Baby wash is one of the nine uses printed on our label. Here is how to dilute it, why unscented matters most here, and the things we do not claim.
Baby wash is one of the nine uses printed on our label. That is the honest starting point, and everything below is about doing it carefully rather than about persuading you to.
This page is deliberately cautious. Skin that is a few weeks old is not adult skin at a smaller scale, and a product being gentle is not the same as a product being right for every child. If your baby has any diagnosed skin condition, ask your pediatrician before changing what you wash them with. That includes changing to this.
Of everything on our label, this is the line that matters here: no added fragrance, and no essential oils at all.
Fragrance ingredients are among the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis, and “natural” does not exempt them. Lavender, tea tree, citrus and peppermint are all documented sensitizers in some people, and several essential oils are specifically not considered appropriate for young children. A product labeled unscented that still contains essential oils is not unscented in any way a baby's skin cares about.
Ours contains none. If you want it scented, that would be your addition. A baby's bath is the last place we would suggest making it.
The label prints nine dilution recipes. None of them is a baby-specific ratio, and we are not going to invent one and present it as though it came off the bottle.
What the label does give you is the body wash recipe, equal parts soap and purified water, and that is the number to work down from rather than up to. This soap is 2-3 times more concentrated than ordinary liquid soap, and under-diluting is the most common reason anyone finds castile soap harsh.
A sensible approach:
For a bath rather than a wash, the same principle applies: less than you would use for yourself, and no bubble-bath additions.
This is the difference people are most surprised by, so it is worth stating before you are standing over a bath.
Commercial “no more tears” baby washes are engineered with specific surfactants chosen to reduce eye sting. Castile soap is not one of those products. It is a true soap, it is alkaline, and in a baby's eyes it will sting the way soap stings.
Practically, that means washing the face and head with a damp cloth and no soap on it, keeping the soapy cloth below the eyebrows, and rinsing thoroughly. None of that is difficult. It is simply not the same routine as a bottle designed around not stinging.
Soap residue left on skin is itchy, and an itchy baby scratches. Rinse with clean water until the skin no longer feels slippery, then pat dry rather than rubbing. Pay attention to skin folds at the neck, wrists and thighs, where residue collects and stays damp.
Put a little of the diluted mixture on a small patch of skin, leave it, and look again after a full day. One wash proves nothing: contact reactions commonly take 24 to 48 hours to appear.
Do this before the first full bath, not after a reaction.
Water, an organic blend of coconut, olive, castor, argan, jojoba, hemp, sweet almond, apricot kernel and prickly pear oils, potassium hydroxide, and USP vegetable glycerin. That is the complete list.
The potassium hydroxide is the one that worries people and should not: it is the alkali that turns oil into soap, it is entirely consumed in that reaction, and our label states that none remains after saponifying the oils into soap and glycerin. Every true liquid soap ever made requires one.
The claims an outside body assessed, rather than us:
What is not in it: artificial detergents, synthetic dyes, foaming agents, added fragrance, essential oils, synthetic preservatives.
This section exists because the gap between “gentle” and “treats something” is where most baby-product copy goes wrong.
This is a soap. It is not a treatment for anything. Not for eczema, not for cradle cap, not for diaper rash, not for any other diagnosed condition. Nothing here should be read as saying otherwise, and if your child has one of those, the person to ask is your pediatrician or dermatologist, not a soap company.
It cleans, it does not sanitize. Nothing here claims it kills anything.
Newborns generally need very little washing at all. Plain water is the usual advice for the early weeks. Follow whatever guidance you were given at the hospital or by your pediatrician over anything on this page.
Skip long bubble baths. That advice applies to every bubble bath on the market, not only this one. Prolonged soaking in soapy water is associated with urinary tract irritation in young children.
Baby wash is a printed use on our label. Dilute it well below body wash strength, use purified water, mix small batches and use them within two to three weeks, keep it out of the eyes because it is not tear-free, rinse thoroughly, and patch test first.
And ask your pediatrician before changing anything about how you wash a baby with a skin condition. That is not a disclaimer we are adding to the bottom. It is the most useful sentence on this page.
Pure-Castile Soap, 64 fl oz → | Castile soap and sensitive skin → | Full FAQ →
Yohan & Alex
Co-founders, Whole Naturals
For external use only. Keep out of reach of children. Discontinue use if irritation, redness or discomfort occurs.
