REVIEW: Dr Woods Soaps

After a little chat on Twitter, Dr Woods kindly sent me some of their products all the way Across the Pond for me to test. I have loved the Dr Woods brand for quite a while, you can easily get their stuff via Amazon amongst other sites, even though they make everything in the USA.

Dr Woods is one of the few brands out there that I genuinely get along with in terms of their overall ethos. Usually I don’t get particularly attached to specific brands, as I enjoy trying new things and finding top quality, but Dr Woods focus on being both effective and sustainable – a rare combination.

The bar soap they sent me to try was the unscented Baby mild castile soap, for sensitive skin. It is a natural product with a low pH, blended with essential oils and organic shea butter. The first good thing you notice is that it genuinely is unscented, which scores a lot of points with me. I think that soap shouldn’t make you smell like a wickerwork duck full of cheap pot pourri. It should make you feel clean. And this product really does.

 It has a very moisturising feel (presumably the shea butter there) and lathers up easily and well. It has a good clean and there is no drying out feeling on the skin when you rinse it off. I’ve been trying it for a over a week now and I think the only fault I can pick is that the bar I had (5.25oz) was a little big for my little hands to comfortably work with when it was new, so this might be an issue for children to use it too. It’s so rich and moisturising that it is quite slippery!! I fully understand if people interpret that as a bit pedantic though!!

The second item I was sent was the Black Soap liquid soap. I had not come across the liquid soap section of the Dr Woods range before so I was excited to try this. The Dr Woods website describes what black soap is:

“Dr. Woods Black Soap also known as Anago Soap or Alata Soap, originates from West Africa. It has been used for centuries in Africa. It’s methods and secrets have been passed down from generation to generation to keep the soap close to mother nature and avoid exploitation & imitations. Many have tried to create their version of black soap with all kinds of ingredients.

Tantalising stuff! I love the smell of this product. If you put a cap or two into a running bath it gives you a great bath soak with a wonderful earthy smell that fills the whole bathroom! Again we’ve had this product on the go for a couple of weeks and The Boy thinks that it has really improved the skin on his back. I don’t think it lathers up so well, but it certainly leaves you feeling clean and fresh.

Weirdly (but in an awesome hippy ethic), the label says you can also use the soap watered down four parts to clean surfaces! I gave it a go the other day. I saved up the bit of work surface in the bathroom underneath all of the bottles and tubes and didn’t wipe them for ages to give it a challenge and as you can see from my before and after photos it did just as good a job as any chemical based bathroom cleaner. The only area I found that it didn’t work for was cleaning the scum ring in the bath, which took cream cleaner to sort out! But for non-stubborn stains this product plus a little elbow grease is perfectly up to it.

Before

After

If you are looking for a natural, organic soap that is suitable for the whole family, then this is a good line to choose. Their products are gentle, versatile and really live up to the bold claims they make. Their products are Vegan friendly and never tested on animals. You get a cleaner with a conscience. For me it’s a clear 8 out of 10 Extreme Points for quality, effectiveness and value.