Soap has been used as a cleaning agent since the Babylonian times; a solid bar, flakes or liquid. But not many people know that liquid soap was only sold and marketed as a ‘luxurious item’ to the public in the 1980s and more worryingly, it is a rapidly growing market. Over the past seven years, the sales of liquid soap in the UK have increased by 68%!

Why should we be worried? The majority of liquid soap is sold in ‘single use plastic dispensers’. You can recycle the bottle but the rest has to go into landfill. If you love your liquid soap, would you:

Change a habit?

Avoid buying liquid soap in single use dispensers. Refill your old one. Morrisons stock Cusson’s Carex refills for £1.50.

Purchase Differently?

Buy a bar of soap. You can buy soaps that don’t go mushy in the soap dish. For example: Pears Green soap bar (70p) in Morrisons; Suma and Faith in Nature soaps (£1.40/1.60) in Field Fayre or Wye Dean Health Foods.

Make Your Own?

It is so easy to make your own liquid soap! And it’s a great activity to involve the kids.

• Grate or finely chop a bar of soap. You can grate your soap by hand or use a food processor, which is definitely the fastest option! You should have 4ozs (125gms) of soap flakes.

• Boil four cups of water to a boil on the stove.

• Turn off the heat and add your soap flakes.

• Stir to melt the soap. Continue stirring until the mixture is fully combined. At this point the mixture will be very ‘liquidy’.

• Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, stir it again. The soap should be slightly thicker now.

• Allow the soap to cool overnight. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too liquidy, reheat it and add more soap flakes. If it seems too thick, reheat it and add more water. The moisture content varies from one brand of soap to the next, so you’ll probably have to do a bit of experimenting to get your recipe just right.

• Once you’re satisfied with the consistency of your liquid soap, add a few of drops of your favourite essential oil. Please note that the essential oil content should not be more than 30mls if children will be using the soap.

If you have any other soap recipes or recommendations – please share them with us by emailing: [email protected]

Next month’s item is shampoo.

Yolande Watson

Your Unnecessary Plastic (YUP!)