m not doing enough), I always like to start with a little math.
If I go through a plastic bottle of body wash once every two months, and I choose to make the switch to bar soap, that’s six bottles a year out of the landfill. If I switch over my pump-bottle of hand soap to a bar of soap, that’s about five bottles a year. If I were to just make those two decisions and keep it up for ten years, that’s 110 bottles I haven’t contributed to the ever-climbing mountain of human-created trash.
In the grand scheme of things, these eleven bottles a year don’t seem like much. Switching to a reusable water bottle can save 365 plastic bottles a year if you are drinking a bottle of water daily. But for how little effort you need to put into this switch for it to make a big difference, the results are substantial.
In this article, I will address how to easily switch over to bar soap, and some myths, facts, tips, and tricks about getting started.
Like most every eco-decision I preach, making this transition may take time. You should never say, “I am moving to bar soap only,” and then immediately throw away all your bottled soap. That’s not what I’m saying.
If you’ve still got bottles strewn about the house, use those first, then recycle them. Or, you can save them for special occasions. I received a plastic soap bottle as a gift last year, and since it was peppermint scented, I waited until the holiday season to use it.
Once you’ve gone through all your plastic dispensers, then you can start buying bar soap.
I suggest buying bars only in paper/cardboard packaging. If you’re buying from big businesses such as Walmart, the packs usually come wrapped in a plastic film, so buy the bars in bulk. You will be using more plastic during that shopping trip, but in the long run, you will be using less while buying more.
Myths About Bar Soap
I understand people’s disdain and hesitance toward bar soap. These people usually seem to have the same arguement:
“When dirty hands touch the bar soap, the germs cling. When someone else comes to wash their hands, those germs transfer.”
I get it. It sounds gross, but when doing research to confidently write on this subject, I have to say, the evidence was entirely lacking. I was looking for anything: not only facts to debunk the myth and support my stance, but also facts that may prove me wrong and provide me with a strong counter argument. I was fully prepared to write, “Yes, there are germs, BUT x, y, and z.”
However, the only study I found was that ofYackovich and Heinze whose experiment concluded that there were no germs left on anyone’s hands after using the same bar of soap. But the study group size was only 12 people, entirely too small a number to draw definitive conclusions. Plus, the company who funded the study was Dial Soap. Everything about this experiment seems unreliable, so no solid evidence is readily available to prove or disprove the germs-on-soap theory.
The Miracle of Using a Soap Dish
Nevertheless, clinging germs is still a wide-spread worry. This idea was theorized because it takes a while for soap to dry before its next use. An easy way to fix this is by buying a soap dish.
This was something that I was excited to share- I just received three wooden soap dishes as a gift, and I couldn’t be happier with them. Every time I go to use my bars of soap, they are dry. Not only do they feel cleaner when washing my hands, but it makes my sink and bathtub look 10 times more put together.
When I was just placing the bar directly on the sink, it didn’t want to stay in one spot and it made everything watery and soapy. When I did the same in the shower, the water would hit the bar of soap and make it disappear faster. Now that I have a holder, I can place it out of the water stream to keep it still and dry until use.
Also, getting a dish that has grates or holes in the bottom eliminates any chance that the bar won’t dry. With sealed bowls, water can get trapped, keeping the bar wet. So you’re looking for something like this:
If you are thinking about purchasing a soap dish, I recommend getting a wooden/biodegradable one! Here is a link to the soap dishes I have and love.
Say No to Microplastics
If you’re still uneasy about using bar soap as your primary body-cleaning form, my last bit of advice involving bottled soap is this: TRY TO ALWAYS AVOID MICRO-BEAD SCRUBS! Unless it is specifically stated that the beads dissolve on contact, these scrubs are dangerous for the environment.
Plastic bottles are one thing. You can recycle them, and when recycled and in the facilities, the size of the bottle makes it more likely to be recycled. Micro beads found in scrubs are just tiny pieces of plastic called microplastics. Because they are so small, the beads go straight into open waters after they enter our domestic drains.
And although the microplastics are too small to directly affect us, organisms that are small enough will consume the plastics thinking they are algae. Bigger fish then eat those organisms, and then we, humans, eat the fish. All forms of plastic are a detriment.
Here is an interesting and informative National Geographic article on microplastics and how they may effect humans.
Outside of microplastics, if you’re still buying bottled soap, try buying the biggest bottle they offer. This way, the soap inside lasts longer, and when you are done, you can recycle it. In recycling facilities, the bigger the plastic, the more likely it is to be recycled, so buying less but bigger plastic is a move you can make that will eventually start reducing your waste.
Thank You for Reading!
In my last article, I talked about plastic and reusable bags. I said that I could easily carry an entire grocery load from my car to my kitchen in one trip. Here is a picture of me doing just that! One hundred dollars of Walmart groceries in three bags (two shouldered) and then some toilet paper. Buy in bulk when you can!
I hope you liked this article! Let me know what you think. Are there any other tips or tricks I missed regarding soap bars and soap bottles? Let me know in the comments. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
We’ve heard it a thousand times- start using reusable bags before going shopping. Plastic bags are littering the oceans. They’re killing sea turtles. When statistics, videos, pictures, etc. are hitting us from every social media platform, it’s hard not to get desensitized. But it’s more serious than it seems.
Some scary plastic bag facts you may not have heard:
The United States uses over 100 BILLION plastic bags a year. Click HERE to visit The World Counts’ real-time number of plastic bags being produced since the beginning of 2019. (Hint: It’s in the trillions already.)
The production of plastic bags requires petroleum and, in a lot of cases, natural gases. Creating 14 plastic bags uses approximately the same amount of gases and petroleum as driving your car a single mile.
The main two issues keeping people from reusable bags are first obtaining the bags, and then, conversely, having them, but still forgetting to bring them shopping. Here are some solutions:
Obtaining the bags. Although you can always go out and buy your reusable bags, that isn’t your only option. Most of my reusable bags I didn’t purchase. One is from a Christmas gift in 2009. One is from my dentist. One is a beach bag my step mom passed down to me. One is a free “bonus” for purchasing a special shirt in the store the Lunch Box. Allow yourself to stumble upon these free bags! You don’t have to acquire your bag collection all at once.
Forgetting to Bring Them Shopping. It happens. Don’t beat yourself up. My fool-proof way of remembering my bags is to leave them in my trunk. When I go grocery shopping and forget them, the most I have to do is walk back to my car. If there is another car you know you frequent (i.e. spouse, significant other, best friend, parent), asking the owner of the car if you can place some of your bags in their car can reduce the number of times you are caught off guard. In some cases, the owner of that car may end up using the bags as well! The rest is HABIT, HABIT, HABIT. The more you do it, the more you’ll remember! Soon, it will become second nature.
My favorite benefit of using reusable bags is it only takes me one trip to bring my groceries inside. Fifteen + plastic Walmart bags turns into 4 reusable bags. Mine have long straps, so I can shoulder some and carry others. This was especially nice when I lived on the 7th floor of my dorm rooms freshman year of college.
What are some things that you are doing or want to do to stop using plastic bags? Do you have any tips or tricks that I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments.
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