Now that my two weeks of experimenting with a bar of Dr. Bronner’s neutral pure-castile soap are over, which claims one can use it for 18 different purposes, I am quite satisfied with the results.

So satisfied that I am already into a new, similar experiment, but more on this later on.

For the last 14 days I used this bar of soap as

• Hand wash
• Face wash
• Body wash/ shower gel
• Shampoo
• Tooth paste
• Stain remover

How did it work out for me?

On the whole I was rather happy using only one item for many purposes. The most unusual feeling was actually to wash my body with a bar of soap because I’ve been using shower gel forever (while I’ve used Lush shampoo bars regularly on holidays). Other than that it didn’t feel much out of the ordinary: It lathers up nicely meaning you won’t have to use much product. It’s basically enough to wet your hands, pick up the soap and rub it twice between your hands. This will create a lot of bubbles and you’re good to go.

Hand wash & body wash

I couldn’t see much difference in washing my hands with a bar of soap compared to washing them with the liquid soap which I normally use. When they were dirty before, they were cleaner afterwards.

Same goes for my body. I went in the shower sweaty and came out squeaky clean. My skin didn’t feel dryer than normal (which is something I have experienced with other soaps) and didn’t react in any way.

Face wash

My skin has been acting up lately though I have yet to find out the reason for it. I’ve always had really good skin so I find this particularly distracting. Changing from liquid face wash to a bar of soap did not result in any changes to how the skin on my face looked or felt.

Shampoo

I was surprised by how soft my hair felt after using it as a shampoo. My hair is very fine so I was worried it might become impossible to comb but it turned out the opposite: There were actually a lot fewer hairs in my brush than normal and its volume increased (ever so slightly).

The single reason I’ll be switching back to my regular shampoo is that my hair tends to get greasy quickly and using the soap seemed to enhance that. It may be perfect for dry hair though.

Tooth paste

Like, really? Yes, I did. The single reason I did it was to say I have done it and then it wasn’t too bad. My fear that it would taste soapy and leave a layer of film on my tongue was unjustified because it didn’t taste of much and rinsed out well. It also created enough “foam” so it didn’t feel like I was brushing my teeth “dry”.

That’s two thumbs up!

Stain remover

We had pasta with tomato sauce for dinner and – as it happens – I ended up with stains on my light gray shirt. I drizzled some water on the stain, gently rubbed in some soap and washed it out.

The next morning the stain was gone.

My verdict

This is definitely a product I can recommend and would bring on a lengthier trip with me, particularly one that involves flying as a bar of soap won’t count towards your liquids allowance regarding carry-on luggage. You may want to take a moment or two to consider whether to bring a scented bar (to smell extra nice) or a neutral bar like the one I used (to smell clean and definitely nice enough but not of peppermint/ almond/ roses).

Because I liked it so much and am curious about the difference – if there is any – I’ll be using Dr. Bronner’s rose pure-castile liquid soap for the very same purposes (maybe minus the tooth paste?) before deciding what to bring to Colombia with me.