Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap | Natural Cleaning Product Review

I tried the Lavender Bergamot scented Citra Dish Natural Liquid Dish Soap, 25 ounce bottle, for hand washing dishes. It was great! The label states that "our naturally derived dish soap makes quick work of grease and baked-on foods, leaving dishes exceptionally clean and streak free."


Natural Cleaning Product Review: Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap

Kudos to CitraSolv, L.L.C. the makers of Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap and other natural cleaning products, they delivered on that promise. I washed day-old dishes and pots-n-pans from a family of 4 and found that Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap did quickly cut through the grease and encrusted food (yuk!).

CitraSolv headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut was founded by Steve and Melissa Zeitler; their website can be found at the above, embedded link. They offer coupons on their site for their products and a handy store locator by zipcode. On their website they clearly announce: "We specialize in the development of naturally-derived products that are made from renewable resources and which have a minimum impact on our world."

Their products are cruelty-free (meaning no animal testing!) and vegan. They use real essential oils for their fragrances, not imitations. They state that "independent lab tests prove these products perform as well as or better than the leading national brands. The key difference, though, is that CitraSolv uses naturally derived, biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable resources, including natural essential oils and plant-based surfactants."

Ingredients

The ingredients for Citra Dish are a short list of natural ingredients: Water, natural cleaning agents (coconut and vegetable based), sodium chloride (salt), essential oil blend, aloe vera, preservative (less than 0.002%). I like short lists of ingredients that I can identify and trust!!

Aroma

The aroma of the lavender bergamot scented Citra Dish was divine, very relaxing and soothing, always a plus when facing a pile of dirty dishes. Lavender is a flowering herb from the mint family, derived from Latin (lavare) meaning "to wash". It has been prized for centuries for its antiseptic, antibacterial and anti fungal properties. It is also used widely for relaxation and even sometimes as a natural antidepressant. Bergamot, a citrus fruit, also has antiseptic and antidepressant qualities, and is the same essential oil found in the fragrant tea, Earl Grey.

Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap also comes in these interesting fragrances: Valencia Orange, Mango Tangerine, Lemon Verbena, and Fresh Grapefruit.

Price

The 25 fluid ounce bottle, the only size, retails from 4.69 to 4.99. Getting a 1.00 off coupon from the CitraSolv website would bring it down to just less than 4.oo per bottle.

I did find the Mango Tangerine fragrance Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap on Amazon for only 3.09 per bottle for a pack of 12. This deal comes with free shipping if you act immediately and order before March 5, 2009.

My Dish Washing Experience

I found Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap worked great on a large pile of dishes and pots-n-pans. It left my glasses streak-free and everything squeaky clean. It worked fast, dried-on dishes only needing about a minute or 2 soak, before cleaning up well. I used approximately 1 tablespoon of the soap in a dish washing tub, that is equivalent to 2 generous squirts (I know because I actually measured it!).

The soap suds kept well. I found that agitating the running water with my hand after adding the soap worked the best to make a large amount of suds.

Quick Note on Natural Soaps in General
Because natural soaps do not have artificial, chemical surfactants added, they tend to make less suds than consumers are normally use to, but don't fret, the amount of suds do not equal the cleaning power of the soap! Agitating the soapy water manually can produce an equivalent amount of suds to the typical chemicalized soaps and detergents. You can think of suds as nice but not necessary!

Minor Drawbacks

I felt that the fragrance dissipated fairly quickly. It was strong and wonderful at first, but within a 5 minute or so window of time, the aroma had mostly disappeared and was nice, just very faint.

Also, I would like the Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap to be more moisturizing for my hands. It made my hands feel a little dry after washing the dishes, perhaps because the addition of salt in the ingredients?

Summary
Overall, Big Thumbs-Up for Citra Dish Natural Dish Soap. It is a great, natural cleaning product, that will make your hand washing of dishes a wonderful aromatic, cleaning experience.