Which product can I use for dishwashing?Updated a year ago
Our soaps are great cleaners for almost any household purpose, with the only notable exception being that they should not be used in the dishwasher unless you’d like to have a bubble party in your kitchen!
Some customers say that our soaps have worked in their dishwashers, but we simply can’t recommend them as they suds too much. Our soaps do a great job of cleaning the dishes, but they could cause damage to your dishwasher because it could overfill with suds. If you do decide to try it, we suggest using a tiny amount of soap.
To handwash your dishes with either our Pure-Castile Liquid Soap or Sal Suds Biodegradable Cleaner, we recommend a couple of methods.
The first is to fill your sink with water and add either 1-2 Tbsp. (15-30 mL) of our soap or 1/2 – 1 1/2 tsp. (2.5 mL) of Sal Suds.
If you prefer to use a dispenser, we recommend only using a foaming pump dispenser. Our Pure-Castile Soaps are quite concentrated and inevitably, the regular pumps always clog. For use in a foaming pump, dilute either ¼ cup Tbsp. (60 mL) of soap or 1 Tbsp. (15 mL) of Sal Suds into an 8oz container of water. You are aiming for a 1:3 ratio for the soap and a 1:15 ratio for our Sal Suds.
The last way we recommend is to make an all-purpose spray cleaner by combining ¼ c. (60 mL) of soap or 1 Tbsp. (15 mL) Sal Suds with 1 qt. (1 L) water or in a spray bottle. Then all you need to do is spray the dirty dishes down and scrub them. You can find a full breakdown of how to make an all-purpose spray also of Lisa Bronner's blog, Going Green with Lisa Bronner.
When diluting our soaps, please keep in mind that we only recommend diluting a portion that will be used up within 2 weeks to a month. We do not add any harsh preservatives to our products, so once diluted, they will not last longer than 1 month. Using distilled water will be more helpful since hard water can cause separation within our Castile Soap.
Lastly, if you have hard water, it is possible to encounter some mineral build-up when using our Pure-Castile Soap. The interaction of hard water, and even soft water, with any true soap (not synthetic detergent-based soaps), can leave behind a thin film of minerals that appears as residue or “soap scum.”
Hard water contains dissolved minerals in the form of calcium and magnesium. All true soaps, such as castile soap, will react with these minerals to form insoluble stearates, which are visible as a whitish precipitate. This whitish precipitate builds up primarily on surfaces where water is left to dry, such as in sinks and showers. It is typically not an issue on floors, counters, or other hard surfaces where the castile soap is diluted for cleaning and standing water is mopped or wiped up.
You can easily dissolve residue left from our soap with vinegar by diluting one cup (240 mL) of vinegar in a quart (1 L) of water and spraying it on the affected surfaces. Let it sit for about 5 minutes (not long enough for it to dry), and then rinse it away with very hot water.