This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

A soap substitute refers to detergents or cleansing creams, other than soap, for cleaning the skin, especially removing greasy films or glandular exudates. ^[1]Soap substitutes can be made from a variety of sources including plants with high saponin levels. Soap substitutes should not be confused with natural cleaning products which are cleaning agents for kitchen and house use.

Plants with high saponin levels are purported to contain saponins in sufficient quantities to produce lather (when mashed plant parts are beaten in water) and can be used either as is or in soap or shampoos:^[2].

Contents 1 Soap subsitute plants 2 Advantages 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Soap subsitute plants

The soap plant group (amole root, soap plant root, soaproot bulb) Guaiac leaves Papaya leaves Quillaia bark

Red campion root and leaves Atriplex root Sapindus fruit Passiflora foetida Alphitonia excelsa Soap pod fruit (various acacias)

Mojave yucca root Soapwort root Our Lord's Candle root Wild gourd fruit (Cucurbita foetidissima[?])

[edit] Advantages

• One of the main advantages of soap plants is their biological degradability; this eliminates the need of filtering afterwards and any lather may thus be discarded straight unto the soil.
• Another advantage of soap plants is their low cost; plants regenerate and are thus cheaper in use than soaps.

[edit] See also

• Green cleaning
• Natural cleaning product

[edit] References

This sustainability-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e