Sustainable Soap
by Fred Horch, Principal Advisor
A recipe for soap that you can make yourself, and some metrics for sustainability.
When I let friends know that I’m working on a Handbook for Sustainability, I asked, “What are your sustainability goals? How can I help you achieve them?”
First response:
I want to learn to make soap, shampoo bars and laundry soap (more wouldn’t be awful!) — that’s my immediate goal.
Super interesting! Not what I was expecting for a first sustainability goal to attempt, but I love it.
We stocked dozens of cleaning and personal care products at F.W Horch Sustainable Goods & Supplies, my sustainable living store, and we did extensive research about each one, so I’m on board with the idea of sustainable soap. I’ll share some DIY recipes and the best resources I’ve found for people who want to make their own soap and shampoo. But I also want to share my sustainability scoring metrics to show how to buy sustainable cleaning and personal care products in case you don’t want to make your own.
Making Soap Sustainably
The 1994 updated edition of Annie Berthold-Bond’s Clean & Green is the go to for make-your-own recipes for household cleaning. My friend Kathy Thorson made the mistake of loaning me her copy and I never returned it. I just checked my shelf for it and see that I’ve paid it forward — I’m pretty sure I lent her copy to a friend and never got it back, either. I highly recommend getting this book and reading it to understand what cleaning is and how to do it in an environmentally responsible way.
Soap and detergent are two closely related items. I’m assuming if you want to make your own soap, you’re thinking of a bar or gel to use to wash your hands or hand-wash dishes. Detergent, on the other hand, is something to put in your automatic dishwashing machine or laundry machine.
Both soap and detergent get things clean in the same way: they contain long molecules with two different kinds of ends. One end, the “grime magnet,” likes attaching to grease and dirt. The other, the “water magnet,” likes to attach to water. Rub these molecules on grease and dirt, and the grime magnet ends stick to it. Run water over these molecules, and the water magnet ends stick to the water to carry the dirt and grease away. Soap and detergents stick to the grime, but water really does the washing.
Soap has three basic ingredients: a triglyceride (fats and oils), sodium hydroxide (called “soap” or lye) and water. Most people who are into homemade soap are not doing it to save money or save the planet, they are doing it for art or culture. You can add all sorts of ingredients to change the colors, textures, fragrances and feel of soap.
I personally don’t have a lot of experience making soap, so I did some Googling and found a list of the 49 “most-liked” soap-making recipes on Homesteading.com. Number one on the list links to a recipe shared by The Imperfectly Happy Home, which I mention only to steer you clear of it if your goal is to make your own soap sustainably.
It’s sign of the times that the very first ingredient on the number one “homemade soap” recipe on a homesteading website takes you to Amazon.com to buy this:
Liquid Gold Inc 2 LB PREMIUM GOATS MILK GLYCERIN MELT & POUR SOAP BASE NATURAL PURE ORGANIC, Price: $25.79 ($0.81 / Ounce)
Here’s a more sustainable recipe for soap you can make yourself:
- Mix water, salt and lye in a glass bowl
- Pour olive oil into a pot with high side walls
- Use a hand blender to whip up the oil while pouring the lye mixture into the pot
For detailed instructions, check out “How To Make Eco-Friendly Soap At Home (Step-By-Step)” on NatureCode.org.
As near as I can tell, shampoo is basically soap. Exactly what else you need to add to your basic soap recipe to make a nice shampoo is highly idiosyncratic. My wife can’t stand J.R. Liggett’s Old Fashioned Bar Shampoo, but loves HiBar.
Turning to detergent, or laundry soap, my friend and former co-worker Debbie Atwood shared this recipe for “powdered laundry detergent:”
- 1/2 bar of soap, grated fine
- 1/2 cup each of borax, washing soda, and baking soda
- Shake it up!
- I add several drops of essential oil, as well.
What Makes Soap Sustainable?
Sustainability means different things to different people, but if we go with a definition that smart people spent several years to articulate, it’s about meeting our needs in ways that don’t compromise the ability of future generation to meet their needs. In my handbook, I will categorize the ways and means we use to satisfy our needs into pathways to sustainability.
Soap is a consumer good, so you can think of it as a choice along the “Goods” pathway to sustainability. Here few sustainability metrics I use to score consumer goods:
- Product packaging
- Material efficiency
- Shipping and handling
- Ingredients and constituents
- Biodegradability
- Recyclability
Since soap requires water to work, another pathway to consider is “Water.” Here are a few sustainability metrics I use to score water use choices:
- Source
- Treatment
- Quantity
- Rate
- Temperature
- Pollution
Changing the temperature of water (for example, choosing to use hot water instead of cold water to wash your clothes) takes you down the “Energy” pathway. Here are a few sustainability metrics for energy:
- Source
- Quantity
- Rate
- Pollution
In part two of this “Sustainable Soap” post, I’ll share what products I use in my own home, and show how each product scores along the Goods, Water and Energy pathways to sustainability.
Until then, happy cleaning!
