How Dr. Bronners Changed My Life

Welcome to Earthy Beauty Blog! My name is Serena and I am obsessed with beauty products. Recently I have been using a lot of organic, good for the Earth products. Just a few years ago there really weren’t that many eco-friendly products that worked well in my opinion. Lotions didn’t moisturize your skin, soaps were very drying and lacked fragrance, it really just turned me away from organic products.

About two years ago Whole Foods opened in my neighborhood. To compete with them, Wegmans renovated and built a huge organic section. Now there were two stores, minutes away with great selections of organic beauty products. The shelves had so many new items, and brands I never even heard of. I seriously had no clue where to start! The one thing I did notice were the prices in general. Everything seemed to be more expensive. To me it just didn’t seem worth spending $20 on a bottle of lotion. These were not “high-end” products in my opinion, they were just the “organic version” of drug store products.

My very first experience with an organic product that I loved was the Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Hemp Lavander Pure Castile Liquid Soap. A 32oz bottle retails for $17.99, but Whole Foods had a few scents on sale for $9.99. Lavander is my life and the bottle looked really cool so I figured I would give it a shot. I bought it to use as a body wash and I was quite happy with it. It contains organic coconut, jojoba, hemp and olive oils, preventing it from drying out your skin. But unlike your average body wash Dr. Bronner’s can be used 17 other ways!

Since it worked for me so well, it was time for some animal testing. The bottle does say it can be used as a shampoo on dogs. My pug has an issue with yeast and she needs baths quite frequently. For this reason I really need to use a product that doesn’t dry out her skin. My french bulldog has super dry skin; she suffers from dermatitis and gets irritated, cracked paws. Sometimes her whole stomach will turn beet red, I have no clue what causes it. This problem dog also has a serious problem with GETTING DIRTY! I need a shampoo that’s gentle and doesn’t cause irritation, doesn’t dry out the skin, cleans my dogs and smells great. I was happy to find Dr. Bronner’s did the trick. With an addition of a tea tree based conditioner for my pug and an oatmeal based conditioner for the frenchie I found a bath routine that works great for my dogs.

I have also used Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap to clean the floor. Although I have the Shark Steam Pocket Mop, having two dogs in the house means every once in a while I need a deep clean. In my opinion no technique makes the floor shine like getting on your hands and knees. I always just added Mr. Clean to water when using this method but after buying Dr. Bronner’s I figured why not give it a try. A LITTLE BIT GOES A LONG WAY! Dilute! Dilute! Dilute! is written right on the bottle. A small dash in a bucket filled with hot water gives you nice suds. If you add too much, the water will be too soapy and you will have to get on your hands a second time to rinse it off the floor. This product works great on my laminated wood floors and bathroom tile. It removes dirt and spill stains, I don’t get any residue, and the floor never feels sticky afterward. Then I noticed something really amazing!

Remember I said my French Bulldog had irritated and cracked paws? Words could not describe how bad they were. She had cracks on the pads of her paws, between her toes were red with wet sores from licking. One day I noticed that my dog hadn’t been licking her paws constantly, it was a few days since I last yelled at her to stop. A quick exam and the redness was gone, the cracks were healed and the wet sores disappeared. I couldn’t put my finger on why she suddenly stopped.

Her paws were doing great for a few months. Mondays are my big day for cleaning. Every 2 weeks I switch up routines. Week 1 is deep cleaning the floors and stove, week 2 is cleaning the windows and shower + dusting. In between I just sweep the floors and use my Shark Steam Mop. This Monday was time to get on my hands and knees but I was out of my castile soap. Instead I grabbed some Mr. Clean from under the sink. Later that day my dog started beating up her paws again. What is wrong with this dog? Maybe they sprayed the grass outside? What did she eat? Did she step in someth. . . OMG the Mr. Clean! As usual when I clean the floors the dogs go in the cage, trapped until the floors dry. It wasn’t like she stepped in a puddle of Mr. Clean. Just the chemicals leftover caused her a major irritation. Prior to using Dr. Bronner’s I only used Mr. Clean; Prior to using Dr. Bronner’s my dog always had irritated paws. It may not remove 99.9% of germs, but unless my dog has an accident or I drop meat on the floor I don’t need to remove every germ in the house. From that day forward I no longer use any harsh chemicals on the floor unless its to spot clean something that really needs it.

I haven’t used Dr. Bronner’s every single way it can be used . . YET! I have never used it to do laundry because I am married to Tide. In September my mom and dad were getting ready to go on a 2 month trip around Thailand. They were only carrying one multi-day backpack each so they had very limited space and did not want their bags to be too heavy. Clearly they were going to be washing the same few clothes over and over again. My parents came to stay with me a few days prior so they could take a cheaper flight out of Newark (they are currently living in Tennessee). My mom was very excited to show me what she had packed. As we were re-examining those few items she could bring I noticed she had a lot of soap. She had all these little sample sized bar soaps, hotel body washes and lotions. It really did add a lot of weight to her bag. I filled 2 travel bottles with Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap and gave it to her to replace the other 6 body washes and soaps she had. She opted for those two travel bottles and one bar. They returned in November, one week before Thanksgiving. They had a great trip. You can imagine how shocked I was to find one of those travel bottles in the shower half filled with soap! They were gone for 2 months! Not only did they use it in the shower but my mom washed her clothes with it. It doesn’t smell as strong as tide, or feel as fluffy after adding downy. But if your backpacking in the jungle all that matters is the dirt and sweat is removed, and you have clean dry clothes the next day. Clearly it doesn’t take much if they used 1.5 (3oz) bottles in two months. After using it on her trip, my mom is now a fan of Dr. Bronner’s.

All the Ways I’ve Used It

1. Body Wash
2. Shaving Creme
3. Bubble Bath
4. Hand Soap
5. Foot Soak
6. Pet Shampoo
7. Floor Cleaner
8. Stove Cleaner (Heavy Cleaning)
9. Multi-Cleaner (Light Cleaning)

You can go on Dr. Bronner’s Website to see all the ways you can use Liquid Castile Soap. On the back of the bottle it will tell you how to dilute for each use.

Since I’ve gotten hooked on Dr. Bronner I have tried some of their other products and scents. The Almond Pure Castile Bar Soap is quite nice. The downside to the bar is it has less uses although it did last a really long time. I have to admit if you love almond and your looking specifically for a bar soap for your body, Loccitane’s Almond Delicious Soap is my favorite. The almond shells inside make it exfoliating and it is more moisturizing. The Almond Delicious Bar is smaller and $6.99. Dr Bronner’s is $4.69 full price but will go on sale for about a dollar less at Whole Foods and Vitamin Shoppe. I have tried the Liquid Castile Soap in eucalyptus and rose. They work just as great and the smell of both is bomb. The rose scent does go on sale but it is always excluded from the $9.99 deals Whole Foods has; it usually cost about $13.99 if its on sale.

Next on my list is the Dr. Bronner’s Hand & Body Shikakai Soap. The white grape juice and shikakai powders make it more moisturizing. So if your already a Dr. Bronner’s fan or you didn’t like the castile soap because it was too drying on your body this is a good product to try. Stay tuned for an honest review on this product.

It’s amazing how one product can make such an impact in your life. For starts it completely changed my dogs life. But then it really got my thinking about other products I was using and other harmful effects they may have. Literally this one soap got me turned onto trying new organic products. Not only are they healthier for your skin, hair and body but they have less impact on the environment. I haven’t found great organic substitutes for all products that contain chemicals, they are not eliminated completely. If you want more brutally honest reviews on new organic beauty products, your in the right place. My hope is by reading this blog, you will go out there and try one new organic product. If everyone just switched one product in their house just think how much harm we are reducing to our planet. I hope you enjoyed reading my first post, and I hope you will come back to read more!

Dr. Bronners Lavander Castile Soap– $18.99
Dr. Bronners Rose Castile Soap– $15.99

(Click on the images to the left to be redirected to Amazon)