Dish Soap?

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Dish Soap?

It’s no wonder we use dish soap to clean more than just our dirty dishes. Relatively inexpensive and conveniently located on the kitchen counter, it’s easy to grab and glug onto a sponge or into a bucket. But while dish soap is a great multitasker, it’s not the best choice for everything in your home.

That’s because dish soap isn’t actually a soap but a detergent. What’s the difference? Soaps encapsulate dirt and oil so they can be washed away under running water. Detergents, on the other hand, actually break up the dirt so it can’t settle back onto what’s being cleaned, as it might in a washing machine when the water drains out. That difference means that detergents—including dish soap—are too strong for some materials.

We have had a lot, a lot, like many years, of experiences and we have seen some things. There is a right way and a wrong way to cleaning. Here are some things that you do NOT use dish soap for.

HARDWOOD FLOORS
The wood floors in your home are meant to take a pounding, but improper cleaning can leave them scratched and dingy. To clean them the right way, start by sweeping or vacuuming to remove sand and grit that could leave microscopic scratches in the finish. Next, wet-mop the floors with a gentle cleanser made specifically for wood flooring.

YOUR FACE
You might think that dirt-busting dish soap is a great, low-cost way to remove a day’s worth of makeup, sweat, and oil, but, according to skin professionals, using it on your face is a bad idea.

FINE LEATHER
Your skin isn’t the only thing that needs to hold onto its natural oils. Strip away the natural emollients in leather and you might find your good leather shoes, purses, and car seats cracking under the pressure. Dish soap can simply be too harsh for leather.

YOUR PLANTS
The Internet is rife with recipes for DIY formulas for insecticidal soaps, and for good reason—they’re inexpensive, safe for the environment, and won’t leave residue on your plants. According to gardening experts, though (we are not botanical experts here!) many dish soaps are not only too harsh to use on plants, but they’re also often not all that great at warding off pests either. True insecticidal soap is surprisingly kind to plants and deadly to insects.

MIRRORS
There’s a reason many professional window washers rely on dish soap to remove dirt that’s been caked onto windows for months or even years — it works on windows like it does on wine glasses, bringing dirt and oil to the surface, where it can be rinsed down the drain. But unless you’re willing to take a hose to your mirrors to rinse away the soap, it’s nearly impossible to wipe away the streaky, hazy mess it leaves behind.

Although these can be a bit obvious, we speak from experience. And our experience shows that if it is not said or pointed out by us, people can have wild ideas (and imaginations) on how to properly clean. If you don’t want to fuss, that’s fine, just call us and we will do it for you!