Castile soap

There are lots of information out there on "green" cleaning products and how to make your own. Sometimes, I get lazy and/or I forget to mix and bottle a batch or buy an ingredient. When that happens, I'll reach for some liquid castile soap. There are lots of brands of castile soap these days, and if you're into making your own soap, it's also a pretty simple recipe to work with. If making your own, make sure you get the cheap olive pomace oil cause the extra virgin stuff takes next to never to reach trace!

Now, before I go further, I want to clarify some things. "Castile soap" can mean different things to different people. Traditionally, castile soap was made with nothing but olive oil. For some people, a soap isn't truly "castile" if it isn't all olive oil. For many companies that market castile soap, "castile" just means a vegan or vegetarian soap. So although olive oil is still a big ingredient for some of these companies, their recipe is usually a mix of vegetable oils. Many of the popular commercial soaps cannot be considered vegan or vegetarian because it contains animal fat, such as lard and/or tallow. Lard is a very popular ingredient for soaps because it creates a very nice, moisturizing, skin conditioning soap. Tallow creates nice, rich, creamy lather and also has good skin conditioning properties. For me, I use vegetarian soaps in my household as a part of my personal practice in harm reduction. Otherwise, my biggest concern with commercial soaps are all the weird ingredients in it.

So what kind of castile soap do I use? I like Dr. Bronner's brand of castile soap, even though the label is weird and crazy and sounds kind of cult-like. If that's an issue, you can try a different brand, but so far, I like Dr Bronner's the best. I like it because it's popular enough that I can find it almost anywhere in the city and because the ingredients list is simple. Granted, it is not a true castile soap because it's not made from olive oil only, but some will argue that true castile soap is not as "rounded" a soap as a mixture of oils. I've read that true castile soap can create suds that feel... slimy. Lol! So for now, my favorite pre-made all-purpose soap and cleaner is Dr. Bronner's liquid soap. I prefer the Baby Mild, unscented kind because I can add my own scents or essential oils if I wanted, but my fiance likes the Peppermint scented one. My only real issue with Dr. Bronner's is the price. It's not cheap, so it can feel like an indulgence when I get it from my local health foods store. However, I did find an online site that sells it for a lot cheaper than I've seen anywhere else.

It's called vitacost.com and I can get a gallon of Dr. Bronner's soap shipped to my place for under 40 bux! Normally, I'd have to buy it at a local health food store and pay 50 to 60 bux and then still have to lug it home. I'm not going to say that buying it at vitacost means Dr. Bronner's will be cheaper than another brand of liquid soap, but it definitely makes it more cost effective for my purposes. I like having it around, but I have other cleaning materials at my disposal. If I were to actually use this stuff for everything, I'd have to buy lots more of it!