5 Organic Body Wash to Upgrade Your Shower Routine
Organic body wash - solid bars or liquid plastic bottles?
When you ask the average person what they look for in a body wash, they’ll probably say it should smell nice, clean properly without drying their skin, and be affordable.
What about the ingredients list? Have you ever found yourself staring at the ingredients and trying to figure out what’s natural or not?
Do you stop and think about liquid soap packaging? If you want to learn more about how to shop for truly safe, eco-friendly, and organic body wash options, stay with us!
Before we dive in, let’s look at the current state of personal care products.
Sadly, we’re all familiar with liquid body wash packaged in plastic bottles. This love for plastic dates back to the mid-1950s when showers became popular. Instead of using solid soap bars, families invested in plastic which could be stored and used easier inside the home.
Additionally, companies liked plastic better because it could take on different shapes and transport products more efficiently than glass or metal. So now we’re in a plastic crisis.
Get this: 70% of all plastics produced since the 1960s is in a landfill.
Of course, it’s not fair to blame the consumer--we’re purchasing what’s available to us. But we also need to realize that we have more power over the market than we think. The idea of cleanliness spread so rapidly because customers bought into the idea of extreme personal hygiene.
The small catch? Back in the 1950s and 1960s, we didn’t think much about sustainability or safe ingredients lists. We can change that today.
When shopping for a body wash (or most personal care products in general), skip out on synthetic fragrances, preservatives, and soaping agents.
First, fragrances contain up to thousands of chemicals--chemicals that companies don’t have to disclose. They irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs. So if you’re prone to allergies or suffer from asthma, it’s especially important to avoid synthetic perfumes.
Second, preservatives like parabens are called endocrine disruptors. This means your body mistakes them for hormones like estrogen and essentially disrupt your hormone system. Not to sensationalize environmental news, but endocrine disruptors have been linked to cases of breast cancer. So if you can switch to organic body wash easily, do it!
Lastly, try to choose a body wash without artificial soaping agents. This group includes sodium lauryl sulfate and other similar chemicals. These ingredients make your body wash foam up, giving the illusion of enhanced cleanliness--at a cost! They are known skin irritants, so if you have dry skin from weather conditions or existing skin problems, all the more reason to avoid soaping agents.
So how do you choose a trustworthy organic body wash?
Three Key Criteria for Organic Body Wash:
- Choose plastic-free or refillable packaging.
- Choose chemical-free products. (Start with the chemicals we listed above. As you expand your research, you’ll develop an eye for toxic chemicals. We also have other helpful articles to help you).
- Choose natural ingredients. (Similar to the criteria above, but we urge you to go beyond avoiding certain chemicals and be proactive in choosing organic ingredients).
These three criteria are a good place to start. An authentically organic body wash doesn’t just smell nice and make your skin feel soft. It’s one that’s environmentally sustainable as well as healthy for human use.
Good news: at EcoRoots, we offer three amazing liquid organic body wash alternatives. Since most liquid body wash is just water, it makes sense to consider organic soap bars. Think about it: You get more product with less waste--both packaging and plastic ingredients.
Needless to say, we never use plastic packaging and or toxic ingredients. We would want the same for ourselves and our family, so we support businesses with a similar mindset.
On top of the solid bar soaps we have in stock, we also recommend a refillable organic body wash, which is a great way to reduce plastic waste. If you prefer to make your own body wash, we’ve included a DIY recipe down below, too.
Five Organic Body Wash to Try:
1. Vegan Body Wash: Refreshing Scents & Plastic--Free Solid Soap Bar
EcoRoots offers a fully vegan 4.ounce solid bar body wash made in small batches here in USA. If you aren’t familiar with our small company, here’s the gist of our mission: we create all-natural products to help regular folks like you make eco-friendly changes in our daily lives. Sometimes this means switching to a plastic-free body wash, to make sure everyone can make this decision for themselves.
We believe a plastic-free future is attainable, and it can start within the household.
So what’s so great about this organic body wash?
It comes with zero plastic packaging as a solid bar. Fact: choose a solid bar soap and you’re already eliminating the number one source of personal care product waste.
What’s more, it’s made entirely of organic ingredients that never contain synthetic fragrances or colorants, parabens, sulfates, or animal products.
You’ll notice that the ingredients list doesn’t include preservatives, soaping agents, or other artificial substances. Instead, you have mint leaves that exfoliate your skin. You also get shea butter and coconut oil to hydrate your skin. To top it off, the soap leaves you with a natural scent that is not at all overpowering.
Choose from a variety of scents: Lavender, Peppermint, Grapefruit Calendula, Spearmint Sage, Tangerine or Patchouli.
Great unisex body wash bars for an invigorating, refreshing, and waste-free shower!
This zero-waste organic body wash pairs perfectly with our soap saver bag and bamboo soap dish.
1 BAR = Replaces up to 2 plastic body wash bottles
Plus when you build your own bundle you can save up to 20%!
Learn more about the benefits of lavender soap here.
2. Bamboo Charcoal Soap: Leave Your Skin Feeling Healthy
Our charcoal soap (4oz) is made with organic ingredients, herbs, and clays, that will leave your skin feeling healthy, and soft. Cold-pressed by hand in small batches, this facial soap never contains synthetic fragrances or colorants, parabens, sulfates, or animal products. This Facial Soap Bar is also great for the whole body!
Most soap plastic bottles are type HDPE #2 and will take at least 100 years to decompose.
- Vegan & Cruelty-Free
- Handmade in USA
- Paraben & Sulfates Free
- No Synthetic Fragrances & Colorants
- Travel-Friendly
- Plastic-Free
Bamboo Charcoal Soap has been used for centuries in the Far East.
- Charcoal cleans dirt and debris from pores
- Tea tree's antibacterial properties help fight acne without drying skin
- Great for all skin types, but this black soap is best for acne-prone and oily skin.
How to use this facial soap bar:
Hand lathering is usually the suggested method for cleansing your face and body. Take care to avoid eyes.
- Use warm water to create a creamy lather in your clean hands.
- Gently massage the lather over your face (or body) using circular motions with your fingers.
- Rinse with water and pat dry.
Perfectly pairs with our Bamboo Soap Dish, Soap Saver Bag and Reusable Cotton Rounds.
Plus, when you shop the bundle you save 20%!
3. Oatmeal Shea Facial and Body Soap: Oatmeal and Organic Shea Butter
Looking for a gentle exfoliator for your face and body? Our 4-ounces Oatmeal kaolin clay-based organic body wash will get the job done. The 4-ounce solid bar soap is plastic-free and made with organic ingredients. Our ingredients help all skin types--from extremely sensitive to oily.
The secret ingredients list?
- Sunflower, canola, castor bean, and olive oil help create a natural lather
- Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, mango butter, and coconut milk all work to hydrate skin as you exfoliate
- Oatmeal exfoliates skin
- Charcoal helps tone skin by removing excess oil and preventing dry skin
- Ylang ylang and palmarosa essential oil help sensitive and irritated skin
- Rose hips helps prevent skin damage by promoting healing
- Lavender, orange, and rosemary oil and rose petals create a soft scent that also soothes the skin
Sodium hydroxide is lye--it’s necessary to make soap and hold the ingredients together.
To use this organic body wash, we recommend making the lather in your hands instead of rubbing the soap all over. Massage the lather onto your body or face, and rinse. Read more about oatmeal soap here.
4. Refillable Body Wash: Herbs and Vanilla
If you still prefer a liquid body soap over a solid one, try Plaine Products’ refillable body wash. New to refillable personal care products?
Let’s break down the steps. First, order one 16-ounce bottle with or without the pump. You can recycle the packaging and the lid. Then, before the soap runs out, order a new bottle. Send in the old bottle with the new package to be cleaned and used again. It’s a closed, sustainable process. Aside from recycling the packaging and lids, this product does not use any plastic packaging.
In addition, the ingredients are all vegan and natural. It contains zero sulfates or parabens, making it safe even for babies.
- Aloe leaf juice has antibacterial properties and can help reduce early signs of aging like wrinkles
- Vegetable glycerin, guar gum, quillaja extract, bamboo silk help create lather and a thicker soap
- Coconut, safflower, sunflower, and rice bran oil offer moisturizing properties
- Chamomile, vitamin E, and sage fight inflammation
- Papaya and pineapple pulp extract help skin cells regenerate
- Rosemary oleoresin, organic green tea are natural antioxidants
- Geogard Ultra and potassium sorbate are used as safe preservatives
- Mint essential oil, rosemary, mint, and vanilla essence create a unique scent
Admittedly, the upfront cost may seem a little high, but 16 ounces will last a long time, and the refill program is beneficial both to you and the planet.
5. DIY Soap: Honey Citrus Castile Soap
If you’re into making homemade skincare products, try our simple recipe for an organic body wash.
You will need just four ingredients. This makes 24 ounces.
- 1 cup castile soap (grated or liquid)
- 1 cup olive oil*
- 1 cup honey (raw)**
- 10-20 drops lime essential oil
*You can substitute olive oil with other carrier oils like coconut, almond, olive, sunflower, etc. Carrier oil just means it helps dilute the essential oil in your organic body wash. Bonus points if it also has beneficial properties like a skin moisturizer.
If you don’t particularly enjoy how olive oil smells, feel free to mix in another carrier oil to dilute it. You can add in half one oil and half another for a total of 1 cup.
**It’s best to use runny honey, but creamy and even solid honey will work. You’ll just have to stir for a bit longer!
To make the soap, simply mix the ingredients together in a bowl and transfer into a refillable bottle with a pump or a squeezable bottle. And you’re done!
What we love about this organic body wash recipe is that you can change the ingredients easily depending on what scent or qualities you want in your soap. For instance, olive oil is a great moisturizer and antioxidant. If you choose almond oil, it’s a little more versatile because it doesn’t have a strong smell.
Lime or any citrus is an ideal essential oil to pair with most oils, but herbal oils like thyme and rosemary are also suitable for soap recipes. Popular choices also include lavender, rosehip, and peppermint. Again, since the recipe is so customizable, there really is an endless list of possibilities.
What’s more, you don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals from store-bought soaps. Additionally, the Castile oil is a good base and cleaning substance--it’s olive-oil based. It’s used as a multipurpose soap for hand soap, dishwashing liquid, and organic body wash.
In addition, you can add this bamboo soap dish to keep your solid bar clean and free of plastic.
Look. There are so many ways to cut plastic out of our lives. But if doing it also means you’re switching to more natural products that help you and your family, then it’s a no-brainer, right?
Plus, when you shop the bundle you save 20%!
So are you ready to make a choice? Take the next step and commit to a plastic-free, organic body wash!
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