A: Thank you for reaching out to Dr. Bronner's! appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with us. Our Pure-Castile Liquid Soap is made by saponifying plant-based oils (coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and olive oil) and alkali using large reactor vessels in batches. Our certified organic oils (palm, coconut, olive, jojoba, and hemp seed) are reacted with equal amounts of alkali (sodium hydroxide, NaOH; or potassium hydroxide, KOH) to turn these oils into sodium or potassium salt. This reacted end product is known as soap, and the process is called saponification. One unit of oil + one unit of alkali = SOAP, therefore, there is no free oil or alkali left over in the finished product (i.e., soap). Lastly, we utilize citric acid in our soaps to neutralize any unreacted hydroxide that’s left over from the saponification process. When this process has ended, each batch of soap is carefully tested to see how much, if any, alkali remains, and then just enough citric acid is added to catch that alkali. The citric acid reacts so quickly with the hydroxide that it completely bypasses the soap molecules. However, if we were to add too much citric acid, it would indeed undo the soap molecules and create an oily mess, rendering the product unsellable. We hope this helps provide you with the insight and reassurance you were looking for. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out!

A: Hi, Thank you for contacting Dr. Bronner's! While our Pure-Castile Liquid Soaps are 2 - 3 times more concentrated than most soaps in the market, they are also gentle enough to be used on your face, body, and hair without diluting. Just be sure to keep them out of our eyes as our soaps are not "tear-free." To use our Pure-Castile Liquid soap as a body wash, we would recommend applying a couple of drops to a small squirt (~ ½ Tbsp.) of Castile Soap on a wet cloth or wet hands and lather. We typically do not recommend pre-diluting our soap in the shower, as the water present in the situation will do the diluting for you. We also find that prediluted soaps tend to get unpleasantly cold. For a full breakdown of using our products in the shower, head over to Lisa Bronner's blog post Simplifying the Shower. We also highly recommend checking out Lisa’s amazing dilution cheat sheet. Should you wish to dilute our soap when using them for a body wash, we recommend starting with a dilution ratio of 1:3 (1 part soap to 3 parts water) and then adjusting to your personal preference. Just remember to only dilute a portion that will be used up within 2 weeks to a month as we do not add any harsh preservatives in our products that will allow them to last longer than 1 month after being diluted. Using distilled water is recommended as hard water can cause natural soap separation. Lastly, if you do choose to dilute our Pure-Castile Soap, keep in mind that they do not work well in pump dispensers, clogging them over time. Instead, we suggest using a foaming pump. Should you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

A: Hi, thank you for reaching out to us! With the exception of our Magic All-One Chocolate, all of Dr. Bronner’s products are produced and packaged in facilities that are peanut and tree-nut free (including almonds). Our Almond Pure-Castile Soaps are not made with almond essential oil. There are two types of almond oil: bitter almond oil and sweet almond oil. Bitter almond oil, the one that is aromatic (sweet almond oil is scentless), contains toxic levels of prussic acid, better known as cyanide. Instead, we use “natural almond fragrance,” which is derived from the cassia plant. The scent is very similar to almonds, but without any trace of nuts or cyanide. While all the soaps are made with the same machinery, the machines are thoroughly washed between the production of different soap batches, as this is also necessary to maintain our organic certification. However, even in the remote chance that some almond soap remained on the machinery, there is no ingredient in it derived from nuts. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

A: Hi Etv! Yes, you can definitely use this product on your face. I hope this helps!

A: Hi Cynthia! Dr. Bronner's recommends diluting the soap 1:10 with water, and then squirting the diluted mix onto a scrub brush. This only works when hand washing dishes, and not in a dishwasher. Hope that helps!