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.

Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong

Aside from an elevator, the title of this blog post (which is a line in a song lyric) is one of the first things that came to my mind when I thought of the word “lift.” And then I went to listen to the song and was reminded of what a special, raspy voice Joe Cocker had, RIP.

And to attempt to connect to the topic at hand, I think that the words “love,” “lift”, and “belong” appropriately describe my experience of this product. The Soap Lift® is a pretty useful product when using bar soap. And as I began to foresee a lot more bar soap in my life, I finally got around to getting some of these. The Soap Lift® essentially lifts the soap so that some air can circulate underneath and dry it out a bit so you are not left with a total gooey mess on your soap dish. It’s not just about making bar soap a better, less messy experience but it is also supposed to extend the longevity of your soap. I’ve used it on hand soap in the bathroom and now on my bar dish soap. I’ve had these for a little while now and pre-COVID I felt like they really worked. However, now that we are washing hands more frequently in my household, the soap is getting wet more frequently and I’ve noticed some goo. I think there is just less time between washings to let things dry out completely. I still like the product though and I think I may need to change my soap dish situation to address the issue. There are a lot of colors and even some shapes to choose from. One of the easiest and smallest changes I have made.

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