On My Soapbox About A...Soap Bag

I love this product. Small, simple, and goes a long way. Since I have converted to bar soap, I have had (and anticipate having) a lot more soap scraps and ends. The conservationist and thrifty side of myself always felt weird about throwing away the end of a bar of soap when it was seemingly too small to use “normally.” So I went through some phases in my life when I would save them, but to what end? They never stuck together well and I fantasized about turning them into liquid soap when I had enough but that never happened and I always ended up throwing them away anyway. But…enter the soap bag! I love it! I put my soap ends in it and then I use that bag of soap + my soap box when I travel. This combo makes me so happy—I am not wasting the soap scraps and I also know that I don’t have to use any small, single-use travel body wash, etc.

Another thing I love is that the bag is the scrubber. It exfoliates really nicely. You do have to allow the soap ample time in water to slightly soften up a bit before it lathers though. And FYI, it is not intended only for soap scraps. You can use it for a whole bar of soap as well. I just happen to prefer to use it for the ends. I did read in a product review about someone’s concern about mold. They then stated that they could likely keep an eye out for mold and then just bleach the product if they noticed any. I do take precautions such as letting it hang to dry out between uses, which is something to be even more mindful of when traveling, but I suppose it IS a good idea to monitor the situation for mold. I look forward to being able to use this more whenever we can travel again, but in the meantime, it is collecting my soap ends, which I will use whenever the bag gets full-ish.

On My Soapbox About A...Soap Box

Some of the things I wanted to post about, when I thought about doing this blog, was efforts and ideas to be a more zero-waste traveler. Up until COVID-19, we were a family that traveled quite often. Now, I don’t know when we will travel next. However, I imagine and hope that we will still take some “local” trips in the near future so there are still some travel-relevant changes and things to try out and post about. In preparing to travel during our last trip, I was reviewing what toiletries I needed to bring. I actually never really bought travel-sized, single-use toiletries on a regular basis but I do still have a small stash of random shampoos and lotions in the depths of my bathroom cabinet from who knows where. I think that my inventory of small bottles of toiletries has come mainly from hotels and samples from random places. In my thrifty mindset, I admit, I definitely used to take shampoo etc. when I would stay in hotels. As I transform into a more waste-reducing mindset, I plan to not only NOT take single-use hotel products but also to not even use single-use hotel products anymore. Those small bottles really are so very wasteful and good news, some major hotel chains are on board with doing something about it (click here)!

Although I never really bought travel-sized items, I did often use travel-sized reusable containers to fill up with my regular shampoo, conditioner, lotion, etc. It started more as an effort to save money rather than reduce waste, but I have found that these things often conflate. However, as I was packing, I realized that I did not have any more random samples of liquid body wash and since I had discontinued liquid body wash for the adults in my household, I needed a container to bring bar soap—a soap box. I chose this one for travel for a few reasons: 1) it has its own soap lift type of thing so that the soap doesn’t just sit in water and become gooey, 2) it has a tight band that wraps around and ensures tight and leak-free transport if the soap is not 100% dry, and 3) it’s cute and fits with my aesthetic. I really like this product, it has worked very well, and it will definitely be a part of my regular travel gear.

Stank You

I have mostly used some kind of more “natural” deodorant for as long as I can remember. I think since I was in high school and heard about some connection between aluminum in deodorant and Alzheimer’s. There used to not be that many options, but now there are plenty. In considering what deodorant to buy when my last one ran out, I realized there are a lot of options when it comes to more natural ingredients, but actually not a lot of options when you are trying to reduce waste (i.e. plastic packaging in this case). So…cardboard containers! Yay! Thank you! I did a little online shopping and these are the two I decided to try. One for me and one for my husband. So far, so good on both of them. We both think they work and smell really good. The only cautionary statement I would say about the one I use (black rogue) is that it kind of acts like a regular white solid deodorant, in that you should be careful not to get it on your clothes (e.g. black or dark colors in particular). I also think I might put on too much sometimes. According to the instructions, you don’t need a lot. And because of the color with a slight charcoal tinge, it kind of looks grayish on your skin if you have applied it multiple times in a day…so not exactly flattering with tank tops. I do like the smell and feel but I think when this runs out, I might try one without the charcoal.

In (or On) Your Face

I have used cotton balls for beauty-related things probably since I started doing beauty-related things. So probably since junior high school…at least for nail polish remover. My most frequent usage has always been for applying face toner. I also sometimes used them to remove eye makeup. For many, many, many years I would halve them because I realized that I almost never needed a whole one. So in my world, particularly as a poor student for so many years, I was saving money and being less wasteful. But still, that’s A LOT of cotton balls over the years. At some point, I moved on to organic cotton balls when I felt that I could afford them; I figured they were better for the environment and probably my skin as well. And then more recently I discovered reusable bamboo makeup remover pads—even better for the environment, my face, and my wallet. I now use them for my toner. They do the job really well and I love them. They are soft but also with a very, very slight amount of friction. The texture is kind of like a baby washcloth. I bought 32 of the ones that are just over 3 inches (they often come in sets of 16) and I keep a stack of them in a basket and then use another basket to put the used ones in (see photos). I then drop them in the washing machine with my laundry whenever I need to. I think many places that sell them provide a mesh bag for laundry to keep them all together, but I found that they did not come out very well-washed and kind of stuck together in a mashed up ball. Right now I only have white ones but I have seen black ones too. I imagine some might prefer these for eye makeup or nail polish, which might stain…so they just won’t look as dirty after you wash them…if that matters. I have also used them for nail polish remover and they work well enough. I set aside a few exclusively for this purpose. I am a fan.