Last week we were trading next to lovely Greek ceramicist at Spitalfields Market. We got chatting about ceramics and soap, and  I learned that her mother still made olive oil soap for the family using a traditional recipe.

They of course use the soap to wash with, but where she really said she thought her mother’s soap distinguished itself from all others, was a stain remover. In fact, she said that she thought it was better than any of the chemical stain removers that she’d tried for getting out grass, blood and food stains. Well…that sounded like a challenge to me :), so I put our Traditional Castile soap to the test on a variety of stains.

Lipstick, Curry and Unidentified Muck

Perhaps not the nicest of jobs, but in the name of experimentation I had a rummage through our house’s laundry basket looking for stains. What gems did I find? A black vinyl handbag of mine that had red lipstick smeared all over the lining – lipstick cap malfunction at a wedding; a white T-shirt with a nice curry stain  near the collar; and a beige hoodie with a really odd smear-stripe of what looked like black and red charcoal crayons.

To the sink!

I thought I’d start easyish and attacked  the curry stained T-shirt with cold water and then a good scrubbing of our Castile Soap. I  saturated the stain, worked some soap in, rinsed and you know what? The stain was gone! I was so pleased. Minimal effort, no nasty chemicals penetrating my skin and soft hands to boot.

Onto the unidentified hoodie muck. Well for this one I pretty much attacked the stain in the same way I did the curry. This one required a little more scrubbing and a little more soap, but again, the stain was completely removed. Two for two.

The hardest challenge – onto the red lipstick.

I wasn’t really holding out much hope for my handbag as the lipstick had really managed to work itself in to the bag’s lining and was all over the place, but I starting scrubbing anyway. The fact that this was a bar of ‘stain remover’ helped a lot on this test as I could use it to really get into the stain. Previously I’d apply some eco friendly stain remover and let my knuckles do all the work. The lipstick, not surprisingly, was not budging quickly, but I persevered, rinsed, worked in some more soap and eventually, to my complete amazement, it was gone! One pristine handbag for lucky old me.

The verdict? Castile Soap really is a great stain remover

I realise this wasn’t the most scientific of tests, but I for one am extremely pleased with how our olive oil soap performed on these difficult stains and intend to keep using it. I love the fact that its such a simple, traditional product that works so well; is biodegradable and 100% plastic bottle free.

Interested, why not try our Traditional Castile soap for yourself? It’s great for the body too.

What do you have to say and share?

Have you ever used our Castile Soap as a stain remover or for any other unexpected uses you’d like to share (such as for washing with :))? Do you have any top tips for eco-friendly cleaning?

Let us know about them by leaving a comment at the end of this article, or we could even publish a guest blog by you if you have a lot to say of the subject. Just get in touch.