Cheaper soap foam

When Dove discontinued their unscented Dove bar, I needed something else to recommend in its place for the “washing test.” Liquid Cal Ben dish soap from a foaming dispenser works pretty well and is a reasonable second choice, but I figured I would find an alternative bar soap recommendation pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a bar soap (yet) that I prefer for the washing test.

My problem with recommending the Cal Ben liquid soap from a foaming dispenser is that their dispensers are expensive. The dispensers are easy to use and produce a nice, consistent foam which kids love to wash with. Unfortunately, a few of my own dispensers warped over time, making them difficult to use. Cal Ben has been good about replacing defective ones, but nobody needs extra stuff on their To Do list if it can be avoided.

A friend sent me this link:
http://www.pumpking.com/foaming-pumps.htm

She has tried their pumps and gives them the thumbs up – though she has not used the ones equivalent to Cal Ben’s long enough to know if they are prone to warping.

This company is a wholesaler, though, and only sells pumps in large quantities. There is a link on the above URL to this company’s eBay store that sells smaller quantities, but you still can’t buy one or two or even five at a time even there.

It is possible to buy 10 countertop foaming dispensers – quite attractive – for $3 each. A rock bottom price given how expensive these things are retail, but 10 is still more than most people would want.

I will keep looking for inexpensive sources of foam pumps AND a replacement bar soap for unscented Dove for the “washing test.” I hear from readers worldwide and would ultimately like to find something that is more readily available all over the world, as the old unscented Dove was.

Another soap resource

I hear from solveeczema readers all the time about soap and non-detergent products that they use to solve their eczema, products I’d never heard of before. I get the greatest leads this way.

Unfortunately, I’m way behind on adding some very wonderful resources to my site. There are a lot of soapmakers out there, large- and small-scale.

Here’s one a friend told me about today: www.thesoapguy.com

If you like their soap and are inclined to buy it in large quantities, you can get wholesale pricing, quite cheap for traditional cold-process soaps.

My friend takes one of the scented varieties and shaves it into warm water to make her own liquid hand soap. She and her kids have other allergies and sensitivities, and finds these products pretty good and simple.

My friend tells me that like Olivella (another olive-based soap that I like), these soaps dissolve like nobody’s business and need to be kept out of any standing water. (If you want soaps that last in the shower, french-milled soaps last far longer.)

I have not used this brand myself, so I can’t rate it on my master list yet. Although I tried my friend’s handmade liquid soap and did not find it drying – some soaps are after only one use – I always insist on trying a soap many times before drawing conclusions. I’ve got enough bar soaps around the house to whittle out a soap model of the Parthenon…