How to Use Solid Dish Soap

Most people wouldn't think of using anything other than liquid soap for washing dishes.

If you take a moment to think about it, conventional liquid dish soap was invented less than 100 years ago. What did people use to wash dishes prior to this? Quite a variety of things actually. Wood ash, soapnuts, oils, washing soda, lemon, salt, vinegar, hot water, grated bar soap, and quite a bit of elbow grease!

So, solid dish soap. It makes sense, but how does it work with a sink full of dirty dishes? Here's a simple rundown:

1. Wet your cloth/sponge/brush and rub it on the soap until it lathers (click on the links for zero waste options for these!)

2. Use the sudsy cloth/sponge/brush to wash dishes, then rinse them

3. Repeat rubbing on the soap whenever you need more

If you want to fill your sink with water, go for it. But if you only have a few dishes to clean, it's not really needed. Once you're done, pour off any water that's sitting in the soap bowl or make sure the loofah bottom of your soap bar is not sitting in water (depending if you have the bowl or bar option). This will extend the life of your soap, which will last you ages!

And here's the kicker - the ingredient list is two things: saponified coconut oil (a.k.a. coconut oil that's been turned into soap) and a couple essential oils for a fresh scent.

And how about another perk? Not only does this solid dish soap lather beautifully and clean up all those foody messes, it can also be used for so much more than just your dishes!

Use it For More Than Just Dishes

Use your solid dish soap as a multipurpose cleaner around your kitchen and bathroom, scrubbing down your stovetop, disinfecting after preparing meat, for cleaning your makeup brushes, small paint brushes, and so much more! The possibilities are almost endless!

What are you missing out on? Plastic bottles!!! Oh, it feels so good to avoid these. You'll also miss the inevitable times when all the bubbles are gone from your sink full of once-was-soapy-water-now-turned-dirty-and-oily and you have to choose to trust there's still soap in there doing it's job. Plus, you'll miss out on harsh ingredients and most likely toxic chemicals absorbing into your body and going down the drain. Sounds good to me!

Refill Pucks for Your Bowl? Yes Please!

At Searl Soap Company, I have a continual goal of becoming as zero waste as possible in both my production and packaging. One of the ways I do this is by offering refill dish soap pucks. Hold onto your empty bowl and simply buy a refill puck! The pucks are a perfect fit for your bowl and, because of the square shape, they won't spin when you're rubbing your cloth on them. Thoughtful zero waste in action!

(As always, other than links to my own products, the links included in this post will bring you to more information, not where to buy a product.)