I recently found out you can get foaming soap refills as tablets. I hadn’t previously found a way to refill hand soap pump style dispensers without more plastic. These are from Meliora.

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    10 days ago

    It does unfortunately use plastic, but I was lucky enough to get a gallon of Dr. Bronner’s liquid handsoap clearanced for 25 USD (regularly ~65 USD). To make foaming handsoap, I just mix somewhere between a 3:1 and 2:1 ratio of tap water to handsoap. (Foaming handsoap is just low-viscosity – and therefore highly diluted – liquid handsoap; the pump is what turns it into foam.)

    It’s been over a year, and despite using it both in my kitchen and bathroom, I’d say I’ve used less than 1/3 of it. The soap feels amazing, but I’d wager you could get a large jug of cheaper liquid handsoap with similar results.

    Unfortunate that it uses plastic (and I think mine has palm oil, which really sucks; I didn’t see it when I bought it), but it’s still really good harm reduction over regular handsoap; for a few years’ worth, I’m using less plastic than a gallon milk jug.

    • Drusas@fedia.io
      12·
      10 days ago

      Thank you for mentioning the palm oil.

      I feel like I’m the only person in the world who cares about avoiding it–no one but me ever seems to mention doing so. Got to spread the word! Save the orangutan! And forests, etc, of course.

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        10 days ago

        I’d say avoiding palm oil is becoming a bigger thing in vegan circles. Most who are vegan for the animals, whether they’ve seen it or not, will be going by the Vegan Society’s definition: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals”. So for example, even if I never eat or purchase animal products, if I spend my Tuesdays going down to the dog park to kick puppies, fellow vegans are probably going to say I’m not actually vegan. That brings us to this frontier of veganism where you not only avoid products made from or by animals but also try to cut out other products that needlessly hurt animals – palm oil chief among them.

      • higgsboson@piefed.socialEnglish
        6·
        10 days ago

        I teach my kids that palm oil is in the group that are particularly bad for our bodies and the planet. It really sucks how many things are on that list too.

    • SolacefromSilence@fedia.io
      5·
      10 days ago

      Thanks for sharing how you do it, that also sounds like a good deal.

      I’ve been doing something similar, where I bought unscented soap refills and add some essentials oils to add a scent that others in the house prefer.

      There is a little bit of adjustment to get the ratio right and but I just leave a little headspace so I can dilute down with water to the right consistency.

  • Hello_there@fedia.io
    7·
    10 days ago

    Be careful about refills. If you have some left in the bottle the ratio of soap to water can get off.

  • budget_biochemist@slrpnk.netEnglish
    6·
    9 days ago

    I refill with watered down hand-soap (about 3 parts water to 1 part liquid soap). The pump bottle is what makes it foam, it doesn’t have to be a special surfactant, just anything that is low viscosity.

    Be careful not to refill above the level of the internal pump - if you do it can get flooded and the extra pressure can break the pump mechanism.

  • dumples@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    10 days ago

    I tried this brand but didn’t love it. Might be the bottle but didn’t foam enough and was thin. If there’s other that are better I would love to know

    • sdfric88@lemmy.sdf.org
      2·
      10 days ago

      I had this issue. Each refill tablet is a little different in thickness and each foaming foap dispenser has a slightly different nozzle diameter. Gotta find the magical combo that works perfectly for you. It’s a little annoying but I found mine.

  • xploit@lemmy.world
    3·
    10 days ago

    Any recommendations for a foaming soap dispenser that isn’t completely shit though?

    Tried a couple; random one in UK few years back (worked fine, should have taken it with us), random one in Canada (was shit from start) and re-used from foaming soap (essentially stopped making foam after 3-4 refills).

    • budget_biochemist@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      9 days ago

      They have a thin plastic mesh in the pump mechanism that does the foaming. If you refill it with a mixture that is to viscous, the mesh can break and the pump won’t foam anymore.

      Also, putting too much water in will temporarily stop the pump from working. The device needs a reservoir of air inside as well. If the pump mechanism gets flooded it may need to be left to dry out before it is usable again. Trying to force the pump when its flooded can also break it.

    • Meron35@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 days ago

      Invest in an electric one, which are ~10USD online. Electric ones have the foam mechanism near the electric motor, which is much further away from the actual soap, and hence avoids the design flaws in manual dispensers the other comments have already explained.

      All the manual dispensers I’ve had, no matter how fancy, have consistently died before 10 or so refills.