Real hippies use Dr. Bronner's for all of those things. I however, do not*. But you might want to! All-One! OK!!!!

*anymore

im partial to african black soap for the dirty bits. otherwise, i just use OCM on my face (olive and jojoba with some EOs) and just water on the rest of me.

castile soap is just fine in the sink. i actually like dr. woods over dr. bronners because the price is AWESOME.

in the automatic dishwasher is use whatever phosphate free detergent i can get for cheap.

for laundry (i have a front loader) i use a cup of baking soda in with the clothes, hydrogen peroxide in the bleach cup and white vinegar in the softener cup. if things are really soiled (kiddos) then ill use a smidge of detergent- usually some method or ecover or some such cheapo green-ish version. sometimes i use borax, sometimes someone in my family necessitates a soak in the oxyclean before the wash. i have not had good luck with generic soap flakes, but people rave about them. if i want things to smell nice instead of like nothing, i toss in an old sock witha few drops of essential oil in the dryer.

Oh my gosh... anything but dishsoap for everything! Laughter... love Mrs. Meyers & Seventh Generation cleaning products (or vinegar for cleaning veggies, mirrors and hard surfaces) and Burt Bees, Jason's Organics, Avalon Organics and Kiss My Face all make good quality organic body products you can pick up easily at Target or some fancier grocery stores that carry organic products. There are even more natural ways of course, but even that is a much needed step in the right direction! :) P.S. I had forgotten about Bronners but that does work well for body, clothes (like during travel or hand washing... not the dishwasher or clothes washer) and even cleaning tile floors and such... just remember is it pure Castille soap so a little goes a long way! :)

I like a local lady's soap (pittsburgh) you can order online. www.mytracystreats.com I use dr bonners also but the other soap i mentioned has so much other stuff that makes your skin nice and soft. :) She made this to fight skin issues she was suffering from with other products.

No soap for the body for me! OCM and maybe a little vinger under the arms or citric acid or lemon juice in the hair.

Castile soap (generic) for the dishes.

It's believed that the first soaps were made from animal fat dripping onto wood ashes and water dripping over that, because the main ingredients of old fashioned lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH), which can be made from wood ashes combined with fat. Any fragrance free bar soap with minimal ingredients is effective and probably closer to paleo than anything else, maybe closer than even not using soap. I learned to make soap many years ago with lye and fats. Lots of recipes/methods out there, and many people render their own lard to do it, but many also use coconut oil, cocoa butter and other paleo-friendly oils.

To get the most bang for my buck I've been ordering things in bulk subscription price from Amazon.

My fave's so far:

7th Generation dish soap. (I prefer the smell of Country Save, but couldn't get it for the same price.)

7th Generation dish washer detergent. I've used both the liquid and powder, the powder seems to go further.

Ecos 3X's Concentrated Laundry Soap. I've been hooked on the smell of Ecos for years, but had to stop getting it for a while because it got to be too pricey at the store. I was so glad to find it at an affordable price again. Because it is so concentrated it comes in delightfully small bottles too, which makes me feel better about the whole carbon footprint shipping thing.

For body soap, I'm a huge fan of Trader Joe's "The Vert (green tea?)" and Lavender French milled soaps (I don't know how natural they are, but they smell so good, I'm not sure I care). When I don't want to smell like anything in particular I go for Dr. Bronner's Baby Soap. I also use a drop of the baby soap for toothpaste sometimes, I love the way it makes my teeth feel, and isn't nearly as nasty as you'd think soap in the mouth would be.

Thanks AKD for the natural laundry ideas.

Does anyone have any ideas for dishes? I don't have access to commercial "natural" products. Vinegar? Baking soda? I'd be particularly interested in ideas about how to cut through grease from meat. I was vegan from the age of 15 and one thing I am realizing is that I missed a huge piece of general knowledge education about how to deal with (prep, cook and clean up after) meat.

Once in a while I indulge myself and purchase handmade soap (for the body) via a few sellers on Etsy.com that I've purchased from in the past. Handmade soap is awesome, because you know exactly what is in it - saponified fats/oils without all the extra crap industry has thrown into the grocery store stuff. And scents if you like that sort of stuff.

I've made my own handmade soap (and I mean being all alchemical and mixin' the lye and the waters and the fats, not the "melt and pour" glycerin soaps) but I am lazy and have small animals so I'd rather not risk killing anyone with the lye. It's actually quite easy, you just have to take the proper safety precautions and be able to do a little math -- which is quite easy, given calculators!

Anyhoo, if purchasing from etsy and/or making your own cleansers are not an option...Try your local handmade gift shops. They might be selling handmade soaps and cleansers. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you!