Listen to nature
Tread lightly
When you're out on the trail, you want to be as close to nature as possible. Isn't that why you're camping? It's a sensory experience. Hearing the sounds of nature, smelling clean air, feeling the wind on your face, seeing and touching trees or sand, fresh or salt water. You need the best camping soap so you don't mess any of that up.
Make a 1st aid kit with using essential oils and Instant Liquid Soap. Click here to see how easy it is. A simple first aid kit made with natural ingredients is a must for any camper who leaves little to no footprints behind.
Biodegradable soap
All purpose soap
The Best Camping Soap is a biodegradable soap. It is an all purpose camping soap that is lightweight and compact for travel, yet effective when you're out on the trail. It can hand wash your dishes, hand wash your clothes, and your camping gear.
All purpose camping soap is also great for washing your body, face, hands, feet, and even your hair, while having little to no impact on the environment. Although, I will recommend bringing Olive Oil Shampoo Bar for your hair washing.
Make sure it's compostable
Biodegradable Soap
What is biodegradable soap? It is all natural soap that biodegrades over time. It is made from natural fats and oils, 100% essential oils, and little else.
Detergents misrepresented as "soaps", made from chemical foaming agents, may in fact degrade to a point in nature, but they will leave harmful residues behind. This will degrade the very place you went to to get as close to a natural environment as possible.
Biodegradable Instant Liquid Soap is the best camping soap, composed of saponified organic coconut oil. It is packed in a compostable paper bag, lined with cellulose. It is dry in the package, so it's lightweight and compact while you're hiking. Once you set up camp, dilute with your nearby water source to make dish soap good for the environment.
The Best Camping Soap
How to use
When you are camping, we recommend using your soap away from the natural water source, such as a stream, pond, lake, etc. It will biodegrade over time in the ground.
Instant Liquid soap is the best camping soap because it is as natural as a real old fashioned lye soap can be AND it's light weight and travels dry.
Bring your empty liquid soap dispenser to the water source, and fill it up. Carry it back to your campsite, which is at least a few feet away from the water. Fill the Instant Liquid Soap bag, using the instructions on the bag.
Be responsible with your waste water
Grey Water
What is grey water? It is the left over water after you have cleaned something. Dishes, laundry, shower, toilet...all start out with clean water. You wash the dishes, your clothes, your body, etc. All of the excess dirt, grease, and grime are collect in with soap suds and wash off into the rinse water. This "dirty water" is known as grey water.
How clean your grey water is depends on what you are washing and how biodegradable and environmentally friendly your soap is.
The best grey water, is comprised of natural soap that is made from organic oils saponified the old fashioned way, and natural waste debris that will all compost over time. It could even regenerate the ground water and even add beneficial compost nutrients back to the earth.
When using the best camping soap, otherwise known as Instant Liquid Soap, it is best to hand wash your dishes and shower away from the water source.
Dispose of the grey water away from water sources
Proper Grey Water disposal
So many people have the misconception, that if your soap is natural, it's ok to dump it into the natural water source. It's not.
You want all of your grey water to go into the ground, not the fresh water source. This way it will biodegrade properly, leaving the pond, stream, or lake untouched.
Imagine you are a fish or a duck, living in that pond, or a fox getting a nice cool drink, when you are hand washing your dishes at home and planning your trip. Plug up your sink to collect some of the grey water, that usually goes down your sink drain, into your septic or into the public sewer system. Take a clean, clear, drinking water glass and fill it with this grey water. Would you drink it? Likely not, since it is filled with all of the leftover food, grease, and waste from hand washing your dishes.
The animals that live off of that fresh water pond, stream, or lake, at your camp site, don't want to drink your grey water either.
Plan your trip
Camp Kitchen Essentials
When planning your camping trip include in your camping gear list:
- A bag of Instant Liquid Soap
- A soap dispenser to hold your Instant Liquid Soap, while you're at camp
- A travel wash basin to use away from the natural water source
- Sponge
Spot wash
Hand Wash your clothes
Sometimes when you're camping, you need to wash your clothes. If you want to spot wash a garment, use bar soap. Simply wet the dirty area of the garment, rub the bar soap on the spot and let it sit there for 10 minutes to an hour. Rinse and hang dry.
Or you can hand wash a few garments. Put a few squirts of your diluted liquid soap in your wash basin. Fill with water and hand wash. Click here for instructions.
Leave water in place
Water Conservation
The best camping soap doesn't bring water from one place to another. Water is best left where you found it, in it's natural locale. If you wash your camp dishes, and take a camp shower 10-20 feet away from the water source, it will soak into the ground, compost over time, and make it's way back to the water table, leaving the amount of water at that location undisturbed.