Dr. Bronner’s soap is sort of a hackneyed piece of advice in the minimalist travel community because it’s one of those not-so-secret tips that everyone knows.
But Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 All Purpose Pure Castile Soap is fantastic. It’s great for traveling because you can use it for everything: body, hair, clothing, etc. Some people even brush their teeth with it, but I haven’t made that leap yet. Additionally, this stuff goes a long way; a small dab of Bronner’s lathers up and covers lots of ground. I filled a couple GoToobs with Bronner’s and was good to go for several weeks at a time. Minimizing your toiletries can cut significant weight and space out of your backpack, and limiting yourself to this all purpose, long lasting soap is a good way to do so.
I like this soap so much that I use it when I’m not traveling as well. It’s all natural so the scents are rather mild and I can’t imagine it being irritating to even mild skin sensitivities (I’ve been told that it has a high pH level and might lead to dry skin, but I haven’t experienced that problem). I recently bought Organic Rose scent on a whim and I absolutely love it. I’ve also used Peppermint and Lavender, and I’m looking forward to a few of the others.
I also support the fact that it’s all natural, organic, vegan, ethically produced, fair trade, biodegradable, recycled bottles, etc. Plus their philosophy and packaging is interesting/borderline insane.
I too love Dr. Bronners soaps. I love that they are all of the above that you mentioned. They are even great for babies and childrens senstive skin as well. I would use it to scrub my dishes if I could but, my husband is totally against this idea for some reason. I even used it one time in our dishwasher since I ran out of the other soap. Use only half of what you normally would use otherwise it foams up really great but, still cleans your dishes.
Awesome soap! I use it as a bodywash, face wash and shampoo when I’m traveling. At home, I use it to clean and grate their bar soap to make laundry detergent.