A few Good Reasons to Give Castile Soap a Try
I have a friend whose children struggle with lots of allergies and she’s had to make major changes in the products the family uses for daily living. One of the products she’s now using is castile soap and for some very good reasons.
Have you ever tried this stuff? Know anything about it? “Castile” is a style of soap, it’s not a brand name. It’s made from 100% plant oils (no animal products like tallow, or mystery ingredients which show up in most commercial soaps). It’s a true soap—no chemical detergents involved, and it’s completely biodegradable and very earth- and people-friendly.
Many professional house cleaners enthusiastically recommend hot water and castile soap as an all-purpose cleaner. And you can add essential oils to this liquid soap as a way to customize and diversify your cleaning lineup. For instance, how about orange blossom for tile floor mopping, and peppermint on your dishes? Lemon in the bathroom, and who doesn’t love lavender in the laundry? Eucalyptus is an antimicrobial, so it would work well with castile as a counter top cleaner. The possibilities are endless. For example:
SHAMPOO. Castile soap is a superb alternative to harsh detergent-based shampoos. Just mix castile soap with water at a ratio of 1:3.
LAUNDRY DETERGENT. You can make your own affordable, earth- and clothes-friendly laundry detergent with simple, common ingredients. Save money and do the environment a friendly favor. Here’s the recipe (consider collecting homemade cleaning recipes and saving them in a chapter you create in your Cook’n Recipe Organizer):
1/4 cup liquid Castile soap
1 cup washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup boiling water
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
PORCELAIN CLEANER. A very effective “soft scrub” can be made out of baking soda and castile soap. Fill a spray bottle with a dilution of 1:3 castile to water. Then sprinkle the area to be cleaned with a liberal amount of baking soda, and spray the baking soda with the castile solution. Scour and watch the stains disappear. This also works great on crusty stovetops!
FLOOR CLEANER. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of castile soap to a full bucket of water, and mop. A few drops of favorite essential oils add a lovely fragrance. Floors come to a sparkly new luster.
DISH SOAP. Make a dishwashing soap (for hand washing) or a liquid hand soap (for washing hands) by simply mixing a 1:1 ratio of castile to water.
SOAP DISPENSER REFILL. Refill your foaming hand soap dispenser with 1 part castile soap to 4 parts water.
BODY WASH. Use castile soap as a gentle yet efficient bath soap/body wash. They actually sell castile bar soap, but if you want to use the liquid just dilute it in a 2:1 ratio of castile to water. This is where I especially like to add essential oils—peppermint and lavender being my favorite combination.
DOG SHAMPOO. What’s good enough for you is even better for your pet! Use the same ratio listed above for an awesome DIY doggie shampoo.
VEGGIE WASH. Make a simple veggie wash for cleansing all your produce. Add 1 tablespoon castile soap to 2 cups of water, and keep the mixture in a squirt bottle near the kitchen sink.
Have you ever tried this stuff? Know anything about it? “Castile” is a style of soap, it’s not a brand name. It’s made from 100% plant oils (no animal products like tallow, or mystery ingredients which show up in most commercial soaps). It’s a true soap—no chemical detergents involved, and it’s completely biodegradable and very earth- and people-friendly.
Many professional house cleaners enthusiastically recommend hot water and castile soap as an all-purpose cleaner. And you can add essential oils to this liquid soap as a way to customize and diversify your cleaning lineup. For instance, how about orange blossom for tile floor mopping, and peppermint on your dishes? Lemon in the bathroom, and who doesn’t love lavender in the laundry? Eucalyptus is an antimicrobial, so it would work well with castile as a counter top cleaner. The possibilities are endless. For example:
SHAMPOO. Castile soap is a superb alternative to harsh detergent-based shampoos. Just mix castile soap with water at a ratio of 1:3.
LAUNDRY DETERGENT. You can make your own affordable, earth- and clothes-friendly laundry detergent with simple, common ingredients. Save money and do the environment a friendly favor. Here’s the recipe (consider collecting homemade cleaning recipes and saving them in a chapter you create in your Cook’n Recipe Organizer):
Liquid Castile Laundry Detergent
Ingredients:
1/4 cup liquid Castile soap
1 cup washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup boiling water
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, add the soap, washing soda, and baking soda……in that order. Slowly pour in the white vinegar and mix well. Use your hands and/or a whisk to break up the lumps. Pour in boiling water. Whisk until combined. Allow to cool and store in a container with tight fitting lid. Use two tablespoons per load.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
PORCELAIN CLEANER. A very effective “soft scrub” can be made out of baking soda and castile soap. Fill a spray bottle with a dilution of 1:3 castile to water. Then sprinkle the area to be cleaned with a liberal amount of baking soda, and spray the baking soda with the castile solution. Scour and watch the stains disappear. This also works great on crusty stovetops!
FLOOR CLEANER. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of castile soap to a full bucket of water, and mop. A few drops of favorite essential oils add a lovely fragrance. Floors come to a sparkly new luster.
DISH SOAP. Make a dishwashing soap (for hand washing) or a liquid hand soap (for washing hands) by simply mixing a 1:1 ratio of castile to water.
SOAP DISPENSER REFILL. Refill your foaming hand soap dispenser with 1 part castile soap to 4 parts water.
BODY WASH. Use castile soap as a gentle yet efficient bath soap/body wash. They actually sell castile bar soap, but if you want to use the liquid just dilute it in a 2:1 ratio of castile to water. This is where I especially like to add essential oils—peppermint and lavender being my favorite combination.
DOG SHAMPOO. What’s good enough for you is even better for your pet! Use the same ratio listed above for an awesome DIY doggie shampoo.
VEGGIE WASH. Make a simple veggie wash for cleansing all your produce. Add 1 tablespoon castile soap to 2 cups of water, and keep the mixture in a squirt bottle near the kitchen sink.
Sources:
- www.heb.com
- www.thespruce.com
- www.wideopeneats.com
- www.livesimply.com
- www.aysultancandy.com
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
