Why Do All Backpackers Use Dr. Bronner's Soap

[Casey Bowden]

I use it and see it on gear lists of many others, but why?

It’s hard to squeeze from the bottle when cold and it’s scented (at least the one I have) which is not optimal with respect to bears and other critters.

Does anyone know of an unscented alternative that stays fairly fluid when cold?

[David Wiese]

I think they do make an unscented version.

Personally I repackage the soap into a much smaller dropper bottle.

It is marketed as “biodegradable” although I’m sure it is still not ideal to be putting into the environment.

Lack of alternatives maybe?

[Brad P]

If you follow LNT standards, biodegradable should be safe for the environment.

Another option is Campsuds. Our troop uses it.

[Ken Thompson]

I use unscented/dyed dish soap. Never liked Bronners.

[Matthew / BPL]

Their baby soap is unscented. It’s got a light blue label. I repackage it. I haven’t used it much below freezing but it works fine to those temps.

[Casey Bowden]

I repackage as well.

On my last trip, while squeezing the bottle on a cold morning, the bottom of the bottle failed instead of soap coming out the nozzle.

[AK Granola]

Dry soap flakes work well, either the packaged kind camping stores sell, or just flake some off your own unscented soap. I think whether it’s marked biodegradable or not, it wants to go in the dug hole, away from water or delicate plant life, never in freshwater of any kind. That dr bronners smell is nasty!

[Pedestrian]

I use Dr Bronner’s as well – the unscented kind. I got some a while back and it hasn’t run out yet as I use it very sparingly.

I mainly use it as it is unscented……

“Our troop uses it.”

That’s a pretty low bar……from what I’ve observed of Scout troops……and I’ve spent at least close to a  decade camping with one troop regularly and around other troops…..

 

 

[David Thomas]

I use mostly CampSuds from bigger containers (8- or 16-ounce) to refill 1/2-ounce or 1-ounce dropper bottles.  Occasionally Dr Bonner’s, but that was more when I was in Berkeley and hitting on hippie chicks.  The old labels explained how it could be used for birth control.

I’ve used less biodegradable soap and more alcohol hand sanitizer as the decades have passed.

When traveling, I also bring a bit of laundry detergent to wash clothes in hotel rooms – detergents like Tide remove oils, stains, and odors MUCH better than soaps do.

[Axel J]

I think you can also brush your teeth with Bonner’s too?

I just completed a solo trip into some sensitive Sierra basins and decided not to use any soap, just a good wipe down with a micro cloth and warm water and some occasional attention to the hands with diluted denatured alcohol. I was ok with that so maybe more soapless trips are in my future now.

[AK Granola]

No soap=don’t share snacks! Ew

[Renais A]

I much prefer carrying a small solid bar.  I avoid the risk of  leak, and the weight of the bottle to carry the soap.  I also find that it is easier to use a solid bar at low temperatures when I want to have my hands wet as little as possible.  Alcohol hand sanitizer is great for many things, but the general hygiene recommendation is to use soap and water after defecating.  When I’m going to be out for weeks or months at a time, the last thing I want is intestinal problems because I was careless.  Essentially all the standard bar soaps are biodegradable; I’m not sure that any non-biodegradable ones are even offered for sale any more.

Renais

[Jenny A]

I also do not understand the liking for Dr. Bronner’s – must be some good marketing there, though the unscented kind could be alright.  I’ve always used Campsuds (unscented version) and find it works very well and is so concentrated that a small bottle lasts for years. I really like how it cleans hair after a week, works as well or better than expensive shampoos.

I know for a fact that the animals approve of it, too.  One time I negligently left a small bottle out on a rock at camp.  Upon returning at the end of the day, somebody had chewed a hole in the bottom of the plastic container.  I always wondered how long it took the critter to get that concentrated soap out of its mouth!

[Axel J]

I would only go soapless solo, never ever with a partner or group as I am a total believer in proper handwashing as the preventer of getting infected with many maladies. It’s a dirty world and backpacking can be a very dirty pastime so I’m just not sure how effective soap really is in the backcountry but I suppose its better to make the attempt than not at all. Also +1 on Campsuds, a little goes along  way.

[Elliott Wolin]

My wife doesn’t like Bronner’s, scented or unscented, so we use CampSuds and similar, something about not liking Castile soap (which are pure vegetable soaps).

Actually I’m still working through a 16 oz bottle of REI biodegradable liquid soap I bought in the early 1980s, sort of pine scented and very concentrated.  Since we use it a drop at a time, even for washing dishes, that bottle still has plenty left.  My wife doesn’t like it as much as CampSuds so she says whatever is left will get buried with me.

[Greg F]

Camp Soap isn’t anti-bacterial, and feces isn’t an oil based product so is soap really required? I suppose when feces mixes with oils on the skin you may get better removal with soap but does that really apply to hands?

are there any studies showing whether non-anti bacterial soap or good scrubbing technique in the absense of soap is more effective?

i go no soap, small amount of hand sanitizer.  Then scrub with rocks / plants and water.

[Jenny A]

Well, funny you asked about studies.  Here’s one for you:

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

Undoubtedly there are many others out there.

I wear contacts, so a good hand-washing with soap and water at least in the morning and at night before handling the lenses is more than just a nicety.  Also, I’m often handling fish and don’t care to bring that into the tent with me at night.  This might be an instance where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes.

 

[David Thomas]

Jenny, thanks for the link to the study.  They note something friends have mine have noticed, especially in “dry” Alaskan villages that have no source of alcoholic beverages, “Older children and adults might purposefully swallow hand sanitizers to become drunk” and there it is, conveniently on the wall of every health clinic and many schools.

Washing with plain water mechanically removes many materials including microbes, but isn’t perfect.
Washing with soap and water is especially effective for oils and greases.
Using alcohol-based hand sanitizers works well to kill microbes on your skin.

I usually scrub with plain water and then use hand sanitizer.  But use CampSuds for greasy hands or pots and periodically to wash my hair and body (well away from surface waters).

And I like the multiple-purpose aspect of alcohol that it can be used as 1) fire starter in a pinch, 2) to prime a stove, 3) as a solvent to remove pine pitch from clothing/pack or grime from a sleeping pad prior to applying a patch.

[Matt Dirksen]

“And I like the multiple-purpose aspect of alcohol that it can be used as…”

What about just using a small squirt of my stove’s alcohol to disinfect my hands?

(of course I’ve been always partial to Peppermint Bonner’s – for cleanliness and tooth-brushing as needed.)

:>D

[Rex Sanders]

What about just using a small squirt of my stove’s alcohol to disinfect my hands?

Because most stove alcohol in the USA is poisonous methanol, or denatured alcohol, meaning poisons were added to ethanol to keep people from drinking it. Slathering (additional) poisons on my hands seems like a bad idea.

OTOH, if you cook with Everclear – go for it!

— Rex

[Gary Dunckel]

I usually carry along a very tiny (1/4 fl oz) bottle of unscented Bonner’s, mainly for cleaning my eating utensils. But what I use most for my hands is hand sanitizer with the highest % of iso-propyl alcohol. I fill up a 1 oz. squirt  bottle about 1/2 way, then top it off with Everclear and shake it up. This mixture remains fairly viscous, and it has to be much more lethal to cooties than the hand sanitizer itself.

[David K]

<li style=”text-align: left;”>Recently ordered the Mt. Mazama Rogue Soap. It’s a bar soap. I’ll let you know how it goes.

[David Thomas]

GaryD: Are you sure the hand sanitizer is iso-propyl?  I see that in some marketed for medical settings (but not for use in the cafeteria). Most of the consumer-marketed alcohol-based ones and all the ones for use around foods I’ve checked are 60-70% ethanol (some are not alcohol based, for instance 0.13% benzalkonium chloride).

[Gary Dunckel]

Good catch, David – my bad. I was thinking of the isopropyl that I use to clean stuff with. My preferred hand sanitizer has 70% Et-OH. Adding more ethyl alcohol will beef up the anti-cootie capability considerably, taking it up to 80-85%.

[Roger Caffin]

Hand wash: small soap bars from motels etc. Clean hands are healthy.
Dish wash: a few drops of ordinary ‘eco-friendly’ kitchen detergent. Also works in the snow.
Oh yes – and we use small amounts of ordinary toothpaste as well.
In every case the amount used is microscopic and Nature will have no trouble absorbing it.

My own biased opinion is that anything else is just bandwagon.

Cheers

[Author]

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