You’ve probably heard the words ‘castile soap’ thrown around before, and you’re most likely vaguely aware that it’s better for you, your personal care and the environment, right? Right. The stuff is best described as an eco-friendly super-soap for more reasons than one—here’s why you should be adding a little castile soap to your life.
It’s Vegan
You’ll find a lot of standard soaps on the shelves will have lard, tallow or other ambiguously titled ingredients in them. If it’s not a chemical, it’s likely an animal fat, which is no good for anyone involved. Castile soap (be it bar soap or liquid soap) is 100% vegan and instead uses the likes of organic coconut oil, olive oil and jojoba oil—all ingredients that are far more sustainable than what’s in usual soap products, and you’ll also be reducing the need for animal byproducts by using it.
It’s Good For You
You and your skin will reap a long list of benefits when you scrub down with castile soap. The stuff is non-toxic, antibacterial, anti-fungal and it also serves as an antioxidant, meaning it’ll moisturise even the driest of skin types and is great for senstive skin too.
Castile soaps can differ slightly with exact ingredients (with the likes of lavender, peppermint, lemongrass and almond for more fragrance), but those which contain hemp and jojoba oils will literally mirror the oil your skin makes, leaving it smooth to the touch and protected from the rigours of daily life.
Castile Soap Uses
‘Soap’ is used in many different applications, however, most are relatively exclusive to how and what you can use it on, often because of certain chemical and ingredients. Because castile soap is all-natural, you can almost use it however you want; it’s great as a body wash and for your hair, some use it to wash pets, you can use it as a natural deodorant or event as dish detergent.
For the more adventurous, castile soap will even clean your teeth. Because of its antibacterial properties, you can also use castile soap to clean minor wounds, though we’d recommend keeping a few blocks or bottles of the stuff around the house if you’re planning on using it in more ways than one.
Castile Soap Benefits
Most castile soap is made without synthetic preservatives, foaming agents or chemicals that would usually go down the drain and into our oceans. Considering castile soap is an eco-friendly product, most producers make an effort to package their soaps in biodegradable wraps or vessel too.
Castile Soap Liquid
Castile soap obviously comes in two forms, soap and liquid. The latter can be super useful for a variety of reasons; to clean countertops, floors, toilets and bathtubs. You can also use it as a diluted liquid for laundry, handwashing delicates, as a fruit and veggie wash, a window cleaner or even in your own multi-purpose cleaning spray.
Castile Soap Dr Bronner's
It's by far the most castile soap known to the world, and for a good reason too. Dr Bronner's was founded in 1948 by Emanuel Bronner, a third-generation master soapmaker (what a title) from a German-Jewish soapmaking family. He was way before the times, labelling his ecological soap to spread messages around uniting the world through its biggest divides (religion, ethnicity) and to this day, Dr Bronner's still sports the same organic and fair trade soap. Dr Bronner's offers up bars of the good stuff and liquid bottles, in a number of scents—cherry blossom, green tea, sandalwood jasmine, almond, eucalyptus, rose, tea tree...it's really like a Gatorade affair here. Because there's so many, it can actually be a pretty gnarly decision-making process when it comes to deciding what you should actually buy. Lucky for you, we've popped the most popular Dr Bronner's castile soaps below:
- Dr Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soaps
- Dr Bronner's 4-in-1 Organic Pump Soap
- Dr Bronner's Follow The Rainbow Travel Pack
- Dr Bronner's Magic Box Set
Keep up your sustainability streak and find out everything you need to know about palm oil here.
Image credit: Dr Bronner's
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