Look, it’s my cheat day. I’m allowed to have this. Ten imperfect non-puppy-kickers are better than one perfect one.

I’d say avoiding palm oil is becoming a bigger thing in vegan circles. Most who are vegan for the animals, whether they’ve seen it or not, will be going by the Vegan Society’s definition: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals”. So for example, even if I never eat or purchase animal products, if I spend my Tuesdays going down to the dog park to kick puppies, fellow vegans are probably going to say I’m not actually vegan. That brings us to this frontier of veganism where you not only avoid products made from or by animals but also try to cut out other products that needlessly hurt animals – palm oil chief among them.

It does unfortunately use plastic, but I was lucky enough to get a gallon of Dr. Bronner’s liquid handsoap clearanced for 25 USD (regularly ~65 USD). To make foaming handsoap, I just mix somewhere between a 3:1 and 2:1 ratio of tap water to handsoap. (Foaming handsoap is just low-viscosity – and therefore highly diluted – liquid handsoap; the pump is what turns it into foam.)

It’s been over a year, and despite using it both in my kitchen and bathroom, I’d say I’ve used less than 1/3 of it. The soap feels amazing, but I’d wager you could get a large jug of cheaper liquid handsoap with similar results.

Unfortunate that it uses plastic (and I think mine has palm oil, which really sucks; I didn’t see it when I bought it), but it’s still really good harm reduction over regular handsoap; for a few years’ worth, I’m using less plastic than a gallon milk jug.