The traditional personal care industry gets a bad rep when it comes to sustainability. Billions up billions of single-use plastic bottles – used for the likes of soap, shampoo and shower gel – are created and thrown away each year.
Lots of people have tried to switch back to bars of soap, but they’re not always the most convenient option. Bars get slimy, make a mess and are often avoided by kids or housemates who don’t want to share.
Some people (like me) have opted for refillable liquid soaps from the likes of Miniml and Faith In Nature. These are certainly way better than single use, but can be a tad expensive and still require a container, albeit on a much lesser scale.
How about something that combines the eco-benefits of a bar of soap with ease of a liquid dispenser but without the plastic waste?
Enter SNOAP, an ingenious solid soap dispenser.
I recently watched the SNOAP founders, Lisa and Antony on Dragon’s Den where they secured a £50k investment from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden.
Once Lisa did the demonstration, I was absolutely sold – as were all of the Dragons! The idea is so simple at its core that it’s a wonder why nobody else has thought of it. But as they say, the simple ideas are the best. And this one really is up there.
How SNOAP Works & What Makes It Different?
SNOAP turns solid soap into a soft powder that resembles snow – hence the name!
Instead of a pump of liquid soap, you give the SNOAP dispenser a little twist and out comes grated soap. It’s precise, mess-free and you only need a tiny amount.
- Load the dispenser with two bars of solid soap (SNOAP’s own bars have a whole in the middle for easy loading, but you can use other soap too).
- Grate and dispense – With one hand underneath, twist the top of the dispenser clockwise. Just one third of a turn is enough. Combine with water and wash your hands as normal.
- Refill after 2,000 washes! – Each set of two bars lasts as long as 20 plastic bottles of liquid soap. That’s a lot of plastic and money that you’re saving.
Imagine this over the scale of hotel chains, restaurants, pubs and schools?
The starter bundle costs £45, which includes:
- The SNOAP dispenser
- Two soap bars
- A wall mount
You can get countertop stand too for £10 extra.
The Story Behind SNOAP
SNOAP was born out of frustration with plastic waste. During the lockdown of 2020, Lisa and her family made a conscious effort to cut down on single-use plastics at home after noticing just how much single plastic they use.
She switched to bar soap, solid shampoo and other plastic-free alternatives, but quickly ran into the common pain points:
- Soap bars got messy
- Hygiene and sharing concerns (especially with her children who didn’t like using a bar after someone else)
- Soap bars often went to waste, breaking apart or getting stuck to the sink.
Lisa almost reverted back to liquid soap, until she dug deeper into the environmental impact.
She was shocked to learn that:
- Only a fraction of plastic soap bottles are recycled, with the rest going to landfill or the ocean.
- Most pump dispensers aren’t recyclable at all.
- Liquid soap is 95% water, meaning it requires more energy and resources to produce than solid soap.
Determined to find a solution, Lisa spent the next 2.5 years developing SNOAP.
Why SNOAP is Better for Homes & Businesses
1. Reducing Plastic Waste
The UK alone discards 1.8 billion plastic soap bottles every year. With only a small fraction actually being recycled, the rest ends up in landfill, incinerators or polluting our oceans.
By replacing 20 bottles with just two soap bars, SNOAP makes it easier than ever for households and businesses to cut down on plastic waste without compromising on convenience.
2. Significant Cost Savings
SNOAP costs just 55p per 250ml refill equivalent. This makes it far cheaper than liquid soap.
For households, this means less money spent on hand washes, shampoos and shower gels (which can also work in the same way).
For businesses, such as hotels, gyms, restaurants and offices, the potential savings are even greater. Bulk-buying soap bars and using SNOAP dispensers could drastically cut costs while reducing waste at scale.
3. Better for Skin & the Environment
Most liquid soaps contain harsh detergents and unnecessary additives that strip moisture from the skin. Bar soaps, on the other hand, tend to use more natural, nourishing ingredients.
SNOAP allows users to get the eco-friendly, skin-friendly benefits of bar soap while retaining the convenience of liquid soap dispensers.
4. Hygiene Benefits
One of the biggest barriers to using bar soap is hygiene. Many people, especially children, don’t like the idea of sharing a bar. I don’t to be honest.
SNOAP solves this issue by grating the soap before dispensing it. All you’re touching is the twister at the top to give you a clean, controlled dose every time.
Success on Dragon’s Den
When Lisa and Antony took SNOAP onto Dragon’s Den, all five dragons wanted to invest – a rare and impressive feat.
After a heated bidding war, the couple accepted a £50,000 investment for a 7.5% stake from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden, two of the most high-profile investors on the show.
This puts SNOAP in the same league as Fussy, another sustainable personal care brand that secured investment from Deborah Meaden after pitching their eco-friendly deodorant.
Why we like SNOAP
For all of the reasons above really.
SNOAP is a simple, practical solution to a real problem.
I like SNOAP for a few reasons:
- It’s making use of an old-school but familiar item – the bar of soap.
- They’ve come up with a simple but creative way to make it work better – no physical sharing, no tatty quarter chunk leftover.
- It’s way more sustainable than the single-use alternatives out there.
Then, layer on the further benefits of significant plastic waste reduction, big cost savings and increase hygiene when using bar soap, and I think SNOAP are on to a winner.
Head across to the SNOAP website to see what you think for yourself.
