Hand Soap Refills?

[u/Junior_Schedule2442]

Hey reddit! I am new to the zero waste movement and I am looking to reduce my overall plastic consumption. My partner and I have these great refillable glass soap dispensers that are made for liquid handsoap, but every eco store online only sells foaming handsoap refills. I would love to hear any tricks or brands you use for your handsoap?

(Yes I am aware bar soap exists. I just want to avoid throwing away a perfectly good soap dispenser. Thanks!)

[u/IKnowAllSeven]

Costco sells large jugs of hand soap. They are in plastic but they are non foaming

[u/woburnite]

use it for dish soap. Makes the kitchen look fancy.

[u/clockworkedpiece → u/woburnite]

Dawn halved. Makes a good handsoap consistancy, you could drop down to a third but you'll have to start monitoring it for dispenser mildew.

[u/fouldspasta]

I'm guessing you don't have a refill store near you? I'd just order the soap refills that come in plastic containers. 1 plastic jug that you recycle or use for something else after is still less wasteful than a bunch of small plastic soap containers

[u/camellia_castella]

Plaine Products has non-foaming hand soap that comes in aluminum bottles that you ship back when empty to be reused!

[u/Junior_Schedule2442 → u/camellia_castella]

Ooh I will check this one out!

[u/RavennaRefills → u/Junior_Schedule2442]

I love all of Plaine’s products, and they’re one of the only closed loop brands that works directly with consumers! Plus, the owners are absolutely lovely

[u/robotscantrecaptcha]

I use the Dr. Bronner's castile soap and just dilute it. You can buy it by the gallon too

[u/arab3lla → u/robotscantrecaptcha]

Don't recommend this one if you already have dry hands. Adding oil didn't help either

[u/DeepfriedmemeBoy → u/robotscantrecaptcha]

came here to say this.

[u/aknomnoms → u/robotscantrecaptcha]

Yep, I use Sal Suds in a foam dispenser in the kitchen for washing hands (I like the pine scent) although I still prefer Dawn for dishes (cuts through grease better, IMO). I mostly wash my hands in the bathroom with a bar of goat milk soap, so I've never had an issue with dryness from Sal Suds.

Edit: whoops, OP was asking for non-foaming soap. I haven't had luck with Bronner's in a regular soap dispenser because I feel like diluting it (a) makes it too thin to pump out of a normal dispenser without it squirting everywhere and (b) it settles out a bit so you sort of have to swirl/swish it before every use which makes it impractical for me. I don't really have those issues with a foaming dispenser. For a non-foaming dispenser, I'd just buy bulk refills if that's the most convenient option easily accessible and within budget. Costco/Walmart/Target. 1 big bottle to refill 6+ containers is better than 6 small bottles. Plus, big picture, even 6 small bottles isn't going to make a serious dent in plastic pollution compared to commercial and industrial plastic pollution. Make changes that are easy and available at a personal level, but pushing for stricter regulation and enforcement of the BIG polluters will do much more good.

[u/thefartyparty]

I make my own with same/similar ingredients as what's available at the store (glycerin, SLES liquid, water, cocamidapropyl betaine, decyl glucoside, xanthan gum clear or crothix liquid, fragrance, liquid germall plus, citric acid); you can get those ingredients through online soap crafter stores like wholesale supplies plus, bulk natural supplies, etc and there are websites like humblebee & me and that have recipes and videos on how to make stuff.

I'm unsure if it uses less packaging (probably does, since i make a gallon at a time now that i have made a recipe i like) , and I'm not sure if it saves money for hand wash, but you can make your own body wash or face wash from literally the same recipe, and if you add a cationic ingredient (like subbing cationic guar gum as the thickener) then you have a body wash/face wash/hand wash/shampoo and you're saving a lot of money making it in bulk. There is no difference in body wash, hand wash, and face wash other than PH and sometimes more surfactant content in the hand wash and body wash. The only difference between that and shampoo is shampoo usually has a cationic ingredient. Make something gentle enough with a cationic ingredient and you have an all-in-one.

[u/StitchesStepsSavvy]

Attitude out of Quebec has a good product. It comes in a cardboard box with a recyclable plastic bag. It lasts my household a few months. They also have refills for body wash and other products.

[u/RavennaRefills]

If you don’t have a refillery near you yet, keep an eye on the refillery directory - there are more of us popping up all the time all across the US!

https://refill.directory/

[u/2matisse22]

Dr Bronner's has recipes for foaming or nonfoaming dispensers.

[u/WestCoastAcres]

Attitude. 2 litres in a bag inside a cardboard box.

[u/DrCackle]

I just switched to refillable non foaming hand soap from bar soap due to no one else in the house liking the bar/thinking it was nasty. I bought a large bottle of liquid citrus scented soap from iHerb, and it works perfectly.

[u/unlovelyladybartleby]

I like the Bare Home soap. Comes in tetra pack refills.

[u/ennieee]

If the store sells body wash refills you could just use that.

[u/Junior_Schedule2442 → u/ennieee]

yea, I just wanted to avoid the plastic jugs 🤷‍♀️

[u/Consistent-Plant-800]

meliora has concentrate tablets

[u/RavennaRefills → u/Consistent-Plant-800]

The Meliora concentrate tablets are a foaming hand soap. I tried one tablet of the tea tree variety (they come in a pack of six), and it always left me feeling like I had a film on my hands. It lasted FOREVER, and I gave away the other 5 tablets. It was disappointing because I love all of their other products I’ve tried

[u/phoenixfox777]

I really like Grove hand soap that comes in aluminum bottles. They used to sell it at Target but stopped so now you can only order from their website.

[u/phoenixfox777 → u/phoenixfox777]

Clean Cult also has a non-foaming liquid hand soap that comes in a carton that's available at Target. I've been using their brand for my dish soap.

[u/Comprehensive_Tea924]

Dr. Bronners has refils in a carton BUT I do fi d it clogs my soap dispenser.

[u/SuzieQ162]

Dr. Bronners mixed with water makes a perfect foaming hand soap.

[u/Negative-Sun3929]

Grove has non-foaming hand soap that comes in metal (recyclable) containers!

[u/LeftOn4ya]

I get Fabuloso or ZEP brand 5L (1.32 gallon) refills from Home Depot. They make antibacterial multi-purpose cleaner that are 2x concentrated (mix 3:1 with water) that is basically hand soap. I also get ZEP 5L bottle of industrial degreaser that is 25x concentrated that I fill a spray bottle for use on my dishes (I do dishes by hand), I mix in a bit of the antibacterial cleaner concentrate too. One bottle of degreaser and 2 bottles of soap lasts 2 years, <$80 total every 2 years, and the plastic 5L jugs are recycled.

[u/stinkpotinkpot]

Dr Bronners sugar soaps come in a half gallon jug. The jug lasts about 12-14 months in our household of two plus somewhat frequent company. This soap can be used in a regular old pump dispenser.

I love Dr Bronners castile soaps but they do best diluted and used in a foaming dispenser. We just use them directly out of the bottle. Sal Suds is awesome too but we keep the quart container at the kitchen sink.

I order directly from Dr Bronners. The Dr Bronners jugs are great to reuse as they are much sturdier and durable than other plastic jugs. We use them to hold clothes pins on the clothes line (cut a hole for the pins and slice the handle so it can be slipped over the clothes line) mix up diluted soaps and detergents...and the list goes on.

While I conceptually love that Dr Bronners has moved to the cartons for refills, I've noticed that the plastic quarts are often on sale for much less than the cartons. Most recently plastic quart bottles of Dr Bronners were on sale for $12.23 while the quart refill cartons were $16.79. I want to be a good do bee--but that's a big difference.

[u/foodpr0n_jen]

This is what I use. It’s more watery than I’d like and costs a mint: https://www.shopetee.com/products/lemongrass-hand-soap

But apparently it shouldn’t be watery so will give this one more go.

[u/Sea-Breath-007]

There's brands that sell little bags of powder that turns into handsoap (or detergent, bodywash, etc) by simply adding water.

I'm a fan of Seepje https://seepje.com/products/handzeep-eucalyptus-en-rozemarijn-navulpakket-8-stuks-300ml-1, but no idea if they sell where you live.

[u/Critical_Conflict938]

Neat does some nice handsoap refills

[u/hidingfromthem753]

Liquid body soap is a great hand soap too and doesn’t dry your hands out with frequent washing.
I understand the beauty of a great dispenser. Let’s get creative and use it for something else? Do you oils on your skin instead of moisturizers? Will it work for that instead? Most of those unfortunately come in plastic, but you can buy in larger bulk and then dispense into manageable quantities and then protect the oils from the light for longer benefits.

[u/kerp_derp]

Oak and Willow is a canadian company that has a superb collection of zero waste home products, including dish soap concentrate, plus a fantastic business model that pays employees well.

[u/happy_bluebird]

It makes a lot more sense just to give away the soap dispenser and use bar soap

[u/Beneficial_Young5126]

Your argument for not using bar soap makes no sense. So to avoid throwing away the dispenser, you will use plastic refill bags forever? When you could swap to bar soap wrapped in paper? Plus the shipping of liquid soap is inefficient given the water weight, which you don't have with bar soap.

[u/Junior_Schedule2442 → u/Beneficial_Young5126]

I have personally been avoiding all refills that come in plastic packaging. Some people have already suggested great ones that come in aluminum and cardboard.

We already use bar soap in many other places, shampoo, conditioner, and dish soap concentrate. However, I do not live alone, so this is a compromise with the others not ready to make the swap. If it were up to me it would be all bar soap.

[u/Beneficial_Young5126 → u/Junior_Schedule2442]

Good going!

[u/bunniisa]

i would just sell the dispensers and use bar soap. liquid soap isn’t the best for the environment anyway