A body wash is one of the most effective options from your pantry to act as a substitute for dish soap. But you might be concerned about whether it is safe to use or not.
Is It Safe To Wash Dishes With Body Wash?
Body wash can be used to clean dishes. The main concern is its odor. The scent can be strong and long-lasting, which may not be appealing later on when washing dishes or eating food from the plate.
A body wash is also a mild detergent, but it may not be as effective as dish soap, particularly when it comes to removing grease. The only issue could be that your shampoo or body wash is highly scented. To begin, hand soaps contain additives that make it difficult to rinse off.
Dish soap is intended to dissolve tough food waste on glass or ceramic dishes, not to rinse dirt from specialized automotive paint and aluminum. “
“Liquid hand soap is gentler than dish soap, and it dissolves and foams more easily in hot dishwater.”
The body wash has a distinct scent that lingers. This is something you won’t mind on your body after a hot shower, but maybe not so much when eating!
What Are Some Problems Associated With Using Body Wash For Dish Washing?
It’s okay to use body wash if you don’t have any other options. However, you must accept that the scent will be present and will be noticeable.
Scent That Lasts
It’s one thing to deal with a strong scent; it’s quite another to deal with the ordeal of lingering scent on your dishes.
This is exactly what will happen if you attempt to wash dishes with body wash.
The problem is related to the strength of the scent and the chemicals used to keep your body smelling great. Of course, you’ll want it for your body because smelling clean always puts a smile on people’s faces.
Use Sparingly
Assume you want to use body wash to rinse your dishes at home.
If this is something you intend to do, it is prudent to plan ahead of time. This entails using a small amount of body wash to rinse the plate and/or glasses.
It is not necessary to soak the dishes in a body wash to complete the task. It’s unnecessary and will only exacerbate the scent-related problem.
What Are Some Alternatives To Dish Soap?
If you run out of liquid dish soap, don’t worry. A quick search through your pantry will reveal that you may have just the ingredients you need to tackle that pile of dishes before restocking on the soap.
Here are some alternatives to liquid dish soap for handwashing dirty dishes (in no particular order).
1) Baking Soda
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a food-safe mild abrasive alkali. Because you probably have a box of dish soap in your cupboard, this is a simple substitute. It cleans oily dishes well by cutting through grease and absorbing odors.
Combine 1/2 cup baking soda with 2–4 tablespoons of water to make your baking soda paste. Using a dishcloth or scrubber, apply the DIY paste to your dirty dishes. Clean thoroughly before rinsing.
2) Baking Soda Mixed With Vinegar
Add a few drops of white distilled vinegar to your baking soda paste to boost the cleaning power. The combination is excellent for scrubbing stubbornly stuck-on food from pots and pans.
You might remember making erupting volcanoes as a kid in science class using this same formula.
To begin, make a baking soda paste and apply it to your dirty dishes. Then, directly on the dirty dishes, pour a few drops of vinegar. This ensures that the chemical reaction takes place exactly where you want it to on the greasy stuck-on food particles!
3) Castile Detergent
A liquid Castile soap is a great dish soap substitute because it is biodegradable, mild, and food-safe. Traditionally made from olive oil, most Castile products now contain a combination of vegetable oils such as olive, coconut, and palm oil.
4) Natural Soap Bar
If you have a bar of homemade soap on hand, it can also be used to clean dishes! It doesn’t create a lot of lather, but it gets the job done.
Most natural soap bars have a pH of 9 or 10, making them alkaline, similar to liquid dish soaps.
Because you’ll be using it on dishes and cups, it should be as gentle and natural as possible. Choose soap bars that do not contain any artificial fragrances or dyes. Olive oil soap or coconut oil soap are both excellent choices.
Wet the bar of soap before using it. Before cleaning your dishes, lather your dishwashing cloth, sponge, or brush with soap.
Related Questions
Is it okay to wash dishes with hand soap?
Hand soaps can be used to wash dishes, but they can leave a thin slimy layer on the dishes that are difficult to remove. Hand soaps can kill bacteria and germs on dirty dishes, but they cannot remove those stubborn stains and greases as effectively as dish soap.
Is soap or detergent the best thing to use for handwashing and dishwashing, and why?
Handwashing liquid or soap is not a good substitute for dishwashing detergent because it may contain ingredients that are not food-safe. “Dish soap can be used to clean multiple surfaces and hands, making it more multi-purpose, whereas hand soap should not be used on dishes,” says the manufacturer.
Conclusion
There’s nothing wrong with rinsing your dishes with body wash. It will function properly and keep the dishes clean.
The real concern is the lingering scent on the dishes. Is this something you’re comfortable with? If you are, then you may proceed with the body wash.
