One of the best things about low-tox products is that they often serve a multitude of purposes. Take for example Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap. This stuff packs 18 listed uses in one bottle, and I’m betting you could use it for more than that too! It's also very safe for babies and sensitive skin.
Most regular soaps have irritants, endocrine disruptors, and cancer-causing chemicals in them. Take for example a leading soap. Its ingredient list is as follows, with harmful ingredients bolded: Water (Aqua), Sodium C12-13, Pareth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride Sodium Benzoate, Fragrance (Parfum), Citric Acid, PPG-9, Tetrasodium EDTA, Limonene, Red 33 (CI 17200), and Yellow 5 (CI 19140). Here's a quick mini-lesson on some of these toxins, to help you start recognizing the bad ones on your labels – PPG-9 irritates skin, damages hair, and harms non-reproductive organs. Oftentimes, abbreviations are no good. PEGs are parabens which are endocrine disruptors – watch out for those too. EDTAs are toxic to all organs and fertility, and open up the skin so more toxins can seep in. It's hard to list out all the toxins that can be found in soap, so that's just an example, but I bet you can find a lot of similar ones in your soap. Luckily, you can avoid these kinds of toxins in common brands by choosing a safer soap like Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soaps!
Dr. Bronner’s soaps come in two forms: bar and liquid. I always recommend unscented products, even if they’re low-tox, to avoid any extra irritants, so for Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soaps, I’d go with the scent “Baby Unscented” for both options. Personally, I prefer bar soap for showering and liquid soap as hand soap and shampoo, but choose based on your preferences!
The ingredient lists are simple and clean:
For the bar: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide**, Water, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Sea Salt, Citric Acid, and Tocopherol.
For the liquid: Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide**, Organic Palm Kernel Oil, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Citric Acid, and Tocopherol.
**None remains after saponifying oils into soap and glycerin.
An important note: this is not tear-free! Keep it out of your eyes (and be careful around baby’s!). “Tear-free” products are often filled with synthetic surfactants, which means they bond to dirt molecules to pull them off your body, which would be great if they weren’t also irritating, endocrine disruptors, and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). So non-tear-free is probably best! Another great perk to using low-tox products is that they’re often concentrated, which means you dilute them in water to get the correct ratio of product. And that means you get a lot of use out of one bottle!
Dr. Bronner’s has a nice cheat sheet for dilutions here! The list of uses includes washing body, face cleanser, makeup removal, shampooing, bathing, shaving any body part, brushing teeth, foot bath, clearing congestion, dishes (handwashing), laundry (but I would recommend a separate product because this requires the addition of vinegar), handwashing delicates, mopping (wood, laminate, and stone flooring), all-purpose cleaning spray, window cleaner, cleaning toilet, fruit and veggie rinse, dog washing, cleaning makeup brushes, plant spray for bugs, and ant spray (not on plants). A little note on teeth brushing - I wouldn’t recommend this because after all, it is still soap and will taste as such, plus it doesn’t include mineral-building ingredients such as hydroxyapatite which are important to keep teeth healthy. Dr. Bronner's is also a great sunscreen remover! Remember that in diluting the concentrate, you’re also weakening the shelf life, so use your diluted mix within a few weeks! And if you’re working with a really tough job, you can try straight concentrate to strengthen the cleaning power. But please don’t forget to dilute normally! It’s meant to be watered down!
Using Dr. Bronner's as shampoo can be a little complicated. It works really well to clean your hair, but every hair and water type is different, so you may need to experiment to see what works for you. For some people, just the soap alone works well. For others, it can shift hair cuticles, which are dead, layered cells that cover the outside of each strand of hair. This can cause your hair to feel waxy, tangled, coated, matted, oily, or otherwise different than usual. To smooth the cuticles back down, it's important to use an acidic rinse after shampooing and rinsing. Dr. Bronner's makes a rinse for this purpose, with a lemon base, which can be purchased directly from Dr. Bronner's, or at Walgreens or Fry's Foods. You can also try apple cider vinegar diluted in water at a ratio of 1:1. Some people also have luck adding coconut milk to the soap (1:1 ratio) and using that as shampoo. Having hard water can also cause some problems. Using a water softener on the shower head or trying the bar soap instead of liquid can help. Please also remember that there may be a transition period when using Dr. Bronner's for the first time. Your hair may feel greasier or drier, so try to stick with it for two to four weeks before altering your routine.
You can buy the liquid soap and bar soap directly from Dr. Bronner’s, or from Target, here and here, among others. I wouldn’t recommend buying any Dr. Bronner's products from Amazon, as I’ve seen some reports of formula alterations there, which could make the product toxic or just not work as well. Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soaps are some of the best safe, multi-purpose, inexpensive soaps on the market. I think this is one of the best options out there that works for most people.
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