The newest cleaner to be replaced in our home with an all natural product is the dish soap. I seriously don’t know why it took me so long to do this one. Replacing dish soap is easy and even more easy than some of the other things I have replaced since starting this process.
Several months ago I replaced our dishwasher soap with tablets that I now make. While you can make a powder detergent I went with tablets because our young son is in charge of putting them in the washer and starting it when it’s full. It’s an easy recipe and a batch lasts just as long as what I was buying previously. I even sent the remaining few Finish tablets we had left to my sister-in-law’s house back in June. I am highly satisfied with these new tablets and notice a big difference in our dishes. They no longer feel waxy and there are not any spots or haze. It’s amazing how much regular detergent was left on the dishes that you in turn drink and eat from.
Think about that for a minute. Not all the soap from your detergent and soap washes off. It stays on your dishes, cups and utensils that you use with every meal. YOUR FAMILY IS EATING SOAP AND CHEMICALS!
I have always used Dawn dish soap. I used this soap for washing dishes, cleaning surfaces and often for general wipe downs and cleaning. This was my preferred dish soap.
It is after all what they use on ducks and animals that are exposed to environmental disasters to get the sludge and muck off them so why wouldn’t I trust it to clean my dishes?
The problem with products like Dawn are the ingredients. Look at the bottle.
Can you pronounce what’s in there?
Do you know what even half those things are?
Here’s the label from Dawn Hand Renewal. I’ll admit I recognize Water and Alcohol from this list and from looking up the rest most are preservatives, coloring and fragrance. Why do we need Red 33, Yellow 5 and Blue 1 in our soap along with these other chemicals?
Seriously that’s what’s sitting in your kitchen right now that you clean your dishes with and then turnaround and feed your family. YUCK!
How to make your own
Here’s what I’ve done instead and again I can’t believe it took me so long knowing how simple this is to have on hand.
Purchase Castile Soap Unscented – I purchased a 2 pack of Dr. Bonner’s Unscented Hemp-Baby Castile Soap from Amazon. You can find it in other places as well but I went with Amazon this time due to the convenience.
I bought the larger bottles. Each bottle contains 4 cups of soap and because of how much it is concentrated you use 1/2 of what you normally would when using it. Bottom line it will be a VERY long time before you need to purchase this again.
Also, the Dr. Bonner’s labels are fun to read. They are all different and contain interesting stories and information. For instance one of the bottles I received was about organic farming and returning pastures to animals rather than factory farms. The other was about the moral ABCs and included an extract from Kipling!
2. To these larger bottles I doubled my oil drops as the recipe I use calls for 2 cups of Castille soap. Since my bottles of Castile are 4 cups each I just doubled the amount of essential oils in each bottle.
I used 40 drops Lime, 20 drops Lemon and 20 drops Citrus Bliss.
You can use the essential oils you prefer for scent like Lavender, OnGuard, Purify, Melaleuca (Tea Tree), any of the other citrus oils like Grapefruit or Tangerine and so on. I chose citrus oils because they will enhance the Castille soap’s natural degreasing abilities and it is a great clean smell.
3. Roll, flip and shake the bottle to blend.
THAT’S IT! Seriously that’s all it takes to have your own natural dish soap. So again, why did it take me so long to do this?
What is castile soap?
Castile soap has been around forever. It is the original soap and was first used by the Romans.
The soap consists of oils like jojoba, palm oil, coconut oil, hemp oil and others where it is then mixed with water, citric acid and tocopherol to make the suds. It is edible and all the ingredients are natural.
Would you let your child eat bubbles? If you make bubbles from Castile soap you don’t need to worry about them putting their hands in their mouths.
You can use the dish soap we just made and use it for baby wash, bubble bath, pet wash and cleaners in your home. That same bottle! I made one of the 2 pack I purchased for dish soap and the other I’ll be using for these other uses. Not only will you use less making the bottle last a long time but you will have removed a very toxic product from your health and home.
Interested in more?
If you are grossed out like I was after learning what is in your soap and are ready to start transitioning your home to natural cleaners, contact me. I’m happy to help you get the oils and products to make that happen.
Join today and save 25% on your purchase by becoming a wholesale member. Clicking the Join & Save button our website is the easiest and most economical way to transition your health and home. You can enjoy the same benefits I do without the hassle of needing to sell it if you don’t want to.
amyk@dragonspitapothecary.com
