Thousands of Years Later, Castile Soap Is Still The Best Choice  

Today's version is an evolution of a cleaning product made in Aleppo, Syria—a city best known for being the endpoint of the Silk Road. Aleppo soap made its way to Europe, where the process of production was organized, and a high-quality cleaning product made with olive oil from Spain emerged: Castile soap (named after the region in Spain with the same name). In short, it's been keeping people clean and safe for thousands of years and is best known for its superior ingredients and formula. Earth Mama's Castile product is cut from the same cloth, and the proof is in the details. 

While detergent requires something to make it foam (surfactant), something to keep ingredients blended (emulsifier) and something to keep it from growing mold and bacteria (preservative), real soap keeps it nice and simple with ingredients you can trust and recognize. Earth Mama Castile soap takes it to the next level, guaranteeing pure, organic ingredients (certified by Oregon Tilth). Simply put: There are no mystery ingredients to irritate or harm your skin (and surfaces)—just organic acids (like oils) and base (potassium hydroxide).

Here's the thing about sanitizer: It's helpful when you're on the go and can't wash immediately, but soap and water is the better choice, 100% of the time. Why? According to the CDC1, sanitizers only reduce the number of microbes on hands, while soap is able to pry certain microbes and viruses apart thanks to pin-shaped molecules that wedge themselves in the potentially harmful lipid layer. Essentially, soap gets in the way (between the virus and skin surface), and the virus falls apart. Though helpful, sanitizer doesn't get the same results.

With Earth Mama's Castile soap, you get an organic sudsy solution (thanks to the foaming pump) *and* a pH high enough to deter bacteria, yeast, and mold. In case your basic science is a little rusty, pH measures the acidity or alkalinity of a liquid, more specifically, the hydrogen ion concentration. So with Castile soap there's no need to add potentially caustic, irritating chemical preservatives. The cleaner the soap, the less concern there is for use on sensitive and baby skin alike. Who doesn't love a little foamy fun while cleaning? It's all about the little things these days. Even better: The foaming pump makes it easy to keep soap out of baby's eyes, a common mistake we all hate to make.

The key takeaway? Treat the ingredient list on your personal care products as you would the nutrition facts on your everyday grocery haul. You'd think twice about eating something with all kinds of additives and ingredients you're not familiar with; the same should go for what you clean with. You want to be sure what you're using on your surfaces, skin, food, and furniture is effective, efficient, and SAFE. Earth Mama's Castile soap checks the boxes—something you can be sure of.