Organic Wednesday - Dr Bronner vs Method

Doing things slightly differently this week - haven't done a side by side comparison for a while, so I thought I'd do one now.

I've mentioned how much I like Dr Bronner soaps before and they have a new one available from their Shikakai range, and in this trial, I'm using the peppermint version - I'm a sucker for peppermint:

And in the clear corner, I'll be testing Method's handwash in Sweet Water:

Now, both of these products are organic, and claim to be non-drying, and contain no ingredients known to irritate skin.

Here's how they look out of the bottles (Dr Bronner first, then Method)

 

Dr Bronners is a thin, runny liquid that's very difficult to control ... it's also an odd colour, how unnattractive is that yellow-y brown?  The Method is a more familiar gel-style affair (trust me, it is there in the photo, I assure you!) that won't run all down your arm while you're trying to take photos of it.  Of course, that might just be my problem ...

Here's how they foam.  I don't know about you, but I LOVE a proper foamy handwash, even though I know that many foaming agents are bad for your skin!  As before, Dr Bronner first, then Method:

 

Just to be clear, I used one full pump of each product, and hands were washed consecutively, in the same temperature water.  As you can see, the Dr Bronner has foamed up magnificently, very surprising as the main ingredients appear to be sugar and a seed extract! The Method doesn't foam up nearly so well, although compared to a lot of organic SLS-free cleansers, it's actually pretty good.  Even compared to Method's own moisturising handwash, this is good foam.  Dr Bronner's peppermint smells precisely like washing your hands with a stick of Blackpool rock (not as sticky though) where Method has a more generic, gentle, slightly perfumed scent, which is not at all unpleasant.

Neither soap left my hands dried out, which is great. Even though I do like a foaming hand wash I hate it when it leaves my hands feeling dry after, or worse, feeling like I need handcream.  I don't believe in handcream (or toner, or body lotion.  Yes, I'm a weird, I know), so don't use it too often, and hate feeling that another product I'm using is forcing me to use it.

I guess which one you'll prefer will come down to what you want from your handwash, Method's wash is undoubtedly the one that'll look more stylish in your bathroom, but Dr Bronner is the one that'll give you the most satisfaction when you use it!  Both of these have pride of place in the bathrooms around our house, and I guess which one we buy next depends on which one runs out first!

Dr Bronner is available from Victoria Health, independent health food shops and Liberty in London, whereas you can buy Method from Boots, Waitrose or from the Method website.

Dr Bronner

Alongside roses as a favourite scent, I adore the smell of peppermint, so upon stumbling across a display of Dr Bronner's "magic soap" in the shop nearest my office, my choice of which one to pick was actually pretty easy!

Dr Bronner's soap is vegan, organic, packed with essential oils and it's a fairtrade product too. Simply put, it couldn't tick any more trendy and/or politically correct boxes if it wanted to. However, although the fairtrade certification is new, the soap has been produced in more or less the same way it has been since the company was founded in 1948.


It's available in a liquid or bar form, but I prefer the heft of a decent bar of soap sometimes - that, and I'm currently over-run with bottles of shower gel for some unknown reason - so I decided to try a bar of the peppermint and see what I made of it.

It has a gloriously cool scent, with none of the sugary tones you get in some of the more recent minty products that have been released. Some of them make you smell like a packet of Softmints for some reason. Anyway, it lathers beautifully, and doesn't leave the skin taut or dry at all after using.  The scent, sadly, doesn't linger long on the skin, but that's likely not a bad thing, as it means any perfumes you apply later are less likely to clash.

Dr Bronner say you can use the soaps in around 18 different ways, including as a shampoo, as a laundry soap, and even as a toothpaste! I wouldn't go that far, but I did use the lather as a shaving cream and was delighted with the smooth and silky results! And no scaliness afterward, either.

I really liked it, I'd been put off the product slightly by reading some of the more, er, evangelical reviews about the product that are out there, but as a cheap bathroom treat (my bar cost about £2.79), it's a difficult one to beat.  And any soap that doesn't give me scaly shins after shaving them in the shower is a winner in my book.  I was also sorely tempted by the rose, or lavender, or the almond (smells just like marzipan!) varieties, and I think I might have to invest in a couple of those ones too ...