1. All Natural Lifestyle

11 Things You Should Never Do With Castile Soap

1. Mix It With Epsom Salt

Magnesium Sulfate, also known as Epsom Salt or Epsom Salts.

Here is a little bit of chemistry lesson for those who haven’t been in a high school classroom in decades (like myself). Two categories of substances are basis and acids. Bases or alkaline are substances that are usually slippery and bitter as a taste. Bases have a PH that is above seven. Acids have a ph of below seven and have a sour taste to it. Acids and bases react with each other and can have a canceling effect.

Soap is a base, and Epsom salt is somewhat acidic. The combination of the two doesn’t give you the benefit of the two combined.

How can I use Castile Soap with Epsom Salt?

You can use Castile soap as a body wash, rinse and then soak in a bath of Epsom salt. You do get the best of both worlds not be using them together, but by using them separately.

2. Mix It With Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide in plastic bottle on white background.

Hydrogen peroxide is acidic and as in the case of Epsom salt, mixing it with Castile soap cancels out the effects of both. When Castile soap and peroxide is mixed together, the peroxide becomes just water and oxygen and the benefit of the peroxide will be gone. What’s worse, if the peroxide is a higher percentage such as 30%, that released oxygen can cause an explosion if exposed to any kind of heat.

How can I use Castile Soap with Hydrogen Peroxide?

Hydrogen peroxide can make an excellent rinse aid for your laundry. Add castile soap to your detergent compartment in your washing machine and then use the peroxide as a rinse aid. Hydrogen peroxide can also be used as a rinse aid in your dishwasher. If you handwash the same logic applies.

3. Mix It With Oxygen Bleach

Oxygen bleach

Oxygen bleach is a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and washing soda. Mixing oxygen bleach and Castile soap will have the same effect as mixing hydrogen peroxide and Castile soap. That is, the result will be not as effective as the alkaline nature of castile soap will neutralize the peroxide in the oxygen bleach. If the result you want is an added boost of stain removing capability then first clean with Castile soap and then follow up with oxygen bleach.

One point to note here is that Castile soap is not a detergent. The two are chemically different, so while oxygen bleach and detergent go well together, the same cannot be said of Castile soap.

How can I use Castile Soap with Oxygen Bleach?

Similar to hydrogen peroxide, oxygen bleach works well as a rinse aid. You can add it to cleaning machines (washing machine and dishwasher) during the rinse cycle. Oxygen bleach also works well as a stain remover when placed directly on the stain before washing and then to soak for a couple of hours.

4. Mix It With Vinegar

white vinegar on the wooden table

Mixing vinegar with Castile Soap is asking for a messy situation. Vinegar turns the soap back into ints oil components and becomes an oily mess you do not want to use to clean anything.

How can I use Castile Soap with White Vinegar?

There is one exception where vinegar can be mixed with castile soap, and that is by adding baling soda to the soap. Baking soda is more alkaline than castile soap, and the addition of vinegar will act on the alkalinity of the baking soda, rather than the castile soap. You can try this by adding 1 part of baking soda to 1 part of castile soap.

In most cases, vinegar is the perfect complement to castile soap when you use it after Castile Soap. Vinegar can be used to wipe down hard surfaces after Castile Soap is used to remove any residue. Vinegar also works well as a rinse aid when either doing laundry or dishes.

This advice does not apply if the hard surface is made from marble as the vinegar will leave a mark.

5. Mix It With Aloe Vera

Cut Aloe vera

I am not sure what the sought after benefit of mixing these twos will bring since they are products used for different things. Aloe vera is typically used on the skin for sunburns and castile soap is a cleaner. The main benefit of aloe vera comes with direct contact to the skin.

Although mixing Aloe vera with Castile Soap does not have any adverse effects, the Aloe vera might not be effective. Adding it to castile soap doesn’t boost it in any way.

How can I use Castile Soap with Aloe Vera Gel?

Aloe vera gel helps sunburns so applying it after you have cleaned your skin with Castile Soap is a good option. Aloe vera also helps balance your hair’s ph which smoothes the cuticles, giving it a natural shine. By mixing with castile soap, you lose on that benefit.

You can add an Aloe vera rinse after you have used Castile Soap as a shampoo.

6. Club Soda

Can Of Club Soda

While club soda might be useful to clean windows, adding it to Castile Soap doesn’t enhance the cleaning effect. The soap will become very bubble, and if that’s the only thing you are looking for, then this might work, but together they don’t add any tangible benefits. Save your money or drink that club soda.

How can I use Castile Soap with Club Soda?

Club soda makes a great window cleaner. Just sprits a towel with it and wipe the window for Amazon shines, without ammonia. Castile Soap can be used before using club soda if your windows are dirty and need washing.

7. Mix it With Alcohol

the rubbing alcohol bottle isolate on white

Adding rubbing or drinking alcohol removes the foaming ability of the Castile Soap. One of the biggest complains of Castile Soap is that it doesn’t foam as much as synthetic soap. The lack of foaming, by the way, doesn’t mean it has less cleaning power, it’s just that we are conditioned to associate foaming with cleaning power.

If you add alcohol to Castile Soap, it will destroy whatever foaming abilities that were there initially.

How can I use Castile Soap With Alcohol?

The only cleaning use I know of for alcohol is to clean windows (I guess it also sanitizes hands). Similarly to club soda, alcohol gives windows a streak-free shine. So, if your windows are dirty and you can see the dirt on there, then first clean with Castile Soap and then wipe down with alcohol.

Either rubbing alcohol or drinking alcohol works, but I can think of a hundred more appropriate uses for liquor than cleaning your windows. Rubbing alcohol is far cheaper to use for this.

8. Mix It With Lemon Juice

lemon juice and fresh lemons

The results of mixing lemon juice with Castile Soap is the same as combining it with vinegar. The acidic nature of the lemon juice will neutralize the basic nature of the castile soap. What’s left will not have any cleaning power or worse, cause a messy situation.

How can I use Castile Soap With Lemon Juice?

You can use lemon juice to remove any leftover residue after using Castile Soap. But, only do so if you are not using it on marble as the lemon will damage it. Lemon juice can also be added to the rinse cycle of your dishwasher to enhance the freshness of the washed dishes.

9. Wash Color Treated Hair With It

Colorful Hair

Castile Soap is great to remove build-up on hair that can weigh hair down. Castile Soap by itself on hair has no moisturizing effect. If you add it to color-treated hair, you run the risk of stripping out the color from your follicles.

Please don’t try it if your goal is to remove the color. It will not strip away all the color, so the color that is left might not be desirable.

What can you use on your colortreated hair?

You can find many products available for use on color-treated hair. However, one shampoo that I have good results with is here. As a disclaimer, I don’t have color-treated hair, but this product claims to work on hair that has been colored.

10. Wash Hair With It Until You Know These Facts

Smiling young woman with afro hair

Castile Soap as a shampoo might disappoint you even if you do not have color-treated hair. Castile Soap returns your hair to its actual state and strips off and deposits made by other products. This can cause your hair to be dry and matted. You can reduce the dryness effect by adding about half a teaspoon of oils to a cup of castile soap.

In the case of adding oils to Castile Soap, more will not equal better. Oils will work against the cleaning effect of the Castile Soap, so more than the above prescription will not clean your hair. After washing with castle soap you need to rinse your hair with an apple cider vinegar solution. Try this rinse by mixing 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to a cup of water.

The apple cider vinegar rinse will remove the deposits left by the Castile Soap.

If you have afro-textured hair like myself, you might want to be extra cautious using Castile Soap as a shampoo. Our hair is prone to dryness, so we want to be cautious when using products that can cause more dryness.

11. Use It With Hard Water

Bathtub faucet
Bathtub faucet

Castile Soap has a high mineral content and so does hard water. Using Castile Soap with hard water will leave soap scum residue everywhere, leaving a bad finish and a poor recommendation of Castile Soap. You can add washing soda to Castile Soap to soften the water and reduce the possibility of soap scum.

How do I use Castile Soap if I Have Hard Water?

Baking soda helps to counter the effects of hard water. You can use about 1/2 cup of baking soda in your rinse cycle to prevent the mineral deposits from settling in your clothes. You can get this benefit of baking soda even if you do not use castile soap as a laundry detergent.

Finally

Castile soap is the perfect home-aid and can be used to clean toilets, make homemade laundry detergent and a myriad of other cleaning products. But, to use if effectively follow this guide. My favorite brand is Dr Bronner. You can check the price for the liquid one here, and for the solid soap here.

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