Green Girl Creams Chemical Soap

Dishes. No one likes doing them. But everyone must. So here’s the problem: At home, there is a dishwasher. Now I find this to be a great invention. You simply rinse off the dishes and pile them in, throw in some dish detergent, and BAM, you have spotlessly clean dinnerware.

College is not quite the same. No dishwasher. This makes it a much more difficult task. Now, I have quite a few mugs (I’m a big tea/hot cocoa drinker), a few cups (water), bowls for soup (they also act as plates), and, of course, silverware. I use all of these items on a pretty regular basis, as do my friends.

Problem being, I am not very on top of things. I’m great with schoolwork: It always gets done on time, but dishes? Laundry? Not so much. I’ll have a mug of tea, and I’ll forget about it for a few days. The result? Not pretty. Hardened tea bag, tea dregs plastered to the ceramic. Not something you want to drink out of again. I hate to say it, but the same happens with all of my other utensils. I just keep telling myself, “Oh, I’ll clean those later, I have to write my essay now.”

Dishwashing tip No. 1: Always clean your dishes soon after use. Do not leave for a later date.

Not a good result. Because when they do get cleaned, it takes a lot more effort than a quick rinse and a small squirt of soap. And a lot of people don’t even have dish soap! Instead they go into the bathroom and rinse off their dishes with water and the liquid antibacterial hand soap the school uses. Let me tell you, you do not want that hand soap in your system, unless you want triclosan, a common ingredient in antibacterial hand soaps that has been linked with cancer, endocrine disruption, skin irritation and allergies, organ system toxicity, and developmental and reproductive toxicity.

So, dishwashing tip No. 2: Buy dish soap.

And finally, dishwashing tip No. 3: Buy dish soap that is healthy. Two of the leading liquid dish soap brands, Dawn and Palmolive, include triclosan in their ingredients. Other ingredients that you may find in your dish soap that should pose a concern? Sodium lauryl sulfate, quaternium-15, fragrance, and food colors. Between these ingredients, you run the risk of skin and immune system allergies, organ system toxicity, cancer, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, hyperactivity, and skin irritation.

And imagine if you don’t completely wash off the soap–all of those things in your system! Not good. My suggestion is to choose a dish soap that is sans the above ingredients: I currently use Ecover, and at home we use Seventh Generation. Both good, effective, healthy.

Note to self: Cleaning dishes with chemical soap will not, in fact, clean them.

Lily Berthold-Bond grew up in a chemical-free zone and has struggled her whole life to understand and accept this non-commercial lifestyle. Now a freshman at Tufts University, she has embraced her green life and hopes to share its possibilities with the rest of her generation.

Read more: Blogs, Green Girl Adventures

By Lily Berthold-Bond

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Joe S.

4:34AM PST on Dec 4, 2011

Thanks

send a green star

SuS NoMail Plez P.

7:47AM PST on Nov 9, 2010

I choose to make my own...organic perfect herb/VEGGIE/fruit combinatins that that constantly change~ to not harm the Planet in anyway. My BEEutiful handmade one of a kind eckletic dishes may have spots and some delicate dishes look unwashed, but NO ONE WHO EATS WITH ME at my home wouldever even think of such.I ask anyone and everyone to leave my home if they are negative in anyway whatsoever~ I believe anything that has ANYTHING to do with food, be it my garden or sharing a meal puts negative dis-ease into our bodies. Many may think I am nutzzz, but that is O.K. I worship and honor the blessings of Moter Earth who keeps us HEALTHY...be it soap or IN MY OPINION wasting precious H2o. I actually put my dishes around my garden during the watering. I BELIEVE IT UNFORGIVABLE {more actually a sin} TO WASTE ONE DROP OF WATER Or GRAIN OF RICE. I hope one person will realize how lucky and BLESSED we are. Just think of how millions are dying...as we are a society of peoples who won't take the time to be INCONVIENCED by washing a dish. I mean not to bring anyone down...That is NOt MY INENT. All my love and graditude for the positive message you have shared Ms.Lily! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo PEACE TO ALL.We are all at different realizations and all on diffeerentpaths.

Linda P.

10:22AM PST on Feb 19, 2009

I have been using Seventh Generation Natural Dish Soap and recently discovered that the second ingredient listed is sodium laureth sulfate which is a milder form of sodium lauryl sulfate. I am switching to Ecos Dishmate which seems to have no undesirable ingredients.