This is the first installment of the eco versus frugal comparisons, where I’m going to examine some of the items that I buy and see if my purchases are eco, frugal, or somewhere in between.

Body soap. In this category I put both bar soaps and body washes. Prices on soaps can vary widely: you can buy a 3 pack of 4.5 oz bars of Pure & Natural for $1.69 or spend $7.19 on a 23.6 oz bottle of Olay Body Wash. I’ve never thought much about the soap (and generally opted for the cheapest) until the beginning of this year when I moved.

When I first moved to the Midwest I noticed that I was having a real problem with dry skin, which was surprising because I moved here from the arid west. However, every time I move I find that my body needs to adjust to the new conditions. While I can’t control the weather, I can control two other major factors that seem to influence my skin, namely soap and lotion. Well, I thought that I would try experimenting with different soaps to see if I could find something that worked better. I happened upon a number of different bar soaps that contain things like oatmeal, olive oil, aloe, etc. I’m currently using Kiss My Face’s Olive & Chamomile soap that has olive oil and chamomile and four other ingredients (including water). I paid $1.99 plus tax for a 4 oz. bar. It has a somewhat strong smell, but my skin feels great. I could probably have gone with a cheaper brand of bar soap or even a cheap body wash but this soap works better than many things that I have tried before, and it creates much less waste than body wash containers. Our local co-op actually sells a number of soaps (including a fabulous oatmeal bar) that aren’t even packaged, and I like using those as well. Additionally, I like using bar soap because it doesn’t require the use of one of those body sponges, which add extra expense.

There are certainly very expensive soaps out there, but the soap that I buy isn’t really frugal (the Pure & Natural soap mentioned above is around 1/4 the price per once of the Kiss My Face soap). Also considering that the soaps I buy are made from natural ingredients, have little to no packaging, and are animal testing friendly, I would say that my body soap inclinations are definitely in the eco camp.

This makes the current score, eco: 1 frugal: 0.