After more than half a decade of various proposals, investigations, and dithering, the FDA today has announced that it’s changing the rules. 19 active ingredients in your hand soap — most notably including triclosan, until recently very common — are going to be heading off the market. [More]
soap
Lawsuit Says Jessica Alba’s Honest Company Products Are Dishonest About “Natural” Claims
By 9.4.15
The Honest Company, co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, built its billion-dollar reputation on the fact that its products are created using natural, nontoxic elements. But a newly filed class-action lawsuit claims the company hasn’t been as honest as its name would lead one to believe, accusing the organization of deceiving consumers by selling items that actually contain unnatural and ineffective ingredients. [More]
There’s A Preservative That Can Give You An Awful, Itchy Rash — And It’s Probably In Your Bathroom
By 7.20.15
On Lucy’s* eighth birthday, she woke up to a surprise. It wasn’t a cool toy or a fun game, the kind of things kids often look forward to on days like this. Instead, her back and stomach itched so badly she was crying. [More]
Someone’s Actually Doing Something Good With Leftover Hotel Soaps
By 4.10.15
Because no one wants to arrive in their hotel room and find used soap awaiting them in the shower, guests are always given a fresh bar upon checking in. While many of those partially used bars surely end up wasted in the trash, one non-profit group is collecting a bunch of leftover hotel soaps to help people in need. [More]
Avon To Phase Out Triclosan From Products
By 4.1.14
Four years ago, the FDA admitted that triclosan — an antibacterial and antifungal chemical used in numerous soaps, cosmetics and other products — doesn’t provide any additional benefit to simple soap-and-hot-water hand-washing. And while the agency mulls over proposed rules that would require companies that use triclosan in soap to prove their products are safe and more effective, some companies are responding to customer demand and phasing out the use of the chemical on their own. [More]
FDA Proposal Gives Makers Of Antibacterial Soap A Year To Prove Their Products Are Safe
By 12.16.13
The Food and Drug Administration has been under pressure for some time now to take a closer look at antibacterial soap to see whether we should actually be slathering the stuff all of over our hands and bodies every day. And now it’s proposing a one-year period for manufacturers to prove that yes, the soap is safe for everyday use and in the long-term. [More]
Corn Poop Soap Just Might Be The Gift You Need
By 9.4.13 — Updated: 9.5.13
“Can vary slightly in size, shape and color – just like real ones!” says the promotional copy for Corn Poop Soap, a product that is exactly what it sounds like. It’s soap shaped like a turd full of corn kernels, a picture of which we will not put on the front page of this site, because ew. [More]
Cheese Grater+Bar Soap+Rubber Band = DIY Soap Dispenser
April 5, 2013
A Houston restaurant asked engineering students at Rice University to come up with a soap dispenser for its bathrooms that incorporate some sort of kitchen utensil. This is the result, and we kinda want one for Consumerist HQ. [Via Chron.com] [More]
This Is What Happens When You Put Ivory Soap In The Microwave
By 8.19.11
We’re not sure who first thought it would be fun to zap Ivory soap in the microwave, but it looks really fun. The famed air pockets fill with steam, forming a massive soapsplosion. Frequent photo contributor Ecstatic Mark snapped this picture of the result when he nuked a small chunk of soap, about the size of the one on the left. If you don’t have both Ivory and a microwave handy, you may be wondering what that looks like while it’s microwaving. Wonder no more. [More]
Shocker: Cheap Liquid Dish Soap Cleans Just As Well As The Pricey Stuff
By 4.5.11
Looks like that whole “you get what you pay for” thing doesn’t exactly apply to liquid dish soap. According to our siblings at Consumer Reports, there are plenty of dirt-cheap dish liquids that do the same job as the stuff with the fancy name and label. [More]
Dial Hand Soap Bottle Grows Slightly Taller To Disguise Shrink Ray Attack
By 9.30.10
Todd reports that while the new Dial hand soap bottle has a sleek new design that is slightly taller and adds more sexy curves, it’s all a facade to distract us from how the product has been Shrink Rayed. The old bottle was 11.25 ounces, and the new is 9.375. Todd writes, “But perhaps the most audacious part of it is the fact that they shrunk the bottle, redesigned the shape and label ever so slightly, and slapped a “NEW!” label on it, thinking we would never notice.” [More]
Police: Gang Was Killing People For Fat, Attempting To Sell It To Cosmetic Companies
By 11.21.09
Police in Peru say that they’ve caught a group that was allegedly killing people and harvesting their fat to sell to Europeans who wanted it for cosmetics.
Walmart Thinks Woman Is Laundry Soap Thief, Refuses Return
By 10.13.09
When a soon-to-be mother realized she had bought the wrong laundry detergent at a New Mexico Walmart, she tried to return it. That didn’t work out so well, ending up with the store manager insinuating she was a con-artist who replaced the detergent with water.
Attack of the Antibacterial Soaps!
By 8.12.09
Triclosan, a chemical widely used in antibacterial soaps, is turning up in dolphins. The agent gets into oceans after traveling from, for instance, your bathroom sink into wastewater streams. Though 90 to 98 percent of the chemical is broken down before it reaches fresh water, even the small percentage that remains becomes significant due to antibacterial soaps’ wide use.
Help, My KitchenAid Dishwasher Hasn't Worked Since July!
By 3.29.09
Katy’s KitchenAid dishwasher hasn’t dissolved soap or cleaned dishes since July, despite receiving four new parts over seven service visits. KitchenAid’s service plan promises a replacement unit if the same part breaks three times, but KitchenAid still isn’t sure which part of Katy’s dishwasher is broken, and so they’re refusing to give her a new one. Does that seem fair?
New Grocery Shrink Ray Makes Me Feel Dirty
By 1.2.09
The Grocery Shrink Ray has reared its ugly head again, this time hitting Dawn hand soap by nearly an entire ounce. It’s amazing what they can hide in slight revisions of molded plastic.
Amazon Ships "Ready To Ship" Box… Inside Another Box
By 9.2.08
On one hand, the mere existence of such a thing as a “ready to ship” box at Amazon leads us to believe that there may be hope for them after all. Sadly, the fact that they packed the “ready to ship” box inside another box before they shipped it does leave us with some nagging doubts.
