I didn't see many reviews talking at length about using this as a shampoo, so I thought I would add one. Expect my personal experiences and opinion, identified as such, mixed in.
I use this soap for shampoo, body wash, face wash, I put it in my bath, I've used it to clean my counters, I've used it to clean dishes. The peppermint is my favorite, especially for soaking in the bath because it tingles and it's the best scented in my opinion, also for shampoo, again because it tingles.
To clean, I put a little on a damp terry cleaning cloth or kitchen towel and just wipe. I use it on kitchen and bathroom counters, and I dissolve it in water to mop with. I prefer to use the tea tree for cleaning.
As a shampoo, I am puzzled by all the claims I had heard online about castile soap/saponified oil being drying to the hair, and I suspect that many of the people making those claims either haven't tried it and are just perpetuating the general misconception, or maybe they are using it wrong (I'll explain why I think that). This is an extremely gentle product. I have CURLY hair, and it is dyed(with one of those clairol nice n easy super harsh store bought dyes)(#124 natural blue black, if you want to know). Curly hair is generally more dry, and harder to keep conditioned, than straight hair, and mine is no exception. My hair is super fine and super dry, and prone to breakage. I find using this soap as shampoo is actually much LESS drying to my hair than other types of shampoo.
If you are going to use this as a shampoo, you have to keep a couple of things in mind;
-1. Use less than you think you need. Less than what you would use if you were using a normal shampoo. You are not going to get as rich of a lather with this soap. That doesn't mean it doesn't clean as well, and it doesn't mean you didn't use enough soap. A little known fact is that the ingredients that clean your hair in normal shampoos don't lather either. Shampoo manufacturers ADD lathering agents purely for consumer impression. You get the impression as you are washing your hair that you are getting your hair really super clean because you are getting a nice thick rich lather, but in reality, the lather is not what is doing the cleaning, and to a small degree, lathering agents actually prevent detergent agents from working as well as they otherwise would. That's why, in industrial cleaning supplies(not the ones you can find in walmart) they typically don't add lathering agents. Normal shampoos have harsher detergent agents than this soap because of that effect, and because of the types of ingredients in normal conditioners(read on).
-2. Lather, rinse, THEN REPEAT. Shampoo twice, even if you are unaccustomed to doing that with normal shampoos.
-3. RINSE REALLY REALLY WELL. After you have rinsed your hair and the soap is all out of it; rinse it all over again.
-4. Don't use a 'normal' conditioner, pick one without any heavy 'cones' in it. Most conditioners have ingredients whose last four letters end in c-o-n-e (like silicone, amodimethicone, cyclomethicone, etc.). Not all, but many, of these ingredients coat your hair and supposedly make it seem incredibly silky and shiny and beautiful and glorious and on and on (and cone leave-ins really give you this effect), but what they also do is keep the natural oils, from your scalp, and any other moisturizing products you may use, from actually getting into your hair, so you get on this cycle of stripping your hair with a normal shampoo, then coating your hair with a normal conditioner, then stripping then coating then stripping, etc., and your hair is getting drier and drier. Not all cones do this. There are lighter ones and ones that are water soluble that are not doing anything bad, and it's up to you to use cones or not, but...IF YOU ARE USING THIS SOAP FOR SHAMPOO...then I would recommend staying away from it altogether. The harsh detergents in normal shampoos can handle stripping the normal conditioners from your hair with one washing, but this shampoo is much gentler and probably won't. This is what I think people are doing wrong when they think this hair is drying their hair out. I don't know, maybe they are worried it might, so they get what they think is going to be a really good conditioner, but it's a 'normal' conditioner, and as a result they aren't giving this soap an honest chance. They think it's this shampoo, but it's really their conditioner, that is causing their hair to be dry. There are a ton of really good conditioners that don't have cones in them. Dr. Bronner's makes a conditioner, but it's pricey. The thing that makes this soap a great product is partly that it is almost immortal. (My last 16 ounce bottle of the peppermint lasted me 8 years. Admittedly, that was before I tried it as a shampoo, but that would've maybe shaved a couple years, at most, off of the 8.) The Dr. Bronner's conditioner will not last as long, and there are better ones that are cheaper. If you google 'Paula's Choice', you can find a website of the same name that has an outstanding ingredient list, so you can see what the good ingredients are, and there are tons of websites listing cone free conditioners. (Personally, I don't use a conditioner, I wash my hair and then when I am out of the shower I massage a nickel sized amount of light extra virgin olive oil into my hair. Yes, I actually do that. It doesn't make my hair oily, it just soaks right in. I've been doing that for a very long time, even when I was still using normal shampoo, and It has never made my hair feel oily. On days when I don't shampoo which is about 6 days out of 7, I just rinse my hair in the shower and if my hair seems dry when I get out, I will add a tiny amount more. This doesn't weigh my hair down either, like I said, my hair is curly and it still pops up in spontaneous ringlets) (I get my olive oil in a gigantic bottle from walmart that costs me all of around $1.62.)
-5. You don't need to wash your hair every day. That's not really about this particular shampoo, just in general. If you don't believe me, ask your stylist. Just, when you take a shower, rinse it and condition it, if you choose to use a conditioner. As I stated above, I really only wash mine once a week. Trust me; nobody will be able to tell.
A little note about the different scents I've tried; Peppermint smells heavenly but has a noticeable tingle, that's good if you like and want it, bad if you don't. Lavender is my second favorite, it's a strong lavender scent. I mean it, this is not lavender for the weak of heart, this is not 'glade plug ins lavender fairy-farts', this is not a freaking fabric softener with a baby teddy bear on the label, this is hardcore hippie tree hugger lavender (love for the hippie tree huggers). If you've never smelled lavender the actual herb, and you've only ever smelled lavender scented products (even the organic ones, because, of the ones I've tried, the organic products that are lavender scented are still not as strong as this one), then you might possibly want to buy the 4 ounce size first to try. I like the little 4 ounce bottle anyway because I can refill it from the big bottles and use it on trips, so then you'll have the bottle. Tea Tree is strong too, if you like tea tree (I do, I liked this one) you'll really love it, if you don't like tea tree you'll REALLY hate it it, if you aren't sure if you like it, then you should definitely buy the tiny bottle first and try it, you don't want to be stuck with a product that lasts as long as this one does if you don't like it. Tea Tree also seems to me to have a very light tingle to it. Lastly, Rose. ROSE. UGH. I read online and thought people who didn't like this scent didn't know what they were talking about about this scent being so bad, and I bought it anyway because I trust this company and I was a moron to do it. Really, honestly, trust me, it smells nothing like a rose, or even remotely floral, it smells like what I imagine rancid gummy bears might smell like if it were possible for gummy bears to rot, and it is so sickeningly strong and so sweet smelling that when you smell it it makes your teeth hurt. I use mine to clean my bathroom and pray longingly for the day when I'll run out of it.
Been loving the Bronner's for some decades now. The peppermint has only recently been toned down; now I can put it on my nether regions and not tingle to the edge of wincing. If it's too strong, just dilute it in the bottle; it'll still do what it does best: clean!
Yes folks, NOTHING will clean and refresh your skin like Bronner's. Strips off all the dirt but leaves your natural oils. Pure castille soap with zero additives except for the essential oils. Makes you realize how much of a film the artificial soaps leave; dove and ivory are a joke next to Bronner's.
It also is THE soap for hard water areas; this stuff lathers when nothing else will.
A gallon is an amazing deal, lasts forever and is about half the cost of buying the small bottles (Vitamin Shoppe has some excellent deals on many items of many sorts; check their site out). Bronner's is also great for washing hair, cleaning counters, dishes, etc, and even brushing your teeth. Sometimes when I camp it's the only thing I take for all of the above; Dr. B's does it all.
The only problem is it's no good for telling your kids you'll wash their mouths out with soap; it kind of tastes good!
I also love the almond soap, maybe even more than this one. Lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, etc; all are good in their own way. Try 'em all and find your favorite. You'll never use another soap again.
Bonuses include the most entertaining writing on any product label ever; old Dr. B was quite a philosopher and humanist, and his thoughts are special , and written in a unique style indeed.
As well, his family gives away most of their profits to various charities, and his son, who now runs the company, is a wonderfully friendly man who will talk to you and tell you some great stories if you call the company.
This is capitalism, and soap, at its finest.
Long live the Bronners!
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Dr. Bronner's is really fantastic stuff! I keep find more and more uses for it around the house. We've gotten to the point that we have replaced all of our toxic synthetic chemical products with this! The only thing I find it terrible for is washing windows, it leaves a film and you spend more time removing the film than the dirt! Otherwise, this stuff can easily replace 6-10 products around the home.
Be warned of this Peppermint, even though the peppermint is natural, it is extremely strong smelling. So strong, it can cause irritation for some people. I tried to use it on my floors, while it cleaned incredibly well, it nearly ran us out of the house the smell was so strong. This is even with me diluting it to a massive degree. I would recommend Peppermint for hand soap, dishes, laundry, anything outdoors. But would use something like Unscented, Lavender or Almond for general house cleaning, body soap and shampoo.
We also found this product is fantastic for cleaning our italian leather furniture! Normally we have to buy expensive solutions to effectively clean it while not damaging the leather. This stuff works perfect on it. If you use this in the bathroom for hand soap you don't need any air fresheners after you have a bowel movement. The peppermint quickly overtakes any other odors. We now use Bronner's for cleaning our jet tubs. Before they were very difficult to clean because you cannot use abrasive chemicals, but Dr. Bronner's practically melts the grim and dirt right off them!
Finally, I have dry skin. Up to this point I have been using Ivory Soap and it is horrible on my skin. A couple days of using Bronners and my skin is back to being normal! I love how this product rinses off so easily and leaves no films.
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I have used Dr. Bronner's soaps for decades. They were highly concentrated, excellent at removing grease and oils, and rinsed off easily. I quit using them when they changed their formula and diluted it. I decided to try it again and was really disappointed.
The description doesn't mention the first ingredient, water. "Pure soap" doesn't contain water. While it says it is "concentrated" that is not a clearly defined term. It takes about a tablespoon to equal what used to take just a couple of drops. This is now something you use right out of the bottle, not something you dilute for everyday use. It is even thinner there is a distinct difference in the color. It used to be a dark amber, now it is so light you can easily see through it.
To make matters worse it is no longer good at dissolving oils, not even perspiration. It used to be my favorite soap after playing mechanic with grease on my hands. This stuff needs to used it twice to remove heavy perspiration.
This is misrepresented as a concentrate and not very good cleanser. It has lots of cool ingredients, but is not a good soap.
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Best soap ever. I use it in the kitchen for hands and quick cutting board wash-ups. Here's my trick for saving water. Buy any kind of foaming soap in a pump dispenser. They're the ones designed to work with thin, watery soaps. Throw out the soap and rinse well. Refill with diluted Dr Bronner's 1:8, soap to water. Using the foamy dispenser keeps it from sliding off your hand before you can get to it.
Pump foamy soap on dry hands, lather, scrub, then turn on water to rinse, it only takes a few seconds to rinse away.
It's good for me, my senses, my pocketbook, and the planet. A quart will last forever.
Spread the word about the foaming pump dispenser!
I think I may regret ordering this product. For one thing, the wrapper on the soap I received is not the same as what is displayed for the customers to view. My soap does not even tell me what percent of bay laurel is in it, even if the percentage may be shown on the product's page here on Amazon.
