Castile soap on dreads

[gigglelocs]

Has anybody tried using castile soap on their dreads?

Feedback appreciated ☺

[iriemama]

Like Dr. Bronners. In my experience, Dr B's is awful on dreads especially if you live in a place that has hard water. It leaves a ton of residue.

[gigglelocs]

Yeah like Dr Bronners.
There seems to be two varying schools of thought with castile soap.
Perhaps it is just a hard water issue only?
I'm a bit wary of using it after hearing about residue issues but others have said it's totally fine... not sure...
Thanks for your input ☺

[helenedorup]

I think you can test out how it works with your hair just by washing hands with it. If it gets completely greasy and hard to get off, it's bad.
That being said, even if it works, it may not be the best. I've tried making my own natural soap using olive Castile soap, and for that you want to add glycerin and essential oils to keep it from drying out your hair (you can check out recipes online).
I since then gave up, now I just buy Faith in Nature shampoo, it's really great and easy.

[gigglelocs]

I might give it a go at some point and just heavily dilute it. I was going to get some for around the house in general so i figured it'd b a cheap way to wash my hair. We'll see.
In the meantime im using Dread Empire shampoo bar and really liking it so I'll keep using that at least until the bar finishes. It smells so fresh and lovely (i think it's peppermint and rosemary from memory?)

[iriemama]

I love the Dollylocks products. They do great with my dreads.

[Ziggy]

I find Castille to leave more residue than any other product. Really, it's not advisable to wash your hair with any soap. Shampoo is chemically very different from soap, and it's made that way for a reason. Much, much better for your hair.

[MirandaJoy]

I had a terrible experience with Dr Bronners! I diluted it a lot, about 1 to 12. This was back in May of this year when I first started my dreads. I had my little baby twist and rips in for about a week or more. They were coming along so nicely. And then I used the Dr. Bronners. I had so much residue in my hair that would not wash out. I had to get back in the shower and wash my hair with normal shampoo THREE TIMES before I could get it all out. And my hair felt so disgustingly dry that I also conditioned it. Once it was all said and done all my baby twist and rips had completely fallen apart. I was back to square one. So in short, if it weren't for Dr. Bronners I would be one more month further along in my dread journey than I am right now. I wouldn't risk it. Now I use Trader Joe's Tea Tree shampoo. It is not expensive, it smells great, it does its job well, it's sulfate free and I never have any residue.

[lipstic]

Recently tried this out, I had no problems. We have very hard water, I don't find it leaves a residue on hair hands or dishes provided it is thoroughly rinsed. If there is a problem vinegar takes care of it.

UPDATE: Just recently combed out a few and had no residue other than some lint from the wool that was attached to them.

[MamaKittyLove]

I've heard that castile soap is awesome if you have soft water. But when I tried it in my hard water a few years ago, it left my hair disgustingly sticky feeling.

[willowbranches]

As a long-time cold-process soap maker I can confirm that, generally, any castille soap will not perform well for dreads in hard water and carries a risk of leaving residue. However, the dissolved solid composition in hard water varies from location to location, so it *could* conceivably work fine with yours. The only way to know for sure it to try it, but I would caution against testing it with very young dreads, as MirandaJoy's experience highlights how much retrogression it can cause. A good way to check it out without putting in your hair is to apply it to a washcloth or other fibrous material the same as you would your dreads--if it fails to foam well and doesn't feel like the fibers have rinsed clean, then it's pointless and possibly counterproductive to use it in your dreads.

[alexq]

Hi,
I've been using Dr. Bronner's for the last year(I'm 28 months in) after finding the niche shampoos way too expensive. I've been happy with it,
I do dilute it however..
Good luck
Alex