A Monmouth inventor has designed a new type of soap dispenser that combines the practical benefits of a liquid soap dispenser with the health benefits of a solid soap bar.

Lisa Hicks developed the solid soap dispenser—­along with her company SNOAP—during lockdown as a way to reduce the amount of single-use plastics, and engineer a more pleasant way to use solid soap.

Like a typical parent in a household environment of five, she also noticed that for all benefits that solid soap brings, it still can often be founds as a soggy deteriorating smudge on the side of the bathroom sink, looking rather unhygienic.

Lisa’s invention takes bars of solid soap and dispenses it as a convenient powder, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of solid soap with the convenience of liquid soap.

There is a chemical—as well as aesthetic—difference between liquid soap and soap bars. Soap bars are made from a combination of fat or oil, water, and an alkali. Liquid soap, on the other hand, is usually a synthetic detergent, made from chemical compounds rather than fats and oils.

In can be questioned as to whether we should be using so much chemical-filled liquid soap at all. This is especially true with antibacterial liquid soap.

Over the Covid lockdowns Lisa Hicks was deeply concerned at how single-use-plastic use had sky-rocketed.

With billions of soap, shower gel, and shampoo bottles being discarded in the UK every year, Lisa knew there had to be a better way, and decided to be part of the solution.

Lisa’s eco-ethos can be seen in every aspect of her business. She even refuses to sell on Amazon because of their lack-lustre environmental credentials. Even the little touches like packaging are thought through. Items shipped are done so in cardboard boxes, without stables or glue, apart from a sliver of recycled tape. The dispensers themselves can be expected to last 10–25 years and at the end of their life can be ground down into plastic chips for recycling.

The dispensers and soaps—along with a selection of other eco-hygene products—are available exclusively on her website www.snoap.com.

There is also a wealth of information explaining the health and hygiene benefits behind Snoap and how it can be a valuable addition to your bathroom.