Category: Bath & Body

Many Ways to Use Castile Soap

For those of you who have read my older posts, you know that I love castile soap. I love the simple, natural ingredients used to make castile soap. I love the versatility of its uses. I feel like I can use it (effectively) for almost everything!

many ways to use castile soap, liquid and bar

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Castile soap is not very expensive to buy, and I also find it really fun to make my own castile soap. Since it is diluted for most uses, one bottle or batch seems to last forever.

I realized that I didn’t yet have a list of all the places where, and how I use, castile soap. That is changing today. Here is my list of castile soap uses, as well as dilutions and recipes using castile soap. The dilutions listed here are my personal preference, however all of my experimentation started by referencing this dilution “cheat sheet” from the Dr. Bronner’s website.

Liquid castile soap

  1. Hand soap (I love foaming!) – I pre-dilute about 1:9 soap to water (10% soap) in my soap dispenser and use a squirt every time I wash my hands.
  2. Face wash – I pre-dilute 1:9 soap to water (10% soap), and dilute a little more in my hands before applying to my face.
  3. Dish Soap – I pre-dilute 1:9 soap to water (10% soap) in my foaming soap dispenser, and use 1 squirt or more as needed to wash my dishes.
  4. Dishwasher soap – I pour about 2 teaspoons undiluted castile soap into my dishwasher’s detergent container. I use white vinegar in the “rinse” reservoir.
  5. Laundry soap – I really like this recipe for laundry “pods” or powder. If leaving it as a powder rather than forming pods, this is super quick to mix up!
  6. Shaving “cream” for use with a traditional razor. It works with castile soap diluted in a 1:9 soap to water dilution (or more concentrated).
  7. Natural deck wash – I used this recipe to keep my composite deck looking clean and new.
  8. Homemade bubbles – great all natural version for play with kids (or pets!) that is gentile on skin (what kid doesn’t spill it or dog catch bubbles in their mouth?) and gentle on the environment.
photos of castile soap as hand soap, face wash, dish soap, purse undiluted castile soap, in laundry soap pods, as a shaving cream, in a deck wash, and in bubbles

Bar castile soap

Bar soap is “easier” to use than liquid in that there are no dilutions or additions to recipes. Just wet the bar and lather!

  1. Shower bar/body bar in the shower
  2. Hand soap at sinks
  3. Shaving cream for use with a double edge safety razor (I bought mine on ebay, vintage from the 1970’s. This one on Amazon has great reviews)
bar castile soap as hand soap on a sink and as a double edge safety razor shaving cream

Are there other ways that you use castile soap? Please share in the comments!

Natural Toothpaste Alternative – a second recipe

I wasn’t looking for a new toothpaste or tooth powder recipe. I was happy with my baking soda tooth powder. But one day, I happened across a blog post or website that had a tooth powder recipe using bentonite clay. I had some (calcium) bentonite clay on hand from one of my natural deodorant recipes (it didn’t make it into my latest and favorite deodorant, but I plan to formulate another that combines bentonite clay and zinc ricinoleate to get the benefits of both). Anyway, I was intrigued so I researched bentonite clay a bit, and liked what I found (more on that below). So I mixed up bentonite clay tooth powder.

a second recipe for a natural toothpaste alternative, using baking powder and bentonite clay

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The New Tooth Powder Recipe

My new favorite tooth powder recipe isn’t much more complicated than my original one – just 2 ingredients!

Intructions

Pour equal parts baking soda and bentonite clay into a non-metal container. Stir to mix, or put on a non-metal cover and shake to blend.

I use a 1/2 cup mason jar with a plastic lid, estimate the measurements, put the cover on tightly and shake well to blend the baking soda and bentonite clay. If there are clumps of baking soda, I use a popsicle stick to break up.

I use old, empty prescription pill bottles for travel tooth powder containers.

tooth powder ingredients: baking soda and bentonite clay
tooth powder ingredients: calcium bentonite clay and baking soda

How I use bentonite clay-baking soda tooth powder

To use my bentonite clay and baking soda tooth powder, I wet my toothbrush, shake off the excess water, then dip the edges of the bristles in the tooth powder. Then I just brush like normal! I spit and rinse out my mouth after brushing.

What is it like, using this tooth powder?

My baking soda tooth powder is very salty tasting. I like that this tooth powder is less salty, because basically I am using half as much of the salty ingredient in each brushing. I do not notice any taste to the bentonite clay, and it is very, very fine so I do not feel it. However, I do very occasionally notice that if I do not rinse my mouth well, I feel a little “grit” in my mouth. Nothing compared to sand! If this happens, I just take a sip of water and swirl it around, spit, and the grit is gone. The reason I never get this lingering grit with the pure baking soda tooth powder is because baking soda is water soluble and dissolves in my saliva.

tooth powder using bentonite clay and baking soda

I prefer this tooth powder over my original recipe, because I prefer the more mild taste, and I like the (at least possible) benefits to using bentonite clay on my teeth.

I also still use activated charcoal as a tooth whitening tooth powder – about once per week.

Using this bentonite clay and baking soda tooth powder daily, with the charcoal tooth powder as well, for over a year, I have strong, healthy, white teeth. Obviously there are tons of other factors that impact oral health, but for me, these tooth powders are part of my healthy oral hygiene routine.

What are the benefits of bentonite clay in a tooth powder?

Bentonite clay has been used throughout history and has many believed and scientifically proven benefits. I like it in a tooth powder because it binds to toxins, may be antibacterial, and contains minerals like calcium that *might* (not sure I believe this one) help remineralize and strengthen teeth. Additioanlly, bentonite clay is very fine so it doesn’t scratch my teeth, yet it has enough “grit” to gently scrape away plaque from my teeth.

I am pretty new to experimenting with bentonite clay. Once I have tried it out in other applications, I’ll post on other uses. However, if you’re looking for information now, Wellness Mama has a great post about the benefits and her uses of bentonite clay.

Have you tried any alternatives to standard toothpaste? Please share (the good or bad!) in the comments below.