# Dr. Bronner liquid castile soap



## Michaelhannaster

Anyone have any good recipes on making liquid castile soap like the dr browner style? I am a beginner soap maker and have had some good luck with my recent bars and would like to venture out. I found a nice looking recipe for shaving cream but it calls for the dr browner liquid castile soap and rather do it myself if I can.

Thanks


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## Lindy

First Dr. Bronner's is NOT a castile but rather a cloy marketing ploy.  I would recommend that you look at the ingredient list on the package.  I have refused to buy any of their products because of their marketing techniques which diminish the value of what is a true castile..... grrrrr


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## Lion Of Judah

Lindy said:


> First Dr. Bronner's is NOT a castile but rather a cloy marketing ploy.  I would recommend that you look at the ingredient list on the package.  I have refused to buy any of their products because of their marketing techniques which diminish the value of what is a true castile..... grrrrr



what is true castile ??? / i know Dr.B uses coconut in theirs. now some say 100% olive oil is true castile..... and others accept the adding of Laurel  oil as still being acceptable castile practice.


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## Obsidian

True castile is 100% olive oil and nothing else. When it has Laurel oil added, its called Savon de Marseille soap. I had been buying kirks castile for years and though it was the "right" stuff. It wasn't until I did a bit of research that I found out how false that is. I picked up a bar of kirks today, just to do some comparison with it and my CP soaps. On the back label it say that castile is any soap made with all vegetable oils, no wonder there is so much confusion on the subject.


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## northernsoap

Just my 2 cents, but wouldn't just making a batch of olive oil based soaps - then liquifying them with distilled water work?


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## lsg

northernsoap said:


> Just my 2 cents, but wouldn't just making a batch of olive oil based soaps - then liquifying them with distilled water work?


Usually that method turns into "snot" over time. Here is a tutorial using the glycerin method:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VUGV_H7bZU&list=TLWuyA4d7BhQE[/ame]


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## SarahTH

Dr. Bronners is a bastille soap from what I understand the definitions to be.   I made my own liquid bastille soap in a crockpot with wikihows directions using KOH "potassium hydroxide" and with the ingredients I wanted. I also thickened it using a small solution of canning salt and warm water, it thickened nicely but is slightly cloudy.  I don't care about the cloudiness I use to make my own shampoo and I also use it straight up for washing dishes.  I works super good, even leaves the suds ring around the sink just like the old Palmolive used to before they introduced all the detergents to it.


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## LovelyMalia

My next venture is liquid soaps. I recently started reading "Better Basics for the Home" by Annie Berthold-Bond and I feel like making a liquid castile that I can use as "all purpose" throughout my home would be ideal.

We'll overthrow Dr. Bronners!

When I first started making soap, I remember looking at the ingredients of those soaps and wondering how they could sleep at night knowing that they advertise as 100% all natural and CONVINCE people of it when they are so far from healthy/natural, its ridiculous!

**Side note: "Better Basics for the Home" is an amazing book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to make a few natural, healthy changes to their life and the products they use. Not to mention, the book doesn't harp on you about how you're going to die every time you use dish detergent because of whatever reason like some books/experts do. I highly recommend it.


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## Lion Of Judah

Obsidian said:


> True castile is 100% olive oil and nothing else. When it has Laurel oil added, its called Savon de Marseille soap.
> 
> Savon de Marseille is a whole other soap onto itself which hails out of Frace . Both Aleppo and Savon contains Laurel berry oil in its recipe, and Savon contains seaweed and seawater. Aleppo contains up to 20% laurel berry oil / and has been called "Savon de Aleppo/Savon de Alep


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## bodhi

Lindy said:


> First Dr. Bronner's is NOT a castile but rather a cloy marketing ploy.  I would recommend that you look at the ingredient list on the package.  I have refused to buy any of their products because of their marketing techniques which diminish the value of what is a true castile..... grrrrr



Ha Ha!  Thank you Lindy for sparing me from saying it


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## Lindy

Ah Bodhi it is such a sore spot for me.  I see people who do know better call their bastille a castile to compete.  Idiots.....


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## bodhi

Lindy said:


> Ah Bodhi it is such a sore spot for me.  I see people who do know better call their bastille a castile to compete.  Idiots.....


Me too, and Grrrrr....


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## Robert

What's "bastile"?  Bastardized castile?


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## bodhi

Yup.  _IMO anyway._


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## Robert

What I find funny is how Bronner's (and various other products of various kinds) got its hippie cachet.  Bronner's family popularized liquid soap as an institutional product way, way back, and plenty of people had experience with it at refillable dispensers at sinks and piped in to communal showers.  So he came up with a few more scents and plastered bottles for home use with fine print propaganda, and voila a boutique product!


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## bodhi

Robert said:


> What I find funny is how Bronner's (and various other products of various kinds) got its hippie cachet.  Bronner's family popularized liquid soap as an institutional product way, way back, and plenty of people had experience with it at refillable dispensers at sinks and piped in to communal showers.  So he came up with a few more scents and plastered bottles for home use with fine print propaganda, and voila a boutique product!



Seriously?  Thats a hoot!


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## Lindy

Oh that is funny.....


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## Margaret_Yakoda

Robert said:


> What I find funny is how Bronner's (and various other products of various kinds) got its hippie cachet. Bronner's family popularized liquid soap as an institutional product way, way back, and plenty of people had experience with it at refillable dispensers at sinks and piped in to communal showers. So he came up with a few more scents and plastered bottles for home use with fine print propaganda, and voila a boutique product!


 
Actually, the "propoganda" as you call it (others might call it psychotic ramblings) came first, and was a driving force behind Bronner's developing and marketing the soap as widely as he could. I'm way too new to soap making to get into much else...   but our family does like the soap. There's a very interesting documentary about Dr Bronner and the soap http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881909/ I saw it on Netflix about a year ago. 

Like the OP here, I too am interested in making a liquid soap similar to Bronners. I'll refrain from calling it "castile" though. :shifty:


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## neeners

ah...what a marketing machine.  since learning about soap, I can't bring myself to even use the one bottle of dr. bronners soap that I have.....  I did spend time reading the label, and it's kinda creepy.......


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## Lin

Margaret_Yakoda said:


> Actually, the "propoganda" as you call it (others might call it psychotic ramblings) came first, and was a driving force behind Bronner's developing and marketing the soap as widely as he could. I'm way too new to soap making to get into much else...   but our family does like the soap. There's a very interesting documentary about Dr Bronner and the soap http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881909/ I saw it on Netflix about a year ago.
> 
> Like the OP here, I too am interested in making a liquid soap similar to Bronners. I'll refrain from calling it "castile" though. :shifty:


Ditto this, I've seen the documentary as well. Dr Bronner cared more about the labels and spreading the word about his all-one-god-faith than making soap. But he knew how to make soap due to his father and grandfather owning a soap factory, so he used it to get the info spread. He pretty much deserted his children to travel around and speak to people. At one point he was put on a psych hold and stayed institutionalized for quite a while, was never discharged but 'escaped' and left the state. He would make his children and grandchildren recite back to him the all-one-god-faith ramblings, and said to them the spreading of the word to others was more important than immediate family. 

I actually started reading up on him and the history because I was curious about the soap, and really annoyed by the whole castile labeling. That soon brought me to the documentary where parts really shocked me. So then I had to research more reading things from his kids and grandkids as well as Dr Bronner's history.


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## elmtree

neeners said:


> ah...what a marketing machine.  since learning about soap, I can't bring myself to even use the one bottle of dr. bronners soap that I have.....  I did spend time reading the label, and it's kinda creepy.......




It's super creepy! I've tried to read it just for $;&@" and giggles but it really gives me a headache. We like the soap too so I started making my own liquid soap.


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