I love making my own cleaners and have been doing so for years. I’m always reading new recipes to see if I can improve on what I’m doing or make something new. Something I have noticed when reading green cleaning recipes is a lot of recipes calling for the use of Dr. Bronner’s (castile soap) and white vinegar. These are two of my very favorite cleaning tools but you can’t mix them!
This is where some science comes in, vinegar is an acid and castile soap is a base. When they react directly they basically cancel each other out. The vinegar takes the soap back to its original oils and makes it gross and curdled.
What happens when you mix the two.
No matter what you add with them, if you mix them together they will reaction in this way. If you have ever not rinsed vinegar out of your coffee pot before making coffee and add milk to it, that’s what this reaction looks like, gross!
Instead of mixing these great ingredients together, making them pretty much useless, use them in the ways they work best. Clean whatever it is you are cleaning with the castile soap and hot water, rinse, then spray with vinegar (diluted, if you wish), wipe away the buildup. This even works on windows!
Did you know that you couldn’t mix these two items? What are your favorite ways to properly use them? Share in the comments below and be sure to check out my cleaning recipes.
Sara says
I knew you couldn’t put them together but wasn’t exactly sure why! Your picture and info helps me understand. I usually wash with castile soap and use vingear after like you suggested! I’ll be pinning this to help others! Thanks.
Lisa Sharp says
Isn’t it gross? haha
Brenna says
I actually never realized this until a while back when Lisa Bronner actually addressed this herself a while back and people started talking about it. Of course, from a chemical standpoint it makes perfect sense. Hopefully people realize if they want a clean house to not mix the two!
Lisa Sharp says
Yeah I still see recipes using both together all the time. They are great but not together ha.
Elizabeth says
Thanks for posting this!! I see recipes online that mix Castile soap and vinegar all the time,
Anna@Green Talk says
I wouldn’t think of putting them together but thanks for explaining why not to. Sharing.
Lori Popkewitz Alper says
Very interesting Lisa! I have both and use them for everything, but not together. Now I’ll make sure that never happens!
Carol says
Actually the reaction of milk + vinegar is a different one – not an acid/base reaction but rather the acid coagulates the proteins. Still a reaction, but not the SAME reaction 🙂
Lisa Sharp says
Right, I wasn’t clear, I meant it looks similar haha.
Lindsay says
I have mixed Dr. Bronner’s with vinegar before, and have a recipe on my site I should change. Thanks Lisa!
Anne says
Anybody notice that Bronner’s Sal Suds, created only for cleaning, works fine this way? The scientists here can explain why…discuss…
Lisa Sharp says
It’s a synthetic detergent, not a soap. 🙂
Melissa says
Can the Sal Suds be mixed with the castile soap? I want to try making my own dish soap but have to admit I like the look and feel of some suds in the dishwater. I will miss them if they’re not there.
Lisa Sharp says
Why not just use Sal Suds?
Leiha Noriega says
Sal Suds has Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which is objectionable to many and has been linked to health issues.
Andre' Walker - Dr. Bronner's says
Hey Leiha, We appreciate your concern about SLS. There are a few points we would like to address on the topic.
The first issue is that many have confused SLS with SLES. The two chemicals are often conflated to be equally toxic, but that is not the case. SLS is sodium lauryl sulfate, and SLES is sodium laureth sulfate. SLES is ethoxylated with ethylene oxide and is thus contaminated with trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane, a documented carcinogen. SLS is not.
But to focus on the safety of SLS: the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database gives SLS a safety rating of 1–2, indicating that it is of very low risk. Studies have consistently shown that it is safe to use in low concentrations and in products that are meant to be rinsed off (both are true of Sal Suds). No risk of cancer has been found, as some websites purport. Research conducted by reputable sources such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the American Cancer Society supports that sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is not a carcinogen.
The biggest risk associated with SLS is that for some people it is a skin irritant. We have done our best to minimize this risk, combining it with coco-betaine in a well-balanced formula that reduces the chance of irritation.
We understand if after reading this you still do not want to use a product that contains SLS. This is a decision that we respect, and for those who want to clean completely organically, we offer our line of Pure-Castile Soaps. However, for truly tough grease-cutting jobs, we have found that nothing is quite as effective as the combination of surfactants in Sal Suds (coco betaine, sodium lauryl sulfate, decyl glucoside). These surfactants are all made using simple chemistry and come from agricultural (not petrochemical) feedstock. We believe that they are very safe.
Hope this helps! ~Andre’
Laura says
What about mixing something like lemon essential oil with soap (since it’s acidic)? Do you think it would have the same effect?
Lisa Sharp says
No it shouldn’t. Dr. Bronner’s even has a citrus scented soap.
Joanna says
I use castile soap all of the time, this is good information to know!
Peg says
So, I just mopped with Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint and added vinegar. Not loving the feel on the floor, I searched online to see if I need to rinse. Apparently I need to rinse with vinegar water and then not mix to mop in future. (Feeling dumb, but less dumb than while I was moping with both!)
Lisa Sharp says
It’s a common mistake and now you know. 🙂