Luckily for me however, I'm not the chief bottle-washer around here. And apparently, the soap shaker wasn't going down too well with him, as when he popped out to get some milk the othernight, I found this on the sink the next morning:
Ah well, at least he bought a not-tested-on-animals, phosphorus-free, Australian-made and owned brand! Obviously pure soap is an acquired "taste" ;-) And, I must admit, the commercial stuff feels nicer on your hands... Ah well, back to the drawing board - but only on the choice of hard soap to use in the shaker! I'm thinking of finding one that has a proportion of lemon essential oil in it (for it's grease-cutting ability) or perhaps making my own olive oil bar soap (which I want to have a go at anyway, for using in the bath/shower) and adding lemon EO? Or using a splash of lemon juice or vinegar in the wash water for the same reason. I thought about soap nuts, but they are imported from India, which doesn't overly impress me from an "footprint" point of view, so I think I'll stick to the pure soap theory at this stage :-)
6 comments:
I have read somewhere (no idea where) that the choice of soap makes less difference than the water quality. Basically the commercial soaps are designed to work in hard mains water. Blocks of castille soap will probably work fine in rain water, but are less efficient if you're using mains water. Which puts townies like us in a bit of a pickle.
Ah, that makes sense. I'll try it in rain water just out of curiosity now, but since we don't have the tank hooked up to the sink, I'll have to put up with the hard water like the rest of us :-) Thanks!
I am reading a soapmaking book from the seventies which discusses this very issue. It says that in the old days people used soap for everything but that the water was softer - or they softened the water (eg. with a dash of borax). It says that using soap with hard water will result in a lot more scum left over - be it in the sink or the washing machine or the bath. Most town water is harder than rain water, I think.
I haven't had any luck with using soap for washing dishes. The resultant soap scum was costing a lot more water to wash up, after washing the dishes. I buy a detergent which is (supposedly) kind to the earth and which I can buy in my own container. This is better at the moment than a revolt from the chief washer-upper... If it came down to it, though, soap does wash dishes well - it just leaves the sink looking worse for wear!
We use home made olive and coconut oil soap in a shaker for dish washing BUT I have a bottle of "environmentally friendly" detergent tucked away for those extra greasy things like the pan I use to roast vegetables.
To deal with the scum I use a few centimetres of very hot water to rinse the dishes. Sometimes I add a bit of vinegar but I'm not sure it makes much difference.
As suz said, we used soap for the dishes when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s and I don't remember the sort of scum I see in my sink now. Melbourne's tap water tasted really good back then and I can't drink it without filtering it now.
Hi Suz and Polly, thanks :-) That does make a lot of sense, I don't remember my grandmother ever having soap scum issues but being on a farm they used rainwater. I also tend to get a scum build up in my washing machine over time using the home made washing powder which has pure soap in it, so my water must be pretty hard. I have to run an occaisonal hot water wash to keep the drum clean, but I use it to do my dishcloths and tea towels, so it's not a huge issue.
Cheers, Julie
You Made Not Just Me Laugh , But My Hubby To (Another Primary Bottle Washer)
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