Posted in Home, Home Archive | Monday, April 12th, 2010
The #1 thing that has helped us save money in our house is multitasking products. Castile soap is one of those products. Castile soap is a gentle sulfate-free foaming soap made mostly with vegetable oils that was named after a region in Spain in which it was originally made. Castile soap is incredibly gentle, even for use on babies. In March, I challenged the House of Brown to 30days of using Dr. Bronner’s Organic Peppermint soap to see how many ways we could use it. I purchased a 1/2 gallon at the end of February, for $25 and this is how we used it:
1. Shampoo – I took an old narrow shampoo bottle, filled it halfway with Castile soap, and filled it the rest of the way with water. My came out clean and my scalp felt great!
2. Body wash – When I’m done washing my hair I just keep going and use my castile/water mixture to wash up!
3. Hand Dish Detergent – When our bottle of Dawn was empty I filled that halfway with castile soap and the rest of the way with water and used that to hand wash the dishes. It worked great, if I needed more
5. Liquid Laundry Soap – check out My Homemade Laundry Detergent
6. Pre-soak – Squirt a little into a sink or container then fill with lukewarm water
7. Countertop cleaner - with it by mixing it in my Homemade Granite and Marble Cleaner
8. Toothpaste – Believe it. Sexy and I were on a trip and had both forgotten to pack the toothpaste. He remembered that it could be used as a toothpaste too. So I squirted a little on my toothbrush, added water, and brushed away. It bubbled up a bit and tasted like, well kinda soapy peppermint. It really cleaned my teeth well though!
9. Shaving cream - Sexy has used it to shave his face, and I’ve used it shave, well everywhere else 
10. Foaming Face wash – 1tsp poured into a warm wet washcloth takes off makeup and washes your face well
11. All Purpose Cleaner – 1/8 cup diluted with water in a large spray bottle cleaned everything from the bathroom counter to the fingerprints on the semigloss painted walls
12. Pet Shampoo -I’ve used a little on a damp washcloth to clean my cat’s paws when he gets in messees I don’t want him to eat. We don’t have a dog, but I heard it makes a great doggy bath!
13. Bubble Bath – I poured some into the running water of my tub with a few drops of lavender and relaxed into a nice bubble bath with TONS of bubbles!
14. Hand Soap – I filled the bottom of a soap dispenser and filled the rest with water and shook it and put it in our upstairs bathroom
15. Floor Cleaner – 1/4 cup castile soap + 2 gallons of water + mop = clean floors
16. Soft Scrub – By mistake I knocked half a jar of mineral powder into the sink, creating a muddy brown mess all over the porcelain. I sprinkled the whole sink with baking soda and squirted castile soap on top of that and rubbed the sink with a damp sponge. The sink was clean in minutes!
17. Car wash – I’ll admit we haven’t used it for this yet. But I’ve read you can mix it just like #16 and wash away!
18. Body Wash – We keep a bottle in the shower that is 50/50 soap and water
And the best part? Even after using the soap for all of the above for a month, we still have about 1/2 a bottle left! Very Savvy! And right now the same 64oz size that I used is on sale at the Savvy Shop for less than $16! Click here to check it out.
About Savvy Brown
I believe being healthy doesn't have to be complicated, being green can be easy and being broke isn't an option!
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I have used Dr. Bronner’s for most of these uses (including as pet shampoo and in place of toothpaste), but never thought to try it in the dishwasher, to wash the car or as shaving cream. This soap never ceases to amaze me though. And given that we pay about $12 for the medium sized bottle, I’m heading over to the Savvy shop now to buy the gallon. We generally prefer to use the Almond fragrance, because the peppermint is a little harsh for my daughter. But lately, she’s been using organic bar soap (my fave…Nostaligia Organics), so the hubbs and I can go back to peppermint
Hi, I recently discovered your blog and I absolutely love it. This post could not have come at a better time. Last weekend I bought the peppermint and almond ones to use a body wash, and I am very pleased with the results. Now you have given me great ideas as to other uses. Next up will be as an all purpose cleaner. Keep up the wonderful work!
@Jan wow thanks so much and welcome to the party! Feel free to email me with any topics you’d like to see covered, ro ifyou need clarification on anything!
I wonder if I’m the only one allergic to Dr. Bronner’s Castile? I’ve tried a few to no avail. I like the idea…but it’s a no-go for me. I use Kiss My Face olive oil bar soap with no problems.
I uses Dr. Bronners to clean the windows. It is fantastic! No streaks.
Recipe
1/3 teaspoon Dr. Bronners (I use peppermint)
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 Cups hot water
combine in a spray bottle and shake.
**I also use the almond scent as a shave gel. Love it. So smooth and moisturizing!***
@brownsugar09 I NEVER thought of using it on the windows. I’m gonna try this this weekend! Thanks for the recipe!
@Savvy Brown…sorry for the misprint! Dr. B’s works great on bathroom mirrors. I haven’t tried it on windows. You have to report back and let me know! Maybe we’ve found another great use
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@brownsugar09 NP. I’m sure if it works on mirrors, it’ll work on windows! I’ll try it and letcha know!
I LOVE Dr. Bronner’s soap, lavender is my favorite but lately I’m really loving the tea tree oil for shampooing my hair.
Great blog BTW!
@Sheriann thank you!
Can you use this to clean the bathroom and kitchen floors?
I love Dr. Bronner’s! I use it as my body wash/shaving soap, shampoo, toothpaste, dishwashing liquid and face wash. I like the Almond scent the most, but the Peppermint is so refreshing on my face! Definitely going to use it as bubble bath. Thanks for the tip!
@Elle Absolutely! Thanks!http://savvybrown.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form
@SisterBoyd: I have hardwoods in my kitchen and I clean it with a dilution of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint and it is fantastic! I don’t use anything else.
@brownsugar How much do you dilute? 1/4 cup per gallon? Do your floors shine?
I like the Citrus and the Lavendar. I use the citrus to wash my hair, body, the laundry and the dishes but I like the lavendar for tougher jobs like the bathroom and kitchen. Lavendar is a powerful anti-bacterial essential oil. When my son was born I used the unscented liquid for his sponge baths with no problem.
I usually add 1 cup of vinegar to a 1/4 cup of castile soap diluted in a gallon of water but I find it to be kinda oily. I think I will use 2 gallons of agua like you suggested and see if it makes a difference…I love vinegar.
I just “reupped” on the Hemp Almond. It was on sale at GNC so I had to snatch it up.
I’m ready to go jump in the shower right now just to use it.
I’ve been working on the automatic dishwashing detergent and it hasn’t worked well for me. Has anyone else be able to get it to work for them?
@SisterBoyd What kind of roblems are you having? Sometimes, you need to adjust the citric Acid a bit to get the right consistency. I also don’t use it without using clear vinegar in the rinse (Jet Dry) holder. It really helps to rinse things off. Also, if you’re still having spots on your dishes, add a teaspoon of baking soda to the dispenser, but again, you must use vinegar in the rinse cycle to prevent spots. HTH
Either the dishes have a greasy film or a white, dusty film. I’m using the recipe that uses the castile soap. I want to try the dry recipe.
Also, I am using vinegar in my rinse compartment and I did add some baking soda and washing soap. This combination has created a really good kitchen and floor cleaner
DO NOT use soap in a dishwasher, period. The recipe referred to makes no sense, mixing soap with acids — vinegar and lemon juice. The only reason you don’t get a machine full of suds if you use that is that the vinegar and lemon juice inactivate the soap, causing it to be useless other than forming the film of fatty acid mentioned as the greasy film above. It’s worse than nothing. Leave out the acids and you get a machine full of suds, which is no good either. Soap is good for washing dishes by hand, and for washing clothes by machine, but machines for washing dishes aren’t designed to work that way.
As to bubble bath, your results with soap are going to be very different depending on your water; in “hard” water you’ll have to use an enormous amount to get suds on a tub full of water. No matter what, though, for a given amount of foam produced, your bath water is going to have to be much soapier and more irritating than with other bath foams, so some people won’t be able to tolerate a Dr. Bronner’s bubble bath who could use milder products to make that amount and duration of foam. However, the water’s being that soapy does have the advantage of getting you clean, which bubble baths generally are too dilute to do.
@Robert Wow thanks for your insight. I did not know that about the dishwasher soap. I’ll ammend that part of the post. As for the bubble bath, I guess I don’t have har water, because I’ve never had a problem getting bubbles. Would it help if someone tossed a bit of Epsom salt into the water first? (My thinking is that Salt is the basis for most water-softening systems).
Guess I’d better reply here @Savvy. No, Epsom is a water “hardener”, which would do the exact opposite of what you want. To see, use Bronner’s (or any other actual) soap to make suds in a jar with water, and then dissolve in some Epsom salt and see what happens.
I put “hard” and “soft” in quotes when referring to liquid water, because the only truly hard water is ice.
@ Robert LOL I know right?
My family recently completed the Dr. Bronner’s 30 day challenge and I’m a believer! We already used the castille soap as shampoo/bodywash and loved it so this was right up our alley. There were two uses I wasn’t completely happy with, though. I didn’t like it as dish soap, seemed to leave a film on the dishes. And since we used peppermint I didn’t like it as hand soap. Two words; paper cuts. During the challenge I also found that it’s a superior alternative to baby laundry detergent. Wish I had known this sooner. Diaper leak stains come out like magic and socks I thought would never get back to their original color look like new. The best part is that it’s been a little over 5 weeks and we still have 1/2 of the half gallon left. The mistake we made before taking the challenge was using it full strength as shampoo/bodywash. Not sure of the science behind it but the dilution is the “magic” of Dr. Bronner’s. Thank you sooo much for this post.
How we used Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castille Soap:
Shampoo/Bodywash
Bathroom Cleaner
Pre-Treater
Liquid Laundry Detergent (+ Oxygenated Laundry Booster)
Foaming Face Wash
Shaving Gel
Soft Scrub
@A different Elle THANK YOU SO MUCH for leaving such a great comment! I’m glad it worked out for you. Oooooh, yeah, you’ve got to dilute it when using it in your hair and opn your body. Yaaay! I’m glad to hear that about the baby diapers too, some mom’s who read the blog will really appreciate that. thank you!!!
Wish I discovered this sooner but I’m browsing around because I’ve got a dishwasher full of white gooey film from using DrB (by itself). Cascade didn’t clean it off. Running vinegar through now.
I did read on the bronner site that vinegar mixed with the castille will make a white goey clumpy mess. Vinegar is for rinsing, not mixing. There’s a counteractive chemical reaction and it makes a mess. Surprised to see so many recipes around the net combining the two and no one mentions the white clumpy goo.
Might need to run citric acid or Tang through to straighten this filmy mess out.
I think this is the same residue that I got on my hair. Vinegar rinse on the second attempt seemed to work to eliminate that problem. But don’t like the idea of so much residue. I’m getting kind of confused that others aren’t experiencing this.
Used it as a body wash and it seemed to work great. Love the lather. I didn’t feel soap-filmy, but we’ll see how it goes.
@bella Oooohhh! Gooey film is no fun. I have only used Dr. Bronners liquid soap asn a handwashing dish soap, never in the dishwasher, cuz I’ve heard about that. I also have never put vinegar in my hair after using it as a diluted shampoo. Did you dilute the product first? Or did you use ti straight?
If you wet your head well enough it should make no difference whether you pre-dilute liquid soap or not for shampooing. Or are you referring to the vinegar? THAT I would dilute.
Machine dishwashing detergents are VERY different from anything you’d use to wash them by hand. Many machine dish detergents are primarily alkali which cause some of the fat left on dishes to saponify, and even the little bit of soap so produced is a problem when jetted around in all that space with a small amount of water; the detergent commonly includes an ANTI-foam to deal with that.
About the closest hand washing of dishes comes to machine dish detergent is the use of sodium bicarbonate by some people to hand wash beer glasses. They say the tiny bit of soap that might be left from using soap or any soaplike detergent on glasses will act as a defoamer for the head on beer. I must have bad taste, because I’d rather kill the foam on beer, as long as it’s still fizzy, i.e. not flat. Foam is for bathing, not drinking! So I pour beer down the side of the glass, or drink straight from the can or bottle.
I just put a little in my hand (think that was the directions) and lathered up.
Had to run the d/w multiple times with borax, Cascade and vinegar. I’ll just have to wipe off the utensils before use. They still have a dusty white coating but it’s not goo this time.
Still trying to figure out the DrB. I’m thinking it means soap scum will be a problem but their site says there isnt residue. ?
Great degreaser though! That’s why I squirted it in the dishwasher, lol
@Robert you know a lot about chemistry! Regarding the shampoo/body wash it really does need to be diluted. It foams significantly more (thereby requiring less) and a half gallon goes from lasting us a few weeks to two months at least. I was amazed the first time I diluted it for shampoo and subsequently for body wash. The difference is the “magic” that is Dr. Bronner’s.
Bella, I hope you didn’t put in vinegar AT THE SAME TIME AS Cascade or borax, because then you’d've been wasting vinegar and Cascade or borax. They’d counteract each other. If there’s a separate rinse dispenser, you could put the vinegar in there, if it’d hold enough, which however it probably wouldn’t.
Sure, soap is a grease cutter. But if you really want cheap & handy at the kitchen sink, use bar soap rather than liquid if you’re washing one item at a time by direct application. It’s not as convenient for giving your dishes a “bath” in a dishpan or sink of sudsy water or for soaking the insides of pots, but for washing them shower-style it’s handier than liquid.
Elle, if pre-diluting liquid soap helps you avoid using too much, fine. But you might instead try using a dispenser that allows you to measure it out without diluting it. I would imagine a half gallon jug would be very hard to pour the right amount from in the shower, so no wonder you’re pre-diluting it. There’s also a gadget you can hook up that mixes liquid soap with the water just before it comes out of the shower nozzle, although I haven’t tried such a thing.
@Robert Thanks for all of your helpful tips!
Thanks Robert. Yes, vinegar rinsing, not mixing. Finally got them clean!
any chance you’ll be selling the lavender Bronner’s by the gallon soon?
@JStay I will check on that for you.
@JStay Found it! Here’s the link: http://astore.amazon.com/savbro-20/detail/B00028O7ZO
Question: why must it be diluted to use it as a shampoo? I’ve been using it as a shampoo undiluted for almost a year now and I love it and have had no problems and LOVE the way it makes my hair look and feel.
Also, if you have problems with a film, which is a mistake I also made with the Dr.Bronners in my dishwasher that wouldnt go away after repeated washings, run out and get you some Lemi Shine. I love this stuff and it works wonders on a filmy buildup in the dishwasher. After two washes it was completely gone!
And NEVER mix vinegar and Castile soap. I learned that a long time ago and it makes sense. Alkali and acid cancel each other out, leaving you with lumpy, white nothing.
@ A Different Elle – can you post the baby laundry detergent recipe that you used for washing diapers? I’d love to try that on my cloth diapers at home and save some cash for the more expensive stuff I have shipped to me!!
@Frances, I used 2 parts water to 1 part castile soap in a cold wash. I pre-treated tough stains first & recently learned that using baking soda to boost the Dr. Bronner’s makes pre-treating almost obsolete. Good luck!
Also thought I’d post my girlfriend’s diaper wipe solution recipe that uses Dr Bronners. In total, you want to stay close to 2 cups of liquid for every 1/2 roll of paper towel otherwise the wipes end up too wet.
2 cups water
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP pure castile soap
4-5 drops tea tree oil
a few drops essential oil for fragrance (she uses lavender)
a few drops calendula oil (optional)
a few drops aloe juice (optional)
Cut a roll of paper towels in 1/2 length ways (so end up with 2 rolls, approx the same size as toilet paper). Mix in a glass measuring cup and pour over a 1/2 roll of paper towel. Put into a container with a tight fighting lid.
If using cloth wipes, put solution into a squirt or spray bottle and squirt/spray onto cloth prior to wiping baby’s bottom!
You can use a similar solution with less oil and more tea tree for disinfectant wipes around the house.
Correction on the baby wipe recipe. You should have no more than 2 cups of liquid for a FULL roll of paper towel (2 half rolls or 1 cup for every 1/2 roll). Oops!