The dish
What do you use for handwashing dishes? I’ve had the same favorite sponge for years, the SOS blue. But I’ve been changing my dish soap regime. For a while I used whatever big jug they had at Costco. Then I realized I was tired of hoisting the big jug a dozen times a day. I could have decanted it into something classy, but my name isn’t Martha. So when I finished the jug, I tried the alluring curves of Method dish soap, which was on sale at QFC.
Big mistake. The alluring curves slip out of your hand if your hand happens to be wet or soapy, and it smelled like being hit on the head with a cucumber. So I went on the hunt for an unscented dish soap. First I tried Seventh Generation, which I was too dilute. Now I have a bottle of Planet Ultra, and it seems perfect: plenty sudsy, no smell. It’s enough to make you wonder why they started scenting dish soap in the first place.
Further updates on this saga as events warrant.
Comment by Wendy
It’s too bad you didn’t discover Planet Ultra when Iris was still a baby; from their website, it sounds like you could have just put her in the sink with the dishes. Dancinmike and Natalie, I hope you’re reading.
Posted on April 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Comment by StillBorn
Born and raised in Cincinnati, I continue to use Dawn.
Posted on April 25, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Comment by dancinmikeb
This one time I was hit in the head with a cucumber. When I got home my wife saw the bump on my head and said, “Did you get yourself in a pickle?”
Posted on April 25, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Comment by Lore
One of the major brands is now selling liquid dishsoap in a scent named “Alpine Purity”. Which seems like a sort of freaky evocation of the Third Reich, in bubbles.
Posted on April 26, 2008 at 7:04 am
Comment by ctate
We’ve used lemon Joy for years now, with a brief period of dismay when they changed the lemon smell. Presumably four million other people were also dismayed; they changed the scent back soon after.
(Doesn’t Method dish soap come in like fifteen different scent variations? [check check check the website…] Aha! It comes in three fragrances plus “go naked,” the undyed, unperfumed variety. Oho!)
I’ll have to check out the Planet Ultra unscented now!
Posted on April 26, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Comment by jenny
Well, I quite like the method stuff, although I think it would work better with a pump instead of the dodgy bottle. Cucumber sounds gross, I love the pink grapefruit though!
Posted on April 26, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Comment by mamster
I would give the unscented Method a try, since the susdiness was top-notch, but only if they change the bottle.
Posted on April 26, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Comment by Cinthia
I heart Dawn Direct Foam. I also heart the dishwasher and disposable paper plates.
Posted on April 26, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Comment by heather
my most favorite is ajax pink grapefruit. cheap, ajax-old-fashioned-hardcore-badass, and delightfully pink grapefruity! but i decant it into an old method hand soap squirty dispenser that the lettering has worn off of.
though at the moment, we’re living far far away from our real life, for work, and i’ve got trader joe’s lavender dish soap. which is fine in theory, until i remember that lavender smell makes me feel barfy. also, our not-real-life apartment has a dishwasher, so i’m going through the barfy lavender a lot more slowly than i otherwise would. dag!
Posted on April 28, 2008 at 4:42 am
Comment by mamster
Iris and I like lavender jelly, but lavender dish soap would probably put us right off that. In fact, I don’t want my dish soap to smell like anything I would eat. Maybe bacon. I would try bacon dish soap.
Posted on April 28, 2008 at 5:58 am
Comment by Kathleen
I was going to ask whether Laurie has been hitting you in the head with cucumbers, but Mike’s response was better.
Posted on April 28, 2008 at 1:13 pm