News Trend Protect Our Planet With Bar Soap|Actual

"What are you giving up for Lent?"

That's a common question in these forty days before Easter. And when I ask, nine times out of ten, the answer is chocolate, beer, or social media.

But what if we look at Lent as an opportunity not to just temporarily give up a bad habit but to start a good habit - a habit that makes a difference to people, to the world, to God.

This year for Lent, my goal is to protect our planet. I'm looking for ways to lessen my impact on our mother earth and bring me joy at the same time.

Here is the story of my progress.

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Here's a true confession.

I've always been a fan of bar soap.

^ In my powder room, I keep several options of LUSH on hand. The green is an iteration of what is now called Sea Vegetable, and the gold is my fav LUSH bar soap of all time, Sexy Peel

I think, for a time, that made me out of vogue. Somewhere along the line, maybe in the eighties, body washes and facial cleansers became the new normal. And bar soaps, like my grandmother's fragrant Jergen's beauty bar or Grandpa's Irish Spring, slipped into distant memory.

^ My tried-and-true skin care favorite, Dove Sensitive Skin beauty bars have been front and center in my shower for decades. Though I love to dabble in other cleansers, like the bottleGlossier Milky Jelly to the left, I will always come back to Dove.

Over the decades, I have certainly dabbled in a variety of cleansing products. But nothing says fresh and clean to me like a pure white oval slab of Dove.  I've used the sensitive skin formula not only on my own relatively dry and sensitive skin, but also on my daughters from the very day they were born. Now all grown up and conducting plenty of skin care experiments of their own, they still use Dove.

I even convinced my husband to let go of his long-favored deodorant bars, which leave a nasty scum on my shower walls, and embrace the Dove. He's never looked back.

^ Another beautiful bar of handmade soap alongside my sink upstairs.

LUSH no longer makes this exact product but if I were trying to replicate the smooth,

 sensuous shape and layers of color, I would try this one.

And while Dove feels pure and safe and serene, I feed my wild side for bar soap with artisan soaps from LUSH. I know. They are fairly expensive. But they make a perfect gift, and my daughters keep me supplied in LUSH-ious soaps of all kinds of fabulous colors and scents.

LUSH soaps come wrapped in paper; Dove bars arrive in cardboard boxes. Sometimes multiple units of Dove boxes are held together in a wrapping of clear plastic, but they are still a far more environmentally sound option that the plastic pump bottles and tubs of other face and body cleansers.

In this post-recycling world, where plastic has become a real threat to our planet, choosing relatively plastic-free bar soap is an easy and beautiful choice to make.

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Read on about my efforts to help protect our planet

Reusable Shopping Bags

Biodegradable Toothbrushes

Eliminating Plastic Food Packaging

Bar Soap

Glass Food Storage

Stainless Steel Straws

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