Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap and vinegar can clean an entire house. They are effective, versatile, biodegradable and non-toxic. But the sole point of this post is to emphasize that these two should not be mixed directly. This is true for the Castile Soap and any acid – any vinegar or lemon juice.
Since there have been several recommendations in online recipes and on TV to mix these two together, I want to address this topic. It’s not a dangerous combination, but it’s definitely moving in the wrong direction as far as getting things clean.
Here’s why.
In great part it’s due to the fact that vinegar is an acid and the Castile Soap is a base. They will directly react with each other and cancel each other out. So, instead of getting the best of both (the scum cutting ability of the vinegar and the dirt transporting ability of the soap), you’ll be getting the worst of something entirely new. The vinegar “unsaponifies” the soap, by which I mean that the vinegar takes the soap and reduces it back out to its original oils. So you end up with an oily, curdled, whitish mess. And this would be all over whatever it was you were trying to clean – your laundry or counters or dishes or whatever.
Check out this zoomed in picture of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap mixed directly with distilled white vinegar:
It doesn’t matter what else is in the solution, or in what order you combine them. If you end up with the soap and the vinegar in the same container, this reaction will occur. The only exception to this is if you buffer the soap with baking soda, which is another alkali. You’ll see this in my recipe for GIY Soft Scrub. In this case, vinegar reacts more readily with baking soda, and that reaction will take place first. For the Soft Scrub, it serves the purpose of creating that lovely, vertical clinging foam. If there is still unreacted vinegar, it will then react with the soap, which is why the ratios are important to maintain.
The mom in me has to point out that if you have kids who wonder about the purpose of science class in “the real world,” you can show them this little reaction. Of course, drinking milk and orange juice at the same time will also point out why you should know your acids from your bases.
So, for cleaning, there is a better way. Use the soap to clean and the vinegar as a rinse agent.
One common complaint with using the Castile Soap, especially on hard or shiny surfaces is that it leaves a film behind. This film is caused by the soap reacting with minerals in the water. It is not actually soap itself left behind, but rather certain salts. When this builds up on sinks and tubs, we call this soap scum. Vinegar is a great way to cut this. So after you’ve handwashed your dishes with Castile Soap and rinsed them, dip them in a sink of vinegar water. Or after you’ve wiped down the sinks and tubs with soapy water, rinse, and then spray with a vinegar solution (about 1 cup vinegar/quart water).
I’ll give more time to windows later (one of the things I actually really enjoy cleaning), but briefly, for dirty exterior windows, spray them with my Castile Soap solution, wipe them with a chamois, then spray them with vinegar and squeegee. Works great! Better than Windex.
Also, on the hair, if you do not have our Citrus Hair Rinse, but just want to use vinegar or lemon juice, rinse the soap out of your hair first. Then apply the vinegar or lemon juice.
So Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap and vinegar are a fabulous one, two punch. One after the other. Not at the same time.
Help! I did what I wasn’t supposed to do and mixed Castile Soap and vinegar. How do I clean it up?
The best way to remedy this is to re-wash the surface with the recommended dilution of Sal Suds or Castile Soap (If handy, Sal Suds is slightly better at grabbing the oils). In the case of laundry, wash the load with the recommended amount of Sal Suds or Castile, and with an added 1/2 (120 mL) cup baking soda (¼ cup [60 mL] in HE) and a pre-soak or pre-wash cycle.
As a sidenote: As a synthetic detergent, Sal Suds has a completely different chemical makeup than a true soap such as Castile Soap. While vinegar doesn’t cause it to unsaponify, adding even a small amount of vinegar to Sal Suds significantly reduces its cleaning and degreasing power.
Further reading
- What Can You Mix with Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds?
- What Can You Mix with Castile Soap?
- Sal Suds Dilution Cheat Sheet
- Dilutions Cheat Sheet for Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap
This use and many more are in my book, Soap & Soul: A Practical Guide to Minding Your Home, Your Body, and Your Spirit with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, available now in hardback on DrBronner.com or at your favorite bookseller, and as an eBook and audiobook (read by me!) from wherever you download or listen.
Hi Mary – To replace castile soap in a recipe, use half the amount of Sal Suds.
All the best,
Lisa
Hi, Lisa! I have a recipe that calls for liquid castile soap and vinegar together along with other ingredients. It has worked well for me, but I always noticed a film of oil at the top of the spray bottle (what I thought was essential oils). Not it’s making more sense that it is unsaponified soap. Here’s the recipe:
1/2 tsp of liquid castile soap
1 tsp Borax
1 tsp of washing soda
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 cups hot water
25-30 drops of essential oil
My question is how much Sal Suds can I use to replace the Castile soap? Is there a ratio that I should always consider when replacing the Castile soap with Sal Suds? I’m going to look at the rest of my cleaning recipes to make sure that the rest of them don’t have both vinegar and Castile soap. Thanks for your help!
Hi Andrew – I’m sorry to hear that. I hope others get your message beforehand, too.
Hi Patsy – Dawn is a detergent, so it would not have the same reaction with the vinegar. I’m not sure what would be causing the film, unless the solution wasn’t being fully picked up with the mop.
All the best,
Lisa
I notice when I mop my high shine laminate floors with vinegar, alcohol and a touch of Dawn, the floor seems to have a film on it. Could the Dawn also be reacting to the vinegar and causing this? Thanks
I just wasted a ton of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar and Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Liquid Castile Soap by mixing a buttload together in an empty glass bottle which I was going to use for my dandruff issues. BIG MISTAKE. Of course, I read this AFTER I did it and now I understand why the mess happened. Probably should have taken a chemistry class in high school haha. Oh well. Thanks for posting this online and people take the advice x2 from someone that just wasted way more than this picture. Cheers.
Hi Christie – If you’re washing dishes in hard water with castile soap, you’re probably noticing a film on the glassware. This is from hard water deposits, and vinegar will take care of them. Ideally, you would want to wash the dishes, rinse them in water, then rinse them in a vinegar solution.
All the best,
Lisa
Can you use liquid Castile soap to wash dishes and then a vinegar/water rinse?
Hi Sasha – You’re not the first to ask me that and I haven’t come up with any good possibilities. Don’t dump it down the drain, though because it is really greasy and could clog it. Find a spot to dump it outside.
Hi Christie – For handwashing dishes I use a diluted Sal Suds solution. I keep a bottle that is 1/4 sal Suds, 3/4 water for dishes. This doesn’t work in dishwashers, though. The Sal Suds produce too many bubbles.
All the best,
Lisa
Do you have a good dish liquid recipe that works well? Is it possible to use another soap in a vinegar recipe besides Castille? Thank you
Yep I used the bad recipe too. Funny though the first time it seemed to work fine but the second time it just jelled up. So what can I do with the portion that has turned back to oil? Is there anything? I’d hate to waste it.
[…] 2013 update: I finally discovered why my dishwasher detergent recipe turned into a disaster! Castile soap should never be mixed with an acid like vinegar or lemon juice – the acid reduces… Hence my […]
Hi Jen – The Environmental Working Group (an excellent independent research organization) has published a very useful guide to comparing cleaning products. Perhaps your hubby would gain some insight from there. Here’s the analysis of Original Tide: http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/1718-TideLiquidDetergentOriginal and Downy http://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/1752-DownyUltraLiquidFabricSoftenerFreeSensitive. Look around there to learn more than you wanted to know.
As far as your recipe goes, the castile soap is a surfactant that will bond the dirt and grime to the water molecules for easy rinsing. Salt is something I haven’t experimented with much, but according to research is a color brightener and cleaning booster. Washing soda is a laundry booster as well. The only change I would make is to swap out the washing soda for baking soda because washing soda is pretty intense and would wear down your clothes with frequent use. Save the washing soda for more occasional uses with extra dirty loads.
Hi Sofia – Using Dr. Bronner’s castile in a soft scrub would work very well. I’d make a paste with baking soda, a little salt, the castile soap and water. Scrub and rinse with hot water. The Sal Suds would be even more effective and maybe a little cheaper. With the SAl Suds, after you scrub, spray the surface with vinegar and watch the reaction. This would be a cleaning booster. Then rinse with hot water I haven’t heard of using glycerin as a preservative. When you make up solutions, make as much as you’d use up in a couple of weeks. Then you don’t have to worry about preserving it. Sal Suds is just as disinfecting as the castile soaps. You can’t go wrong with Sal Suds in cleaning your houses.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Lisa
Hello,
I am very happy to have found your blog. Thank you for all of the detailed information about green cleaning. I am a young owner of a house cleaning business. I am currently trying to replace all of the “traditional” cleaning products with eco-(and me) friendly products. Would you say using a homemade soft scrub with Dr.B’s in clients shower’s without a vinegar rinse over time would leave a build up? Would I be better of using the Sal Suds in the soft scrub instead of DR.B’s and adding vinegar to it? Would you say I would be better of doing a vinegar rinse each time regardless? I have seen many soft scrub recipes which add vegetable glycerin as a preservative, do you know if it really works in such a manner? Does Sal Subs have anti-bacterial properties like many of the other Dr.B’s soaps? I apologize for all the questions. I have to be as careful as possible while maintaining efficiency since I am dealing with others property. Trial and error is nearly not an option. Thank you in advance for any answers you may have.
Hi Lisa! I was hoping to get your opinion on the following laundry soap recipe I found.
1 cup DB castile soap
1/2 cup table salt
1 1/2 cups washing soda
5 cups hot water
My hubby is leery of natural products, since all he knows are the manufactured big-name ones. What can you tell me about the chemistry of the final product? (He is an engineer and likes his empirical evidence!)
The recipe went on to recommend filling a Downy ball with vinegar to use as a fabric softener.
I like these ideas, but need some hard proof to convince Hubby to let go of his Tide and Downy!
Thanks!
its great for moisturising & protecting leather though, such as couch
Hi Jenn – Sal Suds does contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). I wrote about that here: http://lisa.drbronner.com/?p=197. People are usually concerned that it is carcinogenic, which it isn’t. It is, however, as you say, irritating because it is so drying. It shouldn’t be in bodycare products and yet it is ubiquitous. If you’re soaking your hands in Sal Suds a lot, you may find that your hands are dry. The product page at the Dr. Bronner’s website has a pretty thorough explanation of what else is in the Sal Suds: http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/SSLI32/SalSudsLiquidCleaner.htm. Please let me know if I can answer further questions.
All the best,
Lisa
Hi Julie – Don’t worry about getting everything right at the first go. It’s definitely a learning process. Your cleaning solution may still be cleaning depending on the ratio of the ingredients. The apple cider vinegar might have not been enough to nullify the castile soap completely. HOwever, it’s not helping. One of them has to go. Also, do take care with using both borax and super washing soda. They are natural, effective, sustainable, and biodegradable, but both are fairly caustic. Be careful not to touch them or breathe them. (My unsolicited recommendation is to simplify this and just go with soap and water, or Sal Suds and water.)
Good luck! Let me know if I can answer other questions (and I’m usually more prompt).
All the best,
Lisa
Hi Laura – Here you give me a lovely compliment and I totally drop the ball. I am so sorry for my delay. I checked out that recipe, and yes, I agree with you. There is no point to adding the lemon juice. The solution will still clean because the lemon juice will react only with some of the castile soap. There will still be castile soap leftover to do some cleaning. But the lemon juice isn’t doing you any favors.
Some recipes combine vinegar and baking soda because they can produce a foam. I recommend it in deodorizing sinks and for scrubbing soap scum, so that may explain it in the recipe you have seen. The baking soda is still gritty after reacting with vinegar, so it can still be a good scrubber. If you find that recipe, let me know and I’ll take a look at it. (And get back to you sooner than three months later).
Hi Amy – You probably don’t have this question anymore, but there is nothing you can do to undo this reaction. 🙁
All the best,
Lisa
Hi there! I have jumped in with both feet, and am loving all the new natural things I’ve been researching! (Cleaners, makeup, facial cleansers, etc.) I just now saw the idea that I shouldn’t mix Castille with vinegar (and went “Eeeek!”, but I had already done it and have it in a spray bottle that I’ve been using for the past week. I actually had a BAR of Castille (Dr. Kirk’s) that I’d finely grated,and used Apple Cider Vinegar, Borax, Super Washing Soda, Tea Tree Oil and Orange Essential Oil, plus a few cups of water. There was never any clumping, etc. that I read about. It all blends nicely, but I don’t want to “clean” my counters, etc, if it may not actually be “cleaning!”
You thoughts/comments/ideas, please?? I appreciate your help very much!!
Thank you, Julie
Hi,
Doesn’t Sal Suds contain SLS? That is one of the ingredients we are told is harsh on skin, irritating… and EWG considers undesirable. Can you elaborate on the ingredients in the product so I know if it is something I would consider using? I have many other DB products because of their safety.
Thank you.
What will undo this concoction?? Wish I had seen this yesterday!!
First, I have to say I’m impressed you’ve answered everyone’s questions! It’s really great that you are willing to read every comment, try out the recipes people are having problems with, and give thoughtful feedback.
I have a follow-up question about the ecokaren dishwasher detergent recipe (http://www.ecokaren.com/2011/10/non-toxic-and-cheap-dishwasher-detergent/). You mentioned that there isn’t enough lemon juice in it to fully nullify the castile soap… so is there any reason to include it at all? I found a recipe (I can’t seem to find it anymore) that recommended using a large quantity of vinegar with 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda, and my first thought was that you’d just be left with an acid (the baking soda would react completely). I’m no chemist, though, so maybe there is another reason to use these small quantities of an acid in a largely basic solution, or vice versa.
Hi Suzanne – Yes, you can certainly add the essential oil. Only water soluble substances have pH, and since essential oils are, well, oils that don’t dissolve in water, they don’t have a pH.
Hi Wendy – What is it that you’re using as a leather moisturizer?
All the best,
Lisa
great leather moisturiser though!
Hi Lisa- I just have a quick question that you sort of answered right above my post but I want to make sure. Can I add pure Grapefruit essential oil to my Castile/Water spray bottle without the acid and base fiasco? I want to up the citrus smell on the Citrus Castile soap and add to my unscented Castile soap. Thanks!!
Hi Cristina – Another friend of mine had also come across the same recipe. There isn’t enough lemon juice in it to nullify the castile soap fully, so you’re still getting cleaning power from the soap. The lemon juice, though, would still react with the soap. I use the peppermint in the kitchen, too. It does double-duty of washing dishes and counters, and giving me an oft-needed, middle of the day pick-me-up!
Hi Jessica – The Citrus Castile soap has essential oils (from orange, lemon, and lime) in it and not juice. Oils do not have a pH because they are not water soluble, and so they do not react with the soap. I absolutely love the Citrus soap for cleaning. I highly recommend it.
Please let me know if you have further questions!
All the best,
Lisa
I want to buy the Dr. Bronner’s Citrus Liquid soap for making cleaning recipes. I’m confused by this whole acid issue. Would the citrus in the soap be acidic and stop the cleaning property? But then again, I would think they would have figured out a way to combine the two and have it still work. Should I buy a different kind for cleaning other than the citrus? Help!
http://www.ecokaren.com/2011/10/non-toxic-and-cheap-dishwasher-detergent/
I found this and tried it, then I found this post. It seemed to have worked, but I only made a 1/4 recipe (just in case). Maybe it will be helpful? I only had bottled lemon juice, but I figured it would be good enough. And I know it’s not “kitcheny” but I LOVE your Peppermint Castile soap so it is my go to for everything!
This blog was helpful on a side note because I use a spray bottle of well-diluted vinegar with a squirt of the peppermint Castile & water. I haven’t noticed an issue with the cleaning power but it makes me worry I haven’t been “cleaning” the table and counters as well as I thought! Thanks for the great info!
Oh, that reminds me! Is there some reason the regular castile soap shouldn’t work in a foam pump dispenser? Mine keep getting clogged!
Hi Chris – I would think the Sal Suds would work well in a foaming pump dispenser. I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see any issues. Depending on the size of the container, maybe a tablespoon or two of Sal Suds in the water.
Let me know how it goes!
All the best,
Lisa
Hello Lisa – First let me thank you for your amazing products. My questions is, I was going to try the Sals Suds cleaner. How would this work in a foam dispensing bottle diluted with water? I wanted to start using it to wash dishes.
Can you consume, like drink Dr.Bronners Peppermint Liquid Soap?
Hi Briana – No, please do not drink the soap. It is not toxic, but it might not sit well in the tummy. And who knows, you may even burp bubbles. (I shouldn’t mention that to my 6 year old. He’d think that’s cool.)
All the best,
Lisa
Hi Danielle – If you’ve poured a vinegar/soap combo down your drain and it is clogged, it is oil that you’re dealing with. A surfactant would be the best thing because it would bond with the oil and with the water to carry it away. Sal Suds is one option, followed by a good dose of really hot (not boiling) water. If there is debris in the drain (I’m thinking hair), the oil is clinging to that as well, and it would be best to clear that out as well. I haven instructions at the end of this post about deodorizing a sink: http://lisa.drbronner.com/?p=221.
Hi Julie – If there is unreacted vinegar leftover from the reaction with washing soda, it will react with the soap. You can always try this out and see. Test the mixture afterwards to see if it leaves your hand oily.
(I will try the alcohol experiment when I’m home. I am currently on a cross country roadtrip, but will be back at the end of the month.)
All the best,
Lisa
Hi – I found your post very interesting. So, what if you mix vinegar and washing soda together, then add Dr. Bronner castile soap? Does that change the reaction? Thanks!
Do you have a solution for if this mess clogs a pipe?
Hi Lisa,
Let me know if/when you do the alcohol experiment…and if you think it works!
Hi Alissa – You are right on. The Sal Suds does not have this same problem when mxed with vinegar.
Hi Terri – The Sal Suds would be a great option to boost the cleanign power of the vinegar . It is a disinfectant, but is non-toxic, and even if you were to leave residue on the floor accidentally, it would not harm your dogs.
Hi Em – Chemically speaking, when the rinse combined with the soap on your hair, the soap returned to its original oils, so your hair became coated with oils. This happened to me recently, although I did it on purpose when I tried a coconut oil deep treatment and used way too much coconut oil. After three washings with soap, i fianlly did a washing with Sal Suds to get the oil out. Vinegar will not help because it will not bond with the oils . You need a surfactant (i.e. soap or detergent) to grab hold of the oils.
Hi Tiffany – Every soap or “liquid dish soap” (which generally is a detergent) is different in its concetnration. So a one to one ratio is not universal.
Hi Faith – I’ll check out this recipe! Working on a dishwasher recipe is on my “to do” list.
Let me know if there are any other questions. I haven’t done the alcohol/castile soap experiment yet.
All the best,
Lisa
Thanks so much for the reply…bummer it cannot be used for anything else! 🙂 🙂
Hi Lisa!
I LOVE Dr.Bronner’s products. My husband and I use the bar soaps, liquid soaps and Sal Suds.
I noticed a post asking about using Castile soap in the dishwasher. Didn’t work for us.
I thought I would share our concoction which has worked fabulously (please note that we do rinse our items a little before putting them in the dishwasher). It’s a little extra effort with things in separate containers but we keep them all easily accessible on our counter so it’s quick and it’s worth it to us the replace commercial dish washing detergent and seemingly less effective natural ones!
Powder:
1 part NATURAL oxygen powder bleach
1part washing soda
Lemishine Powder or Citric Acid (* kept separate from the other ingredients or annoying clumping occurs!)
Liquid:
Sal Suds
DIRECTIONS:
2 tsp of washing soda/oxygen bleach mixture
1 tsp of Lemishine powder or citric acid
1/4 tsp Sal Suds
( all in dispenser )
If things are rather greasy I’ll put a small glass bowl upright on the top rack and pour about a TBSP of a vinegar pre-rinse I make with about
1 1/2 cups vinegar with a drop or two of Sal Suds
We like to use Lemishine Rinse agent for the rinse cycle in the same small bowl on the top rack (bc our dispenser leaks) but I have read many like just vinegar .
Hi Lisa, I’m so glad I found this as I’ve been working on making some green cleaners for my house. My question is: many recipes I see have liquid dish soap or (as a substitute) liquid castile soap. Is castile soap really a substitute for dish soap? Particularly as a 1:1 substitute?
I’ve been using Dr. Brommer’s as “shampoo” and then rinsing with diluted vinegar chamomile “conditioner” for a few months now but two days ago I guess I was rushing in the shower and maybe didn’t rinse well enough before using the vinegar b/c my hair was rough, tangly and greasy through the next day and when I showered that evening in an attempt to get it thoroughly clean – I “shampooed” and “conditioned” and thought I was rinsing well. Well….still not back to normal. I read this last night and tried this morning to just rinse with a stronger vinegar rinse hoping this would get it out, but it hasn’t. It was somewhat better, I was able to comb through it better, but it’s still not right. What should I do to get the build up out?
I am new to this green cleaning as well. I actually started because I have 2 Maltese doggies. One is having a very difficult time with allergies or yeast or air pollutants. I am revamping everything I’m doing for him to get him off prescription meds. I am seeing big improvements.
My biggest concern is cleaning my floors. I have been using vinegar and water. But that makes the floors very dull. Someone suggested spraying pure Club Soda on floors after the vinegar mop and they will be shiny and non toxic. That works great, to my surprise.
My dilema is that sometimes I’m cleaning up pee, poo or vomit (gross, I know, but comes with the territory!) or their raw food diet and I feel like the vinegar and water, even with added tea tree or theives oil, is just not cleaning up well enough. Is the Sal Suds completely safe to use around my little guys if I follow the dilutions mentioned?
I suggest using dr. bronners sals suds instead of castille. Works way better.
I’ll wait to hear back on the alcohol question as well. Thanks for all the information!
So…any suggestions WHAT can be done (if anything) with an already made concoction comprised of the soap and the vinegar? The recipe for automatic dishwasher liquid soap I followed was:
2 cups of vegetable-based castile soap (such as Vermont Soap Organics or Dr. Bronner’s)
½ cup of water
½ cup of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
3 drops of your favorite essential oil
The dishes, even with a vinegar rinse, are COVERED in residue. I’d hate to just throw it all away, since I doubled the recipe, and the 4c of the soap is in there…
Hi Jo – I am so sorry. I can’t think of anything useful to do with this. You might not even want to dump this down your drain because there’s a lot of free oils in there now. It might be hard to wash all that down and your drain might get coated. Do you have an empty field you can pour it in?
This is such a pervasive misconception! The vinegar and castile soap are so great and natural and safe – separately. I fear people try this and then get frustrated with the whole “green” thing. It’s giving “green” a bad name.
Hang in there,
Lisa
I am mystified. I’m not trying to cause a ruckus, either, but my mixture is not oily at all. With 1/4 *teaspoon* of soap to 2 cups of vinegar & water – I don’t know how it could be *really* oily.
Hi Anna – I really don’t want to make a ruckus here. I know that you said that it still works for you in your cleaning, but I just tried this mixture. When I put my hand in this solution, it came out quite oily. The vinegar/water solution without the soap would definitely clean surfaces – and if that’s all you have, it will take you pretty far. However, I really don’t think adding the soap is doing you any favors, even though it may seem otherwise.
Hi Danielle – Alcohol is a good germ killer (and is the active ingredient in Dr. Bronner’s hand sanitizer). However, it is not a surfactant, which means although it would kill germs, it would not bond with dirt and water to carry it off of surfaces. I don’t know about the effects of combining alcohol with castile soap. I will look into that and get back to you.
All the best,
Lisa
Is it possible to add a teaspoon or two of alcohol to the water/castille/essential oil spray? I understand tea tree and lavender are natural antiseptics, but would alcohol give it a bit more cleaning oomph? Chemistry has never been my strong suit, so the idea of adding alcohol is just me trying to get things a bit cleaner. Basically, I want things super clean AND green but I also love the smell of lavender, etc.
I thought Marci had a good point.
I have been using a recipe from John Robbins book
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp bronners
Yes, it gets cloudy/curdly. But, it also seems to clean great. (I’ve got not scientific explanation for why – I took chemistry and got an A, but was not a “natural” at the subject) I’ve been using it for about a year and have been very satisfied with the results. Granted, it has very little soap in it, but it seems just enough to give the vinegar a little lift (I also use straight vinegar/water for some applications – like windows – and it seems less effective for countertops). I especially like that the recipes I use are non-toxic, and my preschooler can “help” clean without me worrying.
Maybe Marci’s explanation is why it seems to work so well?
Hi Anna & Deborah – Dishwashers are an entirely different cleaning process than pretty much everything else. Both soaps (such as Dr. Bronner’s castile) and many detergents (such as Sal Suds) contain mainly surfactants, which clean by bonding both to grease and to water at the same time. They also are what produce the bubbles. In dishwashers, bubbles are problematic. Not only can the dishwasher not contain them, and often you’ll find them oozing out the side, but without the mechanical scrubbing action of a human hand holding a brush or cloth, they don’t work all that well. Instead, dishwashers need things that will loosen and dissolve debris, so they turn to things like phosphates (very effective but also polluting) and enzymes (which eat away at food particles). I have not yet found a good recipe for the dishwasher. In buying products, I look for ones that do not contain phosphates. I also keep it well away from my kids – top shelf in the pantry – because they are one of the most harmful household products.
If anyone wants to propose a homemade solution, I’d love to hear it. You can post it here, or email me at lisa@drbronner.com.
All the best,
Lisa