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Dr. Bronners

Ok, I just bought Dr. Bronners Classic Liquid Soap for bathing and was wondering if people just pour some onto a bath sponge and wet it or do you do the couple of cap fulls into water as suggested? Also, is anyone using this as shampoo? How do you do it? Doesn’t seem like it would really work but then again I am used to the crazy lather stuff from the supermarket. Was a bit surprised when there was really no lather at all with Dr. Bronners. I know there isn’t supposed to be but I thought there would be a little someting.

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  • jenergyjenergy Raw Newbie

    I’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s for years. Usually I just squeeze a little in my hand, rub my hands together and wash. I really like the peppermint soap in my morning shower… it’s invigorating!

    The literature written all over the bottle is entertaining, too. ;o)

    I’ve used it as shampoo before but didn’t really like it. It made my hair feel kind of “stripped.”

  • LOL jenergy .. funny I read the same thing on that bottle over and over again every morning. Which after noticing that it has inspired me to put affirmations in my shower so that maybe some good thoughts can sink in.

  • JDJD

    jenergy, do you use any other Dr. Bronners products that you would recommend?

    Yeah, I started reading the bottle and thought it was interesting. Of course I was in the store at the time and it just started to confuse me seeing how i was trying to figure out how to use the stuff first LOL :) 18-in-1 is a little strange at first!

    First used it this morning and my boyfriend said I smelled fresh but personally I couldn’t smell anything. I don’t think the lavander resembles lavander at all.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    pundee – Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Lotion is lovely and very minty. Just don’t slather it on before bed or you might be overstimulated!

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    i have used it for shampoo before but it tends to dry my hair. it’s perfect for camping though.

  • I use DR. Bronners for everything. I use it for body wash and shampoo. I just lather it in my hands. I don’t really find it drying. But it isn’t suppose to later. I don’t believe you will find a vegan soap that does. I read an article that said lathering is a result of animal and chemical additives, so it isn’t really a good thing to use a lathering soap. I use it also for cleaning floors, washing dishes, and cleaning everything else. It makes the house smell amazing…almond and peppermint are my favorites.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    Dr. Bronners lathers for me. I have used it for household type types though. You are supposed to dilute it. I squirt in my wash sometimes when I buy some and it makes everything smell nice. The soap is pretty nice. I think it is too harsh for hair though. I don’t use shampoo anyhow but if you are going to it on your hair – it really should be diluted. It is concentrated stuff!

    AsheyDaul – Is that you in the avatar? If so, your dreads are very lovely! :)

    Actually when something lathers – it doesn’t necessary means it is animal and chemical but what it does mean is that the ingredients have been chemically modified in a lab to make it suds. Like if you have ever used anything with oils like olive or coconut oil but nothing else much in it and it suds when you use it? – well, we all know that raw coconut or olive oil doesn’t really suds when you use it straight out of the bottle. The oils can be modified (it might say saponifated) to be “sudsy”. :)

  • It suds-up for me! I love Peppermint too! Better than coffee in the morning. I’ve been known to buy Almond or Lavender for bathtime (a healthy indelicate squirt into running water) and the occasional wee Tea Tree Oil for breakouts… A little in a towel wrung out with some hot water is a super pick-me-up. I don’t use it as shampoo, seems like it would be too drying.

    Regular Bronners works great for laundry, I like to do the bathroom rugs and towels in it, makes the whole room smell lovely.

    I just found their dish detergent! Wooo!

  • humboldthoney Dr. Bronners is celebrationg 150 years of soap making check out their website for all their products.

    I personaly love the almond and the lavander ones.

  • It lathers good for me . Its clear so its hard to see it go on something light in color so maybe you misjudged the amount.I also use it for brushing my teeth and it works better than toothsoap does that I paid 29 bucks for and its way cheaper.

  • How much of it do you use for a full load, I guess that would be a large load, of laundry?

    I just squirt some in my hands and use it.

  • BeTheChangeBeTheChange Raw Newbie

    Just a note—Dr. B’s doantes much of its profits to extremist anti-abortion causes…true?

  • Just thought I would add to this that I started using the almond and started breaking out in hives. I could not track it down because I eat almonds all the time with no problems. This went on for over three weeks until I finally figured it out. Wow, goes to show that you can have a bad reaction to anything.

  • i love dr. bronner’s! i used to use the peppermint in the shower all the time… when the level in the bottle went down, i would add water to make it last longer (i do this with dish soap as well) but otherwise i didn’t worry about diluting and just squirted some straight onto a shower puff… i figured that all the water in the shower did it’s job of diluting anyways… and i always found it lathered rather nicely!!

    BeTheChange—i’ve never heard that!! i hope it isn’t true… i just googled it and couldn’t find anything on it. where did you hear that?

    and hey, there is actually a documentary on the man behind the soap called “Dr.Bronner’s Magic Soapbox”. here is the description from netflix : Brilliant chemist, Holocaust survivor and mental hospital escapee, Dr. Emanuel Bronner invented his famous Magic Soap and founded the environmentally concerned company that’s just as popular today as it was among the counterculture in the 1970s. This documentary captures the complexity of Bronner’s relationship with his son Ralph, who spent years in orphanages and foster homes as his eccentric father sought to unite all mankind.

    who knew it got even whackier than the label?!

  • For laundry, I mix equal parts borax, baking soda, and Dr. Bronner’s and then add a gallon of hot water to mix. I store it in a old Tide detergent bottle. It is economical, earth friendly, and cleans really well too. :)

  • omshantiomshanti Raw Newbie

    the peppermint soap( my fav) really does repel ants! havent had any unwelome vistors since i sprayed my window sills and cracks with it!!!

  • newbienewbie Raw Newbie

    rawSarah – what are the equal parts? 1c/1c/1c to 1 gal water?

  • KristensRawKristensRaw Raw Newbie

    I dilute it down a bit, like noted above…I use some and then add water to the bottle when there’s room. I haven’t used it in laundry yet, but read this option to try:

    2 capfuls straight from the bottle into the washing machine.

    For cleaning my house, I use equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle with a drop of Dr. Bronner’s.

    Cheers, Kristen Suzanne

    www.KristensRaw.com

    www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com

  • Yes.. sorry. I use 1 cup of each to 1 gallon of hot water. :) I also use Bronner’s diluted as hand soap, and it works great as a spot treatment for most stains. :)

    Love it.. except as shampoo… I agree. It totally stripped my hair. :(

  • mewmewmintmewmewmint Raw Newbie

    usually i squirt it into the water… bronner’s lavender i like

  • I make my own vegan soap and it lathers beautifully! And it is very mild and moisturizing, as well. A beautiful soap can easily be made by steeping dried calendula blossoms or any other herb - just as you would make sun tea. I have used olive oil, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, flax oil, and coconut oil with great success. I will never buy store-bought soap again. I used to have a lot of problems with skin allergies, but not much any more since I have been using my homemade soap (without fragrance, unless you could the dried herbs.)

    And since you mix the lye water together with the oil at between 115 to 125 degrees, you could arguably call it "raw" (especially if you are using cold pressed oils.)

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    I'm cheap, I mean, thrifty, so I dilute it in pump bottles for all the sinks and showers. I like lavender. I find the peppermint stings like crazy.

    I've seen the documentary film. It was interesting. He was obviously a very complicated man.

    I would say there's zero percent truth to the anti-abortion rumor.

  • I love Dr Bronners Lavender!!!!! I always dilute it!!! It lasts forever...well not forever, but long enough I don't feel like im spending a ton and you can use it for cleaning tooo!!!!

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    I'm not impressed by Dr. Bronners. The bar soaps are just castile soap, horribly over-priced. They sell for $5 a bar. Castile soap for $5 a BAR.

    Their soaps contain what is laughingly called "fragrance".

    One of the Dr. Bronners household products is just a big, $10 bottle of detergent. Yes, it's detergent. Sodium lauryl sulfate. Big deal it comes from coconut oil. It's still cheap, sodium lauryl sulfate. $10?? Oh, sorry. It's also got fir oil in it. Okay, so it's sodium lauryl sulfate and pinesol.

    I guess if they make their products in the cleanest, safest way possible, and IF they take exceptional care of their workers and IF they do not hurt animals, then it's better than buying anything from Johnson and Johnson, but the prices are still pretty greedy and extravagant.

  • I've used Dr. Bronners every day for years. I always recommend it to people looking for a soap with ingredients they have actually heard of, or can pronounce... :)

    I use the unscented baby-mild version, ingredients: water, saponified organic coconut* and olive oil* (w/retained glycerin), organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid, vitamin E.

    *Fair Trade Certified

  • Raw CurlsRaw Curls Raw Newbie

    I've been using it for years and recently discovered, while in a Super Target store of all places, the citrus/orange scent. That is my favorite scent so far, before I was hooked on the almond scent.

    It doesn't lather like conventional soaps and body washes because it is natural and doesn't have any chemical soaping agents. I find that the more friction I use, the better it lathers, but I've gotten used to low lather and now it feels weird when I do use on occasion something else that lathers so unnaturally.

    Sometimes I'll use a little on my scalp if I have extra build up, but I usually just scrub my hair under the shower without any shampoo or maybe use a little ACV.

    I've tried to read the literature but have given up, because the writing is so small and I find it difficult to go to the next line on the other side of the bottle. The family of the creator who passed on has respectfully carried on the tradition and his wishes of spreading the Gospel, I love that and it keeps it unique.

  • I don't know what particular Dr. Bronner soap you use, but I use the liquid peppermint, lavender, tea tree, and almond, and have had excellent results. The only one I found that didn't foam up for me very much was the orange. All of the other ones I mentioned lather up great with a minimal squirt in a scrubby sponge. I also use it for shampoo, and it works great. The only problem I have is that for an oil based soap, it does dry out my hair, so I just rub in some baby oil and I'm good to go. =]

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    I think one of the contributing factors to lather or the lack thereof is water hardness, etc. I travel a bit visiting family, and have found that Dr. Bronners lathers best at home where I have a chlorine filter on my shower head. I like traveling with a minimum of stuff, so I pack a small bottle and use it for body and hand soap, shampoo AND toothpaste.

  • Wow - that's great to know! Did you also know that a diluted squirt of the stuff will kill just about any bug - immediately!

  • I LOVE the almond scent, and I squirt just a little bit in a puff, and it lathers for days. It lasts my entire shower, and even works as a shaving cream. Maybe it is the water, because it lathers great for us. I do have a chlorine filter, so maybe that's it.

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