Dish soap performs a simple but crucial function in your home: keeping your dishes and cookware clean. Unfortunately, most of the products on the market are needlessly complicated. You don’t need colorful dyes, synthetic fragrances, detergents made from petroleum, packaged water, or disposable plastic bottles to clean your dishes. We wrote this guide of how-tos and FAQs to show how easy it is to use our Dish Soap bar.
How to use Dish Soap bars
Dish Soap bars are easy to use for hand washing dishes, although we understand they may take some getting used to when you first switch from liquid.
For best results, follow these steps:
- Place Dish Soap near your sink
- Wet a sponge, brush, or dish cloth
- Rub the bar to dissolve the soap
- Scrub dirty dishes vigorously with the lathered sponge or brush
- Soak extra dirty dishes, pots, and pans with soapy water
- Rinse dishes thoroughly
- Allow dishes to air dry or wipe them with a clean dish towel
We’ll walk through each of these steps in more detail.
Place Dish Soap near your sink
Start by placing the bar near your sink within reach. We recommend a soap dish, small plate, shallow mug, or coaster to catch excess water. You can also wet the bottom of the bar and stick it directly on the counter. It’s best to choose a surface that won’t get damaged if water drips or splashes on it.
Wet a sponge, brush, or dish cloth
Many cleaning tools work great with Dish Soap, including sponges, dish brushes, and dish cloths. There are plenty of great reusable or plastic-free options available.
Whatever tool you prefer, start by holding it under warm water from a running faucet to get it wet. This will help pick up the soap so it can be used to scrub dirty dishes.
Rub the bar to dissolve the soap
Rub the wet sponge or brush over the top of the dish soap bar to dissolve some of the soap and mix it with water. Liquefying the soap makes it easier to apply to your dishes. A rich, soapy lather is a good visual cue that you’ve got enough liquid soap. If you’re not getting much lather, try rubbing harder or re-wetting the sponge or brush a few times to get more water on the soap.
Scrub dirty dishes vigorously with the soapy sponge or brush
Once your sponge or brush is soapy enough, use it to scrub your dirty dishes. For best results, you can wet the dishes first under the faucet, then turn off the water so you can scrub without rinsing off the soap. Work the soap all around the dishes, using friction to help remove stubborn, stuck-on residue. Solid dish soap may require more elbow grease than liquid dish soap, so don’t be afraid to scrub a little harder.
If you run out of soap, just rub the sponge or brush on the soap again to produce more. When in doubt, try adding more water, soaps, and friction to get a more thorough clean.
Soak extra dirty dishes, pots, and pans with soapy water
For extra cleaning power, turn the faucet to warm and place a pot, pan, or dish underneath it. Hold the Dish Soap bar under the running water and let the suds run into the dishes. Let them soap for a bit, then scrub away residue with a sponge or brush.
You can also use this method with a drain stopper to fill your sink with soapy water.
Rinse dishes thoroughly
Rinse each dish thoroughly under running water and continue scrubbing to wash away soap and any residue you’ve lifted while cleaning. While soap is great for cleaning your dishes, if it doesn’t wash off fully it can leave them feeling greasy.
Allow dishes to air dry or wipe them with a clean dish towel
After rinsing, place your dishes on a drying rack to let them air dry, or wipe them thoroughly with a clean dish towel or rag.
If you notice a greasy film left on your dishes after washing, you may not be lathering the soap enough. Try rubbing your sponge or brush on the soap longer to create a foamier soap and scrubbing your dishes more vigorously.
If you’re seeing spots left on your glasses after washing, they are most likely caused by hard water. Water spots are caused by droplets that dry on the surface of dishes, leaving behind minerals that are found in hard water. If you have hard water, try drying your dishes by hand using a clean cloth to prevent spots.
Use Dish Soap with Oxygen Brightener for a complete cookware cleaning solution
Our Oxygen Brightener pairs perfectly with our dish soap. This oxygen cleaner includes sodium percarbonate, an oxidizing agent that breaks down organic matter like grease, oil, and food stains. Soak your cookware in an Oxygen Brightener solution to remove set-in oil and grease from pots and pans or strip coffee and tea stains from mugs and thermoses.
For more information, check out our How to Use Oxygen Brightener guide.
Do not use Dish Soap to disinfect or sanitize dishes
Our Dish is a cleaning product, not a sanitizer or disinfectant. In most cases, cleaning is enough to maintain a safe and healthy home, and you only need to disinfect when someone is sick in your home.
If you need to sanitize your dishes, you should always clean them first to remove the majority of germs, then disinfect. Germs can hide in dirt, so it’s important to remove any impurities first. That’s where our cleaning products come in.
How to store Dish Soap
Dish Soap is available in a small paperboard box, which can be used to store the bar until you use it. Once you start using it, you can leave your Dish Soap on a soap dish or small plate near your sink. If water pools in the container around the soap, be sure to pour it out when you’re done washing dishes. This will extend the life of the bar by preventing it from dissolving in standing water between uses.
We also offer Dish Soap without the box. If you buy it this way and don’t use the bar right away, we recommend storing it in an old Dish Soap box, tupperware, or similar container to prevent it from collecting dust. However, you can always rinse the bar before using it to wash dishes.
How to recycle or compost Dish Soap packaging
When you’re done with your Dish Soap, you can simply fold up the box and recycle it. Paper is a highly recyclable material accepted by recycling services in most communities. Wet, greasy, or food-stained paper cannot be recycled, so if your box has gotten particularly soiled you may not be able to recycle it.
Our paperboard packaging is also at-home compostable! Composting paper is a zero-waste solution that does not use any energy. For best results, cut or tear up the box into tiny pieces, keep your compost pile moist and turn it regularly, and be sure to maintain a balance of brown and green waste.
If you buy package-free Dish Soap, there is nothing left to recycle or compost!