The simplest of the nine label recipes: equal parts soap and purified water. Why undiluted castile soap disappoints, and how to get the lather right.
Castile soap is the one product in most bathrooms that people use wrong on the first try. They pour it neat onto a washcloth, find it thin and low-lathering, and conclude it does not work. The problem is concentration, not the soap.
Whole Naturals Pure-Castile Soap is 2-3 times more concentrated than ordinary liquid soap, body wash or cleanser. Commercial body washes arrive pre-diluted and thickened with additives that create the foam people associate with cleaning. This soap has no artificial detergents, synthetic dyes or foaming agents, so what you dilute is what you get.
Used neat, it is wasteful and can feel harsh. Diluted, it lathers properly and one 64 fl oz bottle, half a gallon or 1.9 liters, lasts an unreasonably long time.
Straight from the bottle label:
Body Wash & Hand Soap: Mix ½ cup soap with ½ cup purified water.
Equal parts. That is the entire recipe. Use purified or distilled water rather than tap where you can. Minerals in hard water react with soap and leave a film.
Pour the water in first, then the soap. Reversing the order makes the mixture foam up inside the bottle and you will spend a minute waiting for it to settle. Cap it and turn it end over end a few times rather than shaking hard.
A pump dispenser works well for hand soap at a sink. For a foaming dispenser, dilute further, roughly one part soap to three parts water. Foaming pumps are built for thinner liquid and will clog on the standard mix.
The lather is creamy rather than airy, and it rinses clean without the squeaky feeling that means a cleanser has stripped your skin barrier. The soap is unscented, so there is no added fragrance to react to. It is made with an organic blend of prickly pear, argan, jojoba, sweet almond and hemp oils, which is why it does not leave skin tight.
Use a diluted mixture within two to three weeks. There are no synthetic preservatives in this soap, and it is the water you add that introduces microorganisms. The concentrate on its own keeps for three years from opening, stored cool, dry and out of direct sunlight with the cap closed.
So mix a cup at a time rather than diluting the whole bottle at once. A little separation between uses is normal either way, since diluted castile soap is water and soap with nothing holding them together. Turn the bottle a few times before use.
The same bottle also becomes shampoo, facial cleanser, dish soap, laundry detergent and an all-purpose cleaning spray. Nine dilution recipes are printed on every label.
Yohan & Alex
Co-founders, Whole Naturals
For external use only. Keep out of reach of children. Discontinue use if irritation, redness or discomfort occurs.
