Ever notice that when you’re traveling, you get dry hands and more cracking than usual?
I think it’s having to rely on public restroom soaps with all their harsh chemicals, and I’m always so grateful to come home to my OWN soap (or visit my mom’s, because she’s followed my lead and gone crunchy). 
With little kids, a foaming pump is, in my opinion, the most economical, because kids tend to take a huge pump of regular liquid soap and waste half of it down the drain with the first touch of water, and they don’t even need more than a drop to make plenty of suds anyway. Bar soap is great, but again, kids tend to get it more wet than necessary, which makes it disappear quickly.
So for our house, the standards for both soapy insides and style of pump are high.
It’s imperative to me that the ingredients are all natural, and the pump has to be durable.
We’ve had a ridiculous number of brands of soap, both foaming and bar, in the Kimball house over the course of the last 5+ years of blogging. I’d like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of foaming soaps in particular, and let me tell you – I hold the bar pretty high.
There are plenty of qualities of foaming soap (and the packaging!) that can cause it to strike OUT in our house:
- kids can’t depress the pump
- the pump doesn’t pop back up well, or quits coming back up before the soap is gone
- the foam includes too much liquid, which then usually drips all over the counter despite an adult’s best efforts
- a whole bottle disappears in a week or two
- it smells truly terrible
- you can’t feel the soap on your hands as soon as you start rubbing
- even a child needs two pumps for a hand washing
Hopefully it doesn’t even need to be said that ingredients like triclosan, unknown artificial fragrances and parabens are so far off the grid for me that they’re not even allowed in the house. Sodium lauryl sulfate is pretty much a no-no, but I’ll admit I let it sneak into the house in dish soap sometimes and might not pay as much attention to it as to other nasty ingredients.
We Found a Winner!
Earthcure by Redmond is definitely one of our favorites hand soaps. Here are the ingredients:
- distilled water
- coconut oil
- olive oil
- vegetable glycerin
- castor oil
- jojoba oil
- plus essential oils for scent: citrus, lavender, peppermint
Earthcure only requires one squirt per washing, and you can feel the lather on your hands. ZERO liquid leaking on the counter, even as you get to the bottom of the bottle.
Even the 3-year-old has no problem pushing the pump down, and it’s still popping back up after every wash, even though we’ve refilled the same bottle for over a year now. Winner of the best soap pump I’ve met yet!
Want Some?
There are three great scents!
- Citrus
- Lavender
- Peppermint
Earthcure is no longer showing up on the Redmond website, so it looks like it’s been discontinued. 🙁 The links above are to Amazon and there are a few other retailers where you can still get it. Visit our friends at Redmond Trading to pick up any of their other great products and use the code Kitchenstew for 15% off.
Katie Kimball, CSME is a trusted educator and author of 8 real food cookbooks. She is passionate about researching natural remedies and making healthy cooking easier for busy families. She’s been featured on media outlets like ABC, NBC and First for Women magazine as well as contributing regularly on the FOX Network.
A mom of 4 kids from Michigan, she is a Certified Stress Mastery Educator and member of the American Institute of Stress.
Jennifer says
If you have a chance to give feedback to Redmond, it would be nice to have an unscented option. I have sensitive skin, and unfortunately each of the essential oils or combos listed would cause my hands to be extremely itchy. I am currently on the hunt for a new natural foaming soap, so if you have other recommendations, I’m all ears. Thank you!
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Jennifer,
I will absolutely do that! For now, I would totally recommend Branch Basics – that’s a concentrated, super natural (unscented) soap that works great as a foaming soap. We refill our Earthcure bottles with it, just a Tbs or 2 and water for the rest of the bottle. Here’s my affiliate link: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/branchbasics and you can use the code KS20 for 20% off your first order. I hope that’s a good solution for you! If you need any more info about Branch Basics, the ladies in charge over there are lovely, and I can put you in contact with them (although there’s probably a customer service no. too). Thanks for asking! 🙂 Katie
Jennifer says
Yes, thank you. Branch Basics is what I use (for almost everything in our house) and have loved, but I am currently conducting my own experiment with their new formula. My hands broke out in an allergic rash (a familiar symptom with my sensitive skin) recently, and I realized it was after switching to a bottle of the new, more concentrated formula, so I am only using the old formula for a few days to see if this may be the issue. There are a few other suspects that could be causing it too, so thus the experiment.
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Ahhh, I see – hopefully you figure it out! Redmond responded immediately saying that unscented is a great idea and already in the planning stages. Yay!
🙂 Katie
Jennifer says
Great! I look firward to hearing more in tge future. As an update, I think Branch Basics is in the clear (Phew!). I think the culprit is a natural hand sanitizer.
Michelle says
I am a subscriber to your newsletter. I love it!
Bethany W says
Huh. We use the Redmond toothpaste (Earthpaste) and love it. And we have their first-aid cream in a tube. Also love.
How does this compare to castile soap, like Dr. Bronners? DB leaves a soap residue on my sink, which then mixes with my toothpaste to create… well, mud.
Have you had that issue with these?
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Bethany,
I know EXACTLY what you mean about the castille soap film. It’s so thick, evident, and annoying. Earthcure = nope. Not a problem at all. It’s totally different (thank goodness). 🙂 Katie
Bethany W says
YOU’RE KIDDING. You may have just saved my sanity. Oh my goodness. I may have shouted out loud when I read your response… I’m so happy.