Simplify With These Multi-Use Products
Marketing messages tell us we need a different product for everything. But your skin doesn’t distinguish a body soap from a hand soap, and kitchen countertops don’t necessarily need a specific spray.
Save money, space, and create less waste with these four effective multi-use (non-toxic) products.
Dr. Bronners Pure Castile Liquid Soap
Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile liquid soap is made with organic oils and no synthetic preservatives, detergents or foaming agents. This concentrated soap can be mixed with water in multitudes of ratios making it adaptable for endless uses. The bottle itself lists 18 uses for this product.
Many conventional soaps contain harmful antibacterial agents, harsh surfactants rendering them unsuitable for skin. Dr. Bronner’s is gentle enough even for baby’s skin, and works for pets as well. Here are 4 easy products to swap for Dr. Bronner’s castile soap:
Foaming Hand Soap
Mix castile soap with water in a foam pump bottle. Begin using with three tablespoons of castile soap with 8 ounces of water and adjust using more or less soap to fit your personal preference.
Makeup Brush Wash
Try the peppermint scented wash for fresh clean makeup brushes. Follow these steps to wash them:
Squirt dime-sized amount of castile soap in palm (less for small brushes, more for larger brushes).
Wet makeup brush with warm water
Swirl bristles in soap
Rinse until water is clear.
Rest brush on towel to dry
Learn more about washing brushes and what to avoid in most washes on this makeup brush wash post.
Shave Soap
Use a small amount of castile soap to form a lather for shaving. For example, a dime size amount of soap is adequate for one leg.
Kids soap
Mix castile soap with water in a foam pump bottle. Begin using with three tablespoons of castile soap with 8 ounces of water and adjust using more or less soap to fit your personal preference.
OR
Use small amount of castile soap directly for body wash and kids’ shampoo. Try unscented for infants.
Bon Ami Powder Cleanser
Powder cleansers like Ajax and Comet have strong fumes and contain hundreds of ingredients not listed on the label. Many of these ingredients are harmful like formaldehyde, benzene, and chloroform. Bon Ami is not only great in the kitchen but also in bathrooms. Here are 3 areas where Bon Ami powder cleanser excels:
Stubborn Pot Stains
After rinsing pots, sprinkle Bon Ami powder and scrub with a sponge. Rinse clean and repeat if necessary.
Sinks
Sprinkle Bon Ami directly into wet sinks, brush with a sponge and rinse. For stained sinks, wait for 10-15 minutes before rinsing.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Sprinkle Bon Ami in toilet bowls, brush, wait 10 minutes, then flush toilet.
Learn more about why Bon Ami is a great non-toxic cleaner to have around the house plus what to avoid in household cleaners in this Bon Ami post.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil tastes excellent especially in baked goods and is good for cooking at higher temperatures. But did you know it’s great for skin too?
Makeup Remover
Coconut oil is extremely effective at removing makeup (including eye makeup) with no tugging needed and without drying out your skin. It’s antiviral, antibacterial, and anti fungal properties make coconut oil an excellent choice for acne prone skin.
Follow these steps to remove makeup using coconut oil:
Warm a quarter size amount of oil between fingertips.
Massage gently over dry face, eyes, and neck in a circular motion.
Wet a washcloth with warm water.
Wipe coconut oil (and makeup) off with warm washcloth.
Follow with cleanser.
To learn more about using coconut oil as a makeup remover and what to avoid in common makeup remover, check out this post on makeup remover.
Baking With Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is an excellent substitute for vegetable oil and butter in sweets. Cold pressed coconut oil has a smooth and mild flavor.
Oil Pulling
Coconut oil can be used to improve oral hygiene through oil pulling. Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic practice that involves swishing coconut oil in the mouth for 5-20 minutes, spitting it out, then rinsing and brushing teeth. [1]
Branch Basics
Branch Basics concentrate can be mixed with water to create many household cleaning products. In fact, a starter kit replaces 5 cleaning products in your home. The All Purpose Spray alone can be used as a spot treatment for clothing stains, to clean countertops, high chairs, floors and carpet.
Here’s what you can make with the Branch Basics concentrate:
All Purpose spray
Bathroom cleaner
Window cleaner
Laundry detergent
Hand soap
How To Buy
Click the photos below to learn more and purchase.
References & Resources
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5198813/
