What is Castile Soap?
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Originally castile soap was associated with olive oil soap coming from the Castile region in Spain. Nowadays, people associate castile soap with a vegetable based recipe.
Authentic castile soap is comprised of all natural ingredients versus the chemical foaming liquid washes/cleansers that one often finds in your local health food stores. Many people purchase what they think is a natural liquid soap, but actually what they are purchasing is a chemical formulation comprised of foaming agents, deconstructed fatty acids from vegetable oils or fats (oleochemicals), and/or petrochemicals and/or chemical anti-bacterial agents. Many synthetic cleanser/wash blends pose as `liquid soap’ but actually do not contain any real authentic soap.
Real natural castile soaps on the other hand, are created by mixing natural oils with an alkali (sodium hydroxide for solid soap or potassium hydroxide for liquid soap). Natural soaps have been created like this since soap was invented by our ancestors. Detergents and chemical cleansers have only been around since the advent of modern manufacturing processes.
The higher ecological impact of the waste stream and transportation issues due to complex manufacturing is often not considered in the greenness of a product. Mountain Sky’s natural authentic castile soap is produced with simple natural oils, essential oils and an alkali. Mountain Sky soaps retain its natural glycerin to create a milder natural soap. Mountain Sky soaps have natural anti-bacterial properties.
Simple and Easy Uses of Concentrated Castile Soap
(note-many people confuse concentration with thickness. We do not add artificial sugar thickeners like our competition. If a natural liquid soap product is thick, it is because a thickener has been used)
Example face wash: (3 cups water added to 1 cup castile soap) or (3 TBLS water added to 1 TBLS castile soap)
These are just suggestions; please adjust to your own desires. Mountain Sky Castile liquid soaps are perfect to use in regular pumps or foam pumps. To prevent clogging of pumps, please dilute the soap.
Re-filling Foam Dispensers
Counter Foam Pump – One 475 ml bottle will re-fill 7.5 small counter top foam pumps. Refill Recipe: 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap and fill rest with water. One 4 litre liquid soap jug will re-fill 63.5 small counter top foam pumps.
Wall Foam Pump -One 4 litre liquid soap jug will re-fill 20 wall foam pumps. Refill Recipe: 7 oz or just under one cup soap and fill rest with water. One Pre-Diluted liquid soap jug will re-fill 5 wall foam pumps.
Shampoo – 3 water to 1 Mountain Sky Liquid Castile soap.
Please follow-up with a natural rinse – 1TBLS of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice in 1 cup warm water.
Using castile soap as a shampoo will not get you the same results as using a detergent shampoo. Experimentation is necessary as each person’s hair is very unique.
Multi-Purpose Cleaning with Mountain Sky Liquid Castile Soap
Borax – bleaches, whitens and brightens- Do not use for cleaning food areas.
Washing Soda (sodium carbonate)-is a very strong cleaner of dirt and oil, use gloves when handling.
Baking Soda (sodium bi-carbonate)-is a milder version of washing soda
All Purpose Cleaner
- 1 tsp Mountain Sky Liquid Castile Soap
- ½ tsp washing soda (very greasy places) or 1 TBLS baking soda (milder cleaning)
- 2 cups hot water
- Mix and use to clean counter tops, dishes, stove tops and fridge. Do not use on wood.
You can also use Mountain Sky concentrated liquid castile soap without additives and dilute as per personal preferences for any of the above cleaning.
Window Cleaner
- ½ teaspoon Mountain Sky Liquid Castile Soap
- 2 cups water
- Mix and add to spray bottle. Clean windows with soap, then use vinegar and water to rinse streaks.
- Rinse with vinegar and water to clear the streaks
Laundry Use-two recipes –Only use with soft water
(Do not use in Hard Water or with High Efficiency Washing Machines)
For Extra Dirty and Oily Laundry
1 cup Mountain Sky Liquid Castile soap
1 cup Washing soda (sodium carbonate)
1 cup Borax
For Normal Laundry including diapers
1 cup Mountain Sky Liquid Castile soap
1 cup Baking Soda (sodium bi-carbonate)
1 cup Borax
Use one of the above recipes. Mix all ingredients in a 1-gallon container. Add hot water to fill the container and shake well. This will be a thinner concoction than commercial laundry detergent. (Most commercial liquid laundry detergents are artificially thickened) Shake up the mixture before use as it will separate. USE about 1/2 a cup per average laundry load.
This Laundry formula is designed for warm water and soft water cleaning and NOT for wool and silk fibers. For cold water cleaning and animal fibers, detergents must be used.
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