Soap substitute

A soap substitute refers to detergents or cleansing creams, other than soap, for cleaning the skin, especially removing greasy films or glandular exudates.^[1] Soap substitutes can be made from a variety of sources including plants with high saponin levels. Soap substitutes should not be confused with natural cleaning products which are cleaning agents for kitchen and house use.

Plants with high saponin levels are purported to contain saponins in sufficient quantities to produce lather (when mashed plant parts are beaten in water) and can be used either as is or in soap or shampoos.^[2]

Soap substitute plants

Advantages

• One of the main advantages of soap plants is their biological degradability; this eliminates the need of filtering afterwards and any lather may thus be discarded straight into the soil.

See also

• Green cleaning
• Natural cleaning product

References