Castile Soap

Anyone who likes DIY green products knows, and probably loves, Castile soap.

While it won’t show up as an ingredient per se in any of my products, it is actually in many, pretty much all that contain some sort of cleaning agent. It’s incredibly versatile! (Why won’t it show up? Because I list all ingredients that go into the Castile soap rather than listing it as an ingredient, as that is more transparent and legally correct!)

What the heck is it? Castile soap is named after Castile, a region in Spain famous for olive oil, because originally, it was exactly that - olive oil soap. Most Castile soaps now are a mix of oils such as olive, coconut, and hemp.

The most famous is probably Dr. Bronner’s magic soap. My problem with it? It contains palm kernel oil, so oil from the palm tree seed (whereas palm oil comes from the fruit of the same plant) which means rainforests are cut down to harvest it (a good article on this from National Geographic here). There are other brands but it’s something to look out for! Or you can make your own like I do, and yes, I sell mine as well!