So if you read about my methods for laundry you'll notice that I use 2 cleaning materials for washing my clothing. If you read my article son backpacking you'll notice these are the same 2 materials I always carry backpacking. Well at one point I got curious, could I do all of my cleaning with these two materials?
I use 4 cleaning materials regularly
Note - I'm currently using dishsoap for dishes, but I'm fairly confident simple green will fullfill this need in the future... stay tuned for more experiments!
It turns out that either Dr Brauner's or baking soda work for this. I prefer baking soda because it's just a little gritty so I think it gets more off of my teeth. Both taste funny though. The trick is to use just a TINY amount. I generally wet my toothbrush and then dip it face down into the baking soda, then shake it a little. This is more than enough. For Dr Brauner's just put a single drop, or if you have a bottle, open the bottle and run the toothbrush around the inside of the lip, this will probably get you more than enough, so just run it a little ways.
It's common to wash hair with Baking Soda, I've heard this story from many people. Most of these people do not have long hair though. I found that, while it did keep my hair kinda clean'ish, it turned it into a nearly solid mass. I wasn't a fan of this, maybe you are. I found that this is acceptable for about a week.
I tried Dr Brauners as well, but similar to the laundry experiments it didn't get the oils out. Since this is a primary goal of a shampoo (especially for one who sweats as much as I do), this was just not acceptable. I found this to be acceptable'ish for about a week, but my hair looked pretty bad by the end
I tried Dr Brauners and Baking Soda. This was a vast improvement, enough of an improvement that I did it for about a month. At this point though my hair was starting to feel very stiff and hard, like I had a helmet on. It actually LOOKED completely normal, but it creeped people out a little when they touched it. I consider this a very viable option in a pinch, or even for a week in fairly normal circumstances (while traveling).
In the end I pretty much gave in, I'm simply using a nice shampoo. If anyone has a good suggestion I'd LOVE to hear it. The other contributor to this site has expressed interest in the same, and has expressed displeasure with the complexity of managing hair as it stands. Suggestions anyone? Please be aware that when putting something on your head it should be OKAY to absorb some through your skin.
Okay, so I ride a bike a lot. If you ride a bike you know that you should wash down the drivetrain regularly, wash out all of the old oil and such, and put on knew. To do this you need a fairly powerful degreaser. When I was a kid and firs t learning to ride a camp counseler at an audobon summercamp told me to use simple green. It's a good degreaser and it's biodegradable, so you don't have to feel guilty and washing it off onto the ground. It's become so popular for this purpose in fact that it's now sold in bike stores for this purpose.
I haven't actually TESTED anything else for this, but Dr Brauners is a surfactint, and Baking soda is... well... Basic and gritty and absorbs spells and oils. Neither of these is a degreaser by any means. So I would be very surprised if it worked.
Well, it turns out that Simple Green is fairly safe to ingest in small quantities. I intend to start using it for dishes when I run out of dishsoap. Dr Brauners actually does work passably for this purpose, but it's not exactly optimal on really greasy pans. Simple Green being a powerful degreaser seems perfect for this job
Hmmm... soap? Okay, if I have to use something I use a little bit of basically whatever I've got on hand. Simple Green is a good choice, cleans stuff nicely and all of that.
Note: I use Dr. Brauners to wash my floors. I'm not sure I'd actually trust Simple Green not to damage the finish on things like wood. It might be worth a try, but Dr. Brauners is working quite well so I see no reason to switch. -Jmink
I use peppermint soap if I need to. Honestly most of the time I don't bother with washing my body at all. I take a shower daily and scrub off any grime and make sure to get any sweat off, and that's really sufficient. If I get a bit extra icky though I'll use some peppermint soap to wash it off. Why not simple green? Well... I don't want to smell like simple green. Again, be aware that anything used for this purpose should be OKAY to absorb a little of
My dad actually taught me using Dr. Brauner's, and it works great. I have a tiny bottle with this special oil that you can use just 3 drops off. It's menthol and some other stuff. It works really well for a "dry" shave. The Dr Brauner's works great though, and is what always used before the little bottle, and what I use while traveling
By mbrewer