Dawn Hand Soap/Diswashing Liquid? Confused

[mark_wpduet]

At Costco is where I buy Dawn dish liquid to refill the smaller dish liquid bottle- I just now noticed after having this big bottle a few weeks that this Dawn I bought shows that it's HAND SOAP! The directions on the back only describe how to wash your hands with it. But on the front it says hand soap, dishwashing liquid/ cuts grease. I literally have no clue if this is for both hands and dishes. It doesn't say? I don't wash dishes by hand but I don't want to be using hand soap to clean my sink or the other things you use dishwashing liquid for. I've searched online and some reviewers say it's for both. I've never been so confused by a label in my life.

 

[DADoES]

 
I use Dawn Ultra (regular, blue) as a hand-soap, actual washing of hands, VERY often at the kitchen sink.  Checked the spare (unopened) bottle, it doesn't reference "hand soap" ... just "dishwashing liquid original scent" and has a birdie on the label with "Dawn Helps Save Wildlife."

 

[maytagbear]

Dawn................

has like a kerjillion varieties (almost said "subspecies") This one is plain old Dawn with a different color, a different scent, and a dash of an antibacterial, for those who do use Dawn as a hand wash as well as a dish liquid.

I now am prone to very dry skin, so when washing things that are too big or too oddly shaped for the machine, I wear gloves, because Dawn is still Dawn. If it can save aquatic birds from oil spills.........

This is not rocket geometry.

Lawrence/Maytagbear[this post was last edited: 8/31/2019-00:55]

 

[mark_wpduet]

I've noticed

that this dawn smells fantastic, but it doesn't create a lot of suds. It reminds me of that cheap pink dishwashing liquid as far as suds go, so I was really sure this wasn't dishwashing liquid. With regular dawn, it suds up something fierce......but this? The suds are gone pretty quickly.

 

[maytagbear]

Whic proves

One cannot have everything all at once in this life. For the freedom of having fewer products on the sink deck, choices must be made.

L/Mb

 

[ea56]

I use Palmolive Original Dishwashing detergent, and I like it very much. It’s easy on the hands but still cuts grease very well. And I do all the dishes by hand.

I hate any anti bacterial hand or dishwashing liquids. I’ve read that the over use of these anti bacterials has caused more resistant bacteria.

Eddie

 

[circlew]

I frequently use Dawn Manual Pot & Pan detergent to wash my hands. It doesn't cause me any problems in Summer, but if I use it too much in Winter it dries my skin out, causing it to crack.

There is also Dawn Professional Heavy Duty Degreaser, which is a thin purple liquid. It works very well on anything greasy or gummy.

These versions aren't sold in regular grocery stores, but at food service and janitorial distributors, and some locations of Lowe's or Menard's.

 

[askolover]

I use walmart's version of Dawn...it works just fine.

 

[launderess]

Softens Your Hands While You Do The Dishes

People have been using dish washing liquid to wash hands for decades now. Ever since the first light duty powders (Trend, Dreft, etc...) were replaced with washing up liquids that became far milder.



Original light duty detergents were powerful anionic surfactants that were great for dissolving grease, but also one's hands as well if used long/often enough. Later products used various less harsh detergents that still got job done, but again being less rough on skin.

Of course there are all sorts of washing up liquids ranging from quite mild to very harsh. Same as with shampoo really. Prell is known for what it has been almost since beginning, a very strong shampoo. Dawn when first introduced was powerful on grease, but you wouldn't want to wash your hands with it on a routine basis.

Ivory Liquid practically cornered the gentle dish washing liquid market. Helped along no doubt by association with Ivory soap and Ivory Snow.





Ivory liquid was long used in many households as a hand soap, laundering delicate things by hand, and most famously in some communities as a bubble bath.

Peach Thrill (Mama's brand) was another dish washing liquid marketed for mildness that found other duties as well.



Dove was another brand that relied on association marketing (Dove is one quarter cleansing cream, it simply can't dry your skin like soap).



Finally there was Lux with "Dermasil".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxPFuu7ZnQ

Obviously sooner or later clever chops at various companies were going to put two and two together, realized there was a market for liquid "hand soap", so race was off.

If you examine ingredients closely there isn't much difference between mildest liquid hand soaps compared to washing up liquids that are equally gentle. The latter besides using perhaps more gentle detergents, buffering the pH a bit may also add moisturizers and so forth.

 

[launderess]

On the other side of town

It didn't take some marketers long to see other side of things. That is all those creamy, moisturizing and gentle washing up liquids could also leave a cloudy film that dulled dishes, glasses, pots/pans.

Enter Joy and other "clear" dish washing liquids.

Joy was marketed on leaving things shiny, free of dulling residue.



Oddly enough by the 1970's lemon Joy was also widely used as a hand soap and bubble bath.

 

[launderess]

Actually have several boxes of vintage Dreft in my stash. Trust me you don't want to expose your hands or skin in general long to those suds.

Made mistake of doing some hand washing with Dreft without wearing latex gloves; hands were rough, red, cracking and raw for days afterwards. Took plenty of heavy creams and wearing gloves to bed at night to get things calmed down.

 

[circlew]

When we used to visit my grandfather in Mississippi, the only detergent he had was Tide powder. It was used for dishes, laundry, and the floors. It was even put into the galvanized washtubs when I, my sister, and cousins were given a bath.

 

[fan-of-fans]

For washing hands at the kitchen sink, I prefer using Dawn or whatever dish soap. It cuts through best when you have greasy or sticky hands from cooking. For the bathroom, I prefer Softsoap. Using dish soap all the time for hand washing leads to excessively dry hands due to its grease cutting properties that remove natural oils.

 

[ea56]

We keep a bar of Ivory Soap at the kitchen sink for hand washing. Dishwashing liquid is fine for using on hands if they are really greasy, but otherwise its just too drying, and unnecessary. I practice good hygiene, and wash my hands frequently when cooking, to avoid any cross contamination. We don’t have any liquid hand soap in the house, old school all the way with good old fashioned bar soap. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I hand wash the dishes everyday out of choice, not necessity, because I curiously find the process calming, go figure huh. I also hate having to unload a dishwasher, I want the task done once and for all, and not have to revisit it later on, while I’m busy with something else. And my hands aren’t dry at all. Once in a Blue Moon I’ll rub some Jergens Lotion on my hands, but not regularly.

Eddie

 

[sudsmaster]

I keep two different liquid "soaps" in built-in dispensers at my kitchen sink:

1) On the left, original formula "Professional"Dawn, for washing dishes etc.

2) On the right, Green Works dish detergent, for washing hands.

The Dawn on the left does a great job of washing dishes, pots, pans, utensils.

The Green Works on the right is gentler and easier on the hands.

For really dirty hands, I sometimes use the Dawn.

For really dirty/greasy hands, such as one might get from working on cars, I go to the patio sink and use Gojo Orange oil waterless hand cleaner (it has pumice in it).

When the skin on my hands really takes a beating (shut up) and start to crack, I use some "Work Hands" salve to help moisturize.

 

[ozzie908]

reply 13

Eddie you say you find doing dishes by hand calming and I get that as I find the same from ironing I go upstairs to my ironing room and its like sanctuary away from all the hustle and bustle and just me and the radio along with the darn cat who likes to lie on everything

Austin

 

[perc-o-prince]

Just gonna throw this out there....

I wonder what the back of the blue Dawn bottle says. I bet nothing about hand washing and I think I know why...

Green gives both uses, hand and dish, on the front label. Since it's advertising itself as anti-bacterial and contains an anti-bacterial agent, making a medical claim of sorts, it requires a drug fact label for said agent. With, of course, the warning that it's for external use only!

Maybe?

Chuck

 

[launderess]

Palmolive along with others have "antibacterial"

Dish washing liquid offerings without any sort of medical claim notice or whatever.

In USA and in most other nations only products claiming disinfection must be certified by proper government agency (EPA). Anti bacterial is rather an ambiguous germ since mere act of washing one's hands in soap and water is "anti bacterial".

Since these washing up liquids in USA fall under consumer "cosmetics" if you will, they are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), not EPA.

FDA has already cracked down upon anti bacterial consumer products once or twice before; forcing carbolic/phenol products (such as Lifebouy soap of old) off the market (or at least to be reformulated). Then came restrictions on hexachlorophene, which again like carbolic once was everywhere now is can only be had via physicians prescription.

Ironically triclosan, triclocarban along with a host of others "anti bacterial" agents came about in response to government restrictions/bans on carbolic and hexachlorophene. Now they are going away as well:

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www.npr.org

 

[tomturbomatic]

At the bottom of the label on the front it says "Dishwashing Liquid."