This Wirecutter Expert Cleans (Almost) Everything with Dish Soap

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wirecutter Show

Episode: This Wirecutter Expert Cleans (Almost) Everything with Dish Soap

Date: April 22, 2026
Host(s): Christine Cyr Clisset, Rosie Guerin
Guest: Andrea Barnes (Wirecutter expert on laundry and cleaning products)

Overview

In this spring cleaning–themed episode, Christine and Rosie are joined by Wirecutter journalist and cleaning product tester Andrea Barnes to discuss why dish soap is the ultimate multi-tasker in cleaning. The episode examines the effectiveness, value, and environmental impact of dish soap versus “green” cleaners, recommends top-performing brands, and dispels common cleaning myths. Andrea shares actionable tips on using dish soap throughout the home—including some surprising and unconventional uses—based on years of testing and research.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. The Surprising Power and Versatility of Dish Soap

Timestamps: 00:38, 15:14

• Dish soap is effective not just for dishes, but also for backsplashes, yoga mats, stainless steel, wood floors, and bathroom surfaces.
• Andrea: “You can clean wood floors, you can clean stainless steel. You can use it as a backsplash [or] bathroom cleaner.” (00:38)
• Dish soap appears in almost every Wirecutter cleaning guide because of its versatility and cost-effectiveness.
• Unlike most “green” cleaners, dish soap is cheap and generally safer for hands, which makes it unique among household cleaning products.

2. Breaking Down “Green” Cleaner Myths

Timestamps: 01:27, 12:35, 14:27

• Wirecutter’s stance: Avoid buying many specialty "green" cleaners. Dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar cover most needs.
• Many “green” claims are marketing-driven; effectiveness does not always correlate with eco-labels.
• Andrea: “Buying less is always a good thing to do and that we can make small changes that have a bigger impact, like washing with cold water or buying less cleaners.” (14:27)

3. How Dish Soap Cleans: The Science

Timestamps: 15:14, 15:32

• Main job: Remove oils, which water and friction alone cannot do.
• Dish soap contains surfactants: molecules that bind to both oil and water, allowing for effective cleaning.

4. Proper Techniques for Using Dish Soap

Timestamps: 10:28, 10:43

• Soaking dishes: Best to do for 20 minutes, not longer than 2 hours to avoid damaging items.
• Fill a basin with water and a little soap for less water usage, rather than applying soap directly to dishes.

5. Product Testing and Top Recommendations

Timestamps: 17:15, 24:59

• Dish soaps vary greatly in effectiveness; some need much more product to work.
• Top three recommendations:
  • Ultra Palmolive Pure and Clear: No dyes/fragrances, EPA Safer Choice, non-irritating, doesn’t make sponges smelly. (24:59)
  • Dawn Platinum: Best powerhouse for tough grease, oily laundry stains, and heavy-duty cleaning (note: contains blue dye). (26:12)
  • Clean Cult: Best in plastic-free/aluminum packaging category; effective though may require more product. (27:32)

6. The Real Impact of “Natural” or “Clear” Dish Soaps

Timestamps: 18:56

• Andrea debunks the idea that clear or green-branded dish soaps are inherently natural or safer ("Dish soap inherently is not natural because it’s a synthetic" – 19:35).
• Wirecutter’s main picks outperform “natural” brands in cleaning power, though some people may prioritize limiting dyes or petrochemicals.

7. Other Creative and Effective Uses for Dish Soap

Timestamps: 28:38, 32:32

• As an all-purpose spray: 2–3 drops in a large spray bottle of water for surfaces (kitchen, yoga mats, backsplashes, wood floors, stainless steel).
• For laundry: Pre-treats oily/makeup stains better than many dedicated stain removers, especially with Dawn.
• For cleaning jewelry, mouthguards, retainer, shoes, outdoor equipment, and even security cameras.
• Poison ivy prevention: Washing exposed skin with dish soap within 20 minutes helps remove the oil that causes rash. (33:02)

8. What NOT to Clean with Dish Soap

Timestamps: 33:34

• Pets: Can strip important oils from their skin.
• Your face: Too harsh, strips natural oils.
• Dishwasher: Will cause excessive suds and a mess.

9. Pods and Microplastics: Busted Myths

Timestamps: 34:48

• Cleaning pods do not shed microplastics; their film is similar to glue and dissolves completely.
• Some pods use “biobased” film (e.g., Dropps), though most have petrochemical components.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Really, the only thing that water and friction alone can’t remove is oil. And dish soap is designed to remove oil.” — Andrea Barnes (15:14)
• “Suds are more for the consumer...You don’t need the suds to clean.” — Andrea Barnes (07:36)
• “If you have been exposed to poison ivy, you should use dish soap to wash off any exposed areas...because it’s designed to break down oils.” — Andrea Barnes (33:02)
• “Don’t use it in your dishwasher. It’s designed to suds, so it will make your kitchen sudsy.” — Andrea Barnes (34:03)
• “We just don’t want people to have to buy that much. And you don’t have to buy that much when you buy these soaps that work well.” — Andrea Barnes (21:27)
• “The takeaway of this entire episode is essentially you can use dish soap on everything — and probably a lot less than you think you need to use.” — Rosie Guerin (37:44)

---

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Spring Cleaning & Wirecutter’s Cleaning Guides – 01:17–02:53
• The Science of Dish Soap & How it Cleans – 15:14–16:15
• Testing & Picking the Best Dish Soaps – 17:15–22:09
• Andrea’s Top Dish Soap Recommendations – 24:59–28:20
• Recipe for All-purpose Cleaner & Surprising Uses – 28:38–32:06
• Poisons Ivy Remedy & What NOT to Use Dish Soap For – 32:32–34:12
• Pods & Microplastics Mythbusting – 34:48–36:17
• Final Takeaways & Favorite Recent Purchase – 36:17–37:17
• Summary & Key Lessons – 37:17–38:13

---

Takeaway Tips & Actionable Advice

• Use only a few drops of dish soap in a large spray bottle for most cleaning tasks.
• Use dish soap for laundry pre-treating of oily or makeup stains — especially with Dawn.
• Palmolive Pure and Clear is a top all-rounder; Dawn Platinum excels with tough jobs.
• For environmental impact, focus on using fewer, high-quality products versus many specialized cleaners.
• Don’t use dish soap in dishwashers, on pets, or on your face—choose gentler, dedicated products for these.

---

Podcast Tone & Style

• Engaging and conversational: The episode is a mix of practical advice, gentle myth-busting, and personal anecdotes.
• Evidence-based: Recommendations are always rooted in thorough hands-on testing and candid discussion about marketing versus reality.
• Playful but practical: Regular use of quizzes, friendly banter, and memorable analogies (e.g., “Sinner’s Circle” for cleaning: time, heat, chemicals, friction).

---

For more resources and product links, visit the episode show notes or the Wirecutter website.

---

Transcript

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This podcast is supported by Northwestern Mutual. As someone who trusts expert advice, you should do the same with your finances. So now is the right time to talk with a financial expert about money recommendations. Northwestern Mutual can match you with a financial professional who'll build a plan based on what's important to you, looking out for your blind spots and finding new opportunities to help grow your wealth and protect what you've worked so hard for. Find a better way to [e-mail], the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.

[Andrea Barnes]

I use it on anything that might have body oil or grease on it. So it could be something super obvious like your kitchen backsplash, but it could also be used on yoga mats or kitchen counters. You can clean wood floors, you can clean stainless steel. You can use it as a backsplash bathroom cleaner.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm Christine Cyrclassette.

[Rosie Guerin]

I'm Rosie Guerin and you're listening to the Wirecutter Show.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Rosie.

[Rosie Guerin]

Hey.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Hey there. We are going to do our, what I think is becoming an annual sort of spring cleaning episode. We gotta do the spring cleaning episode.

[Rosie Guerin]

I love it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It's close to Earth Day, really. When I started thinking about what Wirecutter recommends for cleaners as related to the environment, I was really thinking like, we actually don't recommend a lot of things on site that are specific, quote unquote green cleaners, like the types of things that you might go to a grocery store aisle and they're sort of like, marketed as better for the environment. We are often using a very, very simple list of cleaners. You will find things like vinegar and baking soda, which I think people commonly think of as green. But oftentimes we're using dish soap, which is kind of a little unexpected.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah, I've often and for a long time wondered about these green cleaners. And I've wondered, is it a scam? What's the deal? And to have that conversation lead to what's essentially a conversation about the myriad uses of dish soap was kind of interesting and I, I want to dig into it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

You know, Wirecutter has a ton of cleaning guides on our site. I've edited a lot of them, and dish soap shows up in almost all of them.

[Andrea Barnes]

It's.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It's kind of wild. The other great thing about dish soap is it's cheap. Like, you're not going to spend very much money on it. It's probably the most sort of economical choice that you can make for a lot of cleaning choices. So we are going to bring on one of our favorite cleaning experts on this episode. I'm pumped to talk to her.

[Rosie Guerin]

Andrea Barnes, we love her. She specializes in laundry testing washers, testing dryers, testing laundry soaps. She was our first guest.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's right.

[Rosie Guerin]

On her very first episode of this show. She also tests dish soap. She knows a lot about detergents, a lot about soaps. So we're going to talk about two articles she's written for Wirecutter. One of them is a guide to all the things you can clean with dish soap on the nose, and the other is an actual product review of dish soaps. So we'll hear some specific product recommendations, why she likes them, what she does with them.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

We're going to take a quick break and when we're back, we'll have Andrea here to talk about dish soap, why it's such an effective cleaner, what to look for in a good one, because obviously you've got a lot to choose from and the surprising ways that you can use this very humble, cheap, ubiquitous cleaner. We'll be right back.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card Spring always feels like a reset, clearing things out, simplifying what you don't need. Apple Card is built with that same idea in no annual fee, no late fees and no foreign transaction fees. No fees, period. Get started and apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today, subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 17.49% to 27.74% based on creditworthiness rates as of January 1, 2026. Existing customers can view their variable APR in the Wallet app or@Card, apple.com, apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and [e-mail] all aboard. Choose your perfect Caribbean escape with Princess Cruises. Maybe you spend a day relaxing on the top deck, golden sun, a refreshing pina colada and nothing on your schedule except dinner and a show. Other days you embrace a tranquil shore, snorkel mask in hand, ready to explore white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. The best part? Relaxation and discovery are both on the itinerary. Sail to the Caribbean with Princess cruises the visit princess.com or contact your travel advisor to book Princess Cruises ships registered to Bermuda.

Your new grad is taking their next step. Help them find their footing with the gift of one year of wireless from Visible. The Visible annual plan lets you pay once for a year of wireless. No monthly reminders, no surprise add ons. Visible is powered by the reliable Verizon network, meaning one fewer excuse to Avoid calls from home. Get unlimited 5G from Visibles starting at $275 for a full year of coverage. Head to visible.com for more info. Terms apply. For networkmanagement details, see visible.com.

[Rosie Guerin]

Welcome back. With us now, Andrea Barnes, wire cutters expert. Covering washing machines, dryers, laundry detergent, dish soap. This all involves touring factories and visiting showrooms, attending trade shows, speaking with appliance brand representatives, and, of course, interviewing experts. Fun fact. Every year, Andrea runs over 120 dish cycles for testing. That Andrea does not sound that impressive.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah, I've heard that

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

we wish you

[Christine Cyrclassette]

would do more dish cycles personally, but

[Andrea Barnes]

if I'm including in my own home, the numbers much higher. But this is actually specifically for testing dishwashers. And you have to remember that the dishwasher tests involve running sensor cycles and extremely dirty dishes.

[Rosie Guerin]

Got it.

[Andrea Barnes]

Usually those cycles, even on the best dishwasher that's fast is like four hours.

[Rosie Guerin]

Oh, my goodness.

[Andrea Barnes]

So I. I just don't have the time to run more than that. Sure. Yeah.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That's almost like spending half your year in the office just running a dish cycle a day. Right? Yeah, that. So it's still quite a lot of dish cycles.

[Andrea Barnes]

So it's a lot.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

You also have to get those dishes dirty.

[Andrea Barnes]

Ye wash them.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So, Andrea, we are going to talk a lot about dish soap today and how you can use it in all sorts of cleaning tasks around your house. But first, I hear that you brought us a quiz in our inaugural episode, which we did with you on laundry. You brought us a quiz that still kind of blows my mind. Lots of fun things that we found out in that. So I'm expecting you to really blow us away here.

[Rosie Guerin]

Let's warm up.

[Andrea Barnes]

Okay. So true or false? You need suds for the best clean.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

False.

[Andrea Barnes]

You're correct.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Ah, we didn't hear from you, Rosie. You just waited until you, like, stepped that one out.

[Rosie Guerin]

I was just thinking about how I hate not having suds.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

And that's why they're there.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

Really? Yes. Really? Suds are more for the consumer.

[Rosie Guerin]

Psychological.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. Scents tell you that there's soap there and you could make a really good soap that doesn't suds. But you wouldn't necessarily know if you looked at water that there was soap in there. So it's more of a visual cue. But it's interesting because in the dish soap world, the way they actually test dish soaps is something called mileage, which is how long the suds last. So it is something that's part of cleaning but that's not. You don't need the suds to clean. Okay, next question. The best dish soaps contain enzymes.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yes. True.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm gonna say. Wait a minute, I'm gonna say. Cause I feel like we've learned a lot on this show. I'm gonna say enzymes are in detergent. And dish soap is actually different. It's a soap.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yes.

[Rosie Guerin]

This is not fair.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yes. Cristine, do you have the answer?

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Cristine.

[Rosie Guerin]

What?

[Andrea Barnes]

Have you edited this stuff?

[Rosie Guerin]

You actually clean your house? This is not fair.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I have worked with Andrea a lot on laundry detergent stuff. So I. Somewhere back in a door in the back of my brain, I pulled that out.

[Andrea Barnes]

No, very. So enzymes are usually not in dish soap because they're not very skin friendly. The whole point of dish soap, what makes it so unique and interesting as a cleaning solution, is that it's safe for you to use with your bare hands. That's one of the main qualifiers. The nice thing about dish soap is that you can use it on your hands, which actually requires a lot of research and science to make that tiny, like 99 cent bottle of dish soap. Wow.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay. Best value in your kitchen, probably. Yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

All right, last one. If dish soap isn't cleaning a dish, use a little more.

[Rosie Guerin]

Ooh, true.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, why not?

[Andrea Barnes]

It's true and not true. True question. Sorry, Rosie. I'm like, I.

[Rosie Guerin]

First of all, I think, Cristine, you should have been disqualified. Second of all, that was too tricky.

[Andrea Barnes]

It is tricky. True and false.

[Rosie Guerin]

What does that mean?

[Andrea Barnes]

Soaking in a tub with dish soap can help really stubborn stains. But you also don't want to do it for too long.

[Rosie Guerin]

Uh oh.

[Andrea Barnes]

Because you. Yeah, see, I sometimes walk away and forget. And you're really not supposed to leave it to soak for more than two hours.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Like even just your regular dishes.

[Andrea Barnes]

You're not supposed to do that. It's not recommended. I'm sure it changes depending on the dish soap, but it's just you can accidentally ruin things.

[Rosie Guerin]

Even Dawn?

[Andrea Barnes]

Even Dawn. Especially dawn, which I'm sure we'll talk about later. But he actually says in the label, like, do not soak things. And I mean, you can make some arguments here. Do they want you to use more soap? Probably, probably. But experts have observed in focus groups and interviewing people that most people actually clean their dishes by directly applying dish soap to their dish. Very few people actually do it the way you're supposed to with soaking.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay, so we are going to talk about using dish soap for all other kinds of things. But like, let's just start with how you're actually supposed to use it to clean dishes. So what's the way? If you're not supposed to spray the soap right on the dish and, like, scrub away with a little water, what is the way?

[Andrea Barnes]

Okay, that's what most people do, and they have taken that into account with developing things. But if you want to use the least amount of water possible in studies they've done, it's to fill a basin with water and add soap and soak your dishes and then wash them. But you want to do it within, like, 20 minutes. Right. You don't want to soak it and leave it and then go. But most people don't wash dishes that way.

[Rosie Guerin]

Yeah, that's how my mama used to do it in the olden times.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, you're using a lot more water if it's just running out of the faucet. I mean, that is definitely, like.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. Which is why dishwashers are pretty great. But in terms of the question if you should add more soap, let's say you've already soaked your dishes and something's not coming off. Like. Yes, try adding a little more soap and scrubbing it, because that soap will break things down. Really, it's that you just don't want to soak things for longer than two hours.

[Rosie Guerin]

All right, cool, cool, cool. Thinking about the pot, I left in the sink with about a half a bottle of dawn filled up to the top with water because I made rice Krispie treats last night.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Oh, yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

And figured I'd come back in 40 to 72 hours and scrub it. This episode, in part, came from a thing I think a lot about, which is this idea of green cleaners. You go into a store and you see so many different labels that say some variation of green for everything from bathroom cleaners to dish soap, even to laundry detergent. I think people, I'll speak for myself. Want to buy these things because maybe they're concerned about the environment, concerned about health. I have sensitive skin. My kids are little, whatever the case may be. So, by and large, our quote, unquote, green cleaners worth buying.

[Andrea Barnes]

Are they worth buying? Ooh, that's a tough question. So, first of all, and what do

[Rosie Guerin]

we mean by green?

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah, that's. That's a great question. So first, I'm gonna break down something pretty interesting about cleaning, which is how I try to approach things when thinking about the environment and the environmental impact. There is a concept in cleaning called the sinner's circle.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It was like sinner's, the Movie.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. And. But it was. Cause the guy who invented its last name is Sinner, but they still call it that. Cleaning can be done four ways. Through time, through heat, through chemicals, and through friction. So when you take one thing away, you kind of have to add more. So let's say this happens a lot with green cleaners. If you take chemicals out, then you have to use more friction. Like you might have to scrub harder. Right. So that's sort of how we've approached cleaning, is that we prefer buying less. Right. So you can do a lot with one really good bottle of laundry detergent and one bottle of dish soap, and then you wouldn't have to go buy a bunch of other things to. For example, if you buy a weaker laundry detergent, you won't have to go buy six other stain removers. Right. You can just use that one. So I think the approach that I've taken is buy less. I think that that's a good way to look at it. So whether or not green cleaners are worth buying, I think it's a personal choice. Rosie, what you mentioned about allergies makes total sense to me. It's good that these products exist, but you always want to be careful with claims. And I think that's probably the conclusion a lot of wire cutter journalists have come to. We offer alternatives. If that's what people really want, though.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah. And we should also say, if you're listening and you have a cleaner that you love, you love the smell, you love how it's cleaning, this is no shade on that, but just overall, it's not necessarily doing a better job at cleaning and it's not necessarily better for the environment.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. I mean, that's a holistic life cycle analysis that has to happen. It's complicated. Right. But what I do know is that buying less is always a good thing to do and that we can make small changes that have a bigger impact, like washing with cold water or buying less cleaners. So one of the reasons I like dish soap is that I actually don't buy surface cleaner at home. Like, I don't have it. I just use dish soap.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Well, this is a great segue to talking about why dish soap is a good cleaner. We use dish soap in a lot of wire cutter cleaning guides. I've edited guides to cleaning your oven, cleaning the wood floor, like I just mentioned cleaning your bathroom, cleaning all sorts of stuff, even laundry. And we oftentimes are calling for dish soap. So why is it such a great cleaner?

[Andrea Barnes]

So really the only thing that water and friction Alone can't remove is oil. And dish soap is designed to remove oil. That's how it works. So the surfactants in dish soap make it possible for oil and water to mix so that you can clean.

[Rosie Guerin]

Remind me what a surfactant is?

[Andrea Barnes]

It is a soap like molecule that has two parts. One part of it loves oil and one part of it loves water.

[Rosie Guerin]

Got it.

[Andrea Barnes]

So it makes it possible for oil and water to.

[Rosie Guerin]

To be cleaned co mingle.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah, exactly. That makes it a great cleaner for things like body oils or kitchen grease or. One of my favorite ways to use dish soap is and you really only need a drop or two and like a spray bottle with water and you can spray down cabinets or kitchen tile that have grease splatter on it and you let it sit for two minutes and that's all you have to do is you wipe it down with a damp rag and then you should be able to wipe it off pretty easily.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

You also have a guide to cleaning stainless steel appl in the kitchen. And you just use like a drop of your soap.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. When I reported that article, I was so gobsmacked that that's what the experts told me to do. Like, I interviewed multiple experts. I was expecting them to all say use alcohol or use specific stainless steel cleaners, but none of them did. They all said dish soap. And I had this memory of my father who's obsessed with cleaning. My dad is like, I give him cleaning products every year for his birthday. It's like the best day for him. And he uses dish soap on everything. And I remembered him using it on his stainless steel. I was like, oh, yeah. Okay. So because it gets what do we mostly have? Fingerprints, which is oil. So dish soap does a great job with it.

[Rosie Guerin]

And like you said earlier, it's safe for your hands.

[Andrea Barnes]

Exactly. Because it's not a harsh cleaner. It's very versatile, and it's safe to use with your bare hands, which is pretty great. You can't do that with a lot of cleaners.

[Rosie Guerin]

I want to know what makes an effective dish soap. Does it matter which one you use? Are you going to get a better cleaning with one over another?

[Andrea Barnes]

So we did a bunch of tests on dish soaps. And the first test was we put oil on food dye on plates and then soaked the plates for two minutes in a solution of tepid water. And I think 1 teaspoon of dish soap. The variance was huge. Some of the dish soaps barely removed any oil, and some were removing drops droplets in a second. But when we decided for the second round to try multiple plates in the same basin. That's when we really started to see a bigger difference where some of the other soaps started to catch up and others were not doing well and needed more soap. So I realized there was like, oh, all these dish soaps are very different. This explains, like, why sometimes you need a lot more. And when we had paid testers in and we had them scrubbing dishes with dish soap, that's when we really realized, oh, there's a huge differ. And dish soaps and a weaker dish soap will get you where you need to go, but you're gonna need to use a lot more of it.

[Rosie Guerin]

That's surprising to me. I, I would have, I, I think would have assumed the opposite, that it was one of those things, one of those capitalism things, where it's like there's 16 different brands, but they all essentially do the same thing and work the same way.

[Andrea Barnes]

I mean, big picture, sure they do, but some are better than others. And I was surprised to learn even though they all have the same or similar basic formulas, the way they vary in that formulation is huge.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I am crunchy. I'm like a crunchy mom. So when I'm standing in the aisle looking at all the dish soaps, I am usually going for, like a clear bottle. I'm going for something that has like a lavender scent or a lemon verbena scent or no scent. I steer clear of the dawn and the palm olive. And I think people think of these clear bottles, bottles of dish soap that are sort of branded as very green as sort of quote unquote natural. And then these other ones, like the dawns, the palm olives, as synthetic in some way. Is that accurate or is that just like a bunch of hooey?

[Andrea Barnes]

Dish soap inherently is not natural because it's a synthetic. Like Mrs. Meyers, for example, which I think I'm gonna guess is your lemon verbena. Yeah, I, I look, I love that soap. That dish soap. We liked it in testing and funnily, the reason we didn't choose it is because they have no unscented version. And the scents themselves are allergenic.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

So part of why we have the main choice for our dish soap is because it's very non irritating and had a really simple ingredient list and worked really, really well.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Which it is a palm olive. Right.

[Andrea Barnes]

But it's clear. Palm olive. Clear. Yeah. Which was great in testing and lasted a long time and a little goes a long way. But we did notice specifically with like, cleaning tasks like pre treating laundry that dawn worked, like, so much better.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So, like Palm, Olive and Dawn, these things that I think of as kind of like these leftovers from the 50s, they're, like, so unnatural looking, like the blue and the green. Are these fitting into the category in your testing of being more powerful cleaners? Are they the ones that were getting the grease off the fastest? For sure, versus those sort of like, you know, the seventh generation, the other kind of clear bottles that you might pick up at the store?

[Andrea Barnes]

Yes. And I would also say that they perform better. But I understand if you're trying to limit petrochemical use, like, one of the easiest ways to do it is to avoid dyes. Right. So feeling like it's unnatural isn't an unusual thing when you walk past those bottles. Right, yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

Does this go back to. Because the top two here are Palmolive and Dawn, as Christine is saying, does this go back to sort of the tenets of wirecutter, whereby you're gonna necessarily gravitate toward the one that functions the best, where you also are getting your money's worth because you don't have to use too much of it?

[Andrea Barnes]

Yes, I would say that that's very accurate. We just don't want people to have to buy that much. Right. And you don't have to buy that much when you buy these soaps that work well. And I see this myself, like I said, I don't use surface cleaner in my house anymore. And that's because I realized that I could put two drops of dish soap in a spray bottle of water, and it lasts for a month for cleaning

[Christine Cyrclassette]

for, like, literally under 25 cents.

[Andrea Barnes]

You're, like, good on your cleaner. Yeah. And that, to me, it's like, that's. How many bottles did I not buy of surface cleaner? Right. So maybe it's not vinegar, but it's still. To me, it's purchasing less. And that's still a good thing. Yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

And that all factors into this sort of environmental calculus.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

I mean, environmental decisions are really, really tricky because when you think you've figured out exactly what it is, someone will be like, well, what about aluminum mining? And you're. And you're.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It's like a slack message, I'm sure.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. Yeah. That's not to say that. I mean, I think there's a lot of environmentally conscious brands that are making really awesome products, and we recommend one, but they didn't necessarily perform as well as the big guys.

[Rosie Guerin]

We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to talk with you, Andrea about your picks. We'll also talk about the surprising ways that people can use dish soap and one green cleaning myth that absolutely should die. We'll be right back.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card Spring always feels like a reset, clearing things out, simplifying what you don't need. Apple Card is built with that same idea in no annual fee, no late fees and no foreign transaction fees. No fees, period. Get started and apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 17.49% to 27.74% based on creditworthiness rates as of January 1, 2026. Existing customers can view their variable APR in the Wallet app [e-mail] Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and [e-mail] your gut isn't just about digestion. It's the command center of your whole body. New Ollie Precise Probiotics are made with clinically studied strains to provide targeted benefits beyond digestive health by supporting your metabolism, skin health or stress response. Start giving your body what it needs. Shop Precise Probiotics with skin, stress or metabolism support at your nearest Walmart. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

This podcast is supported by BetterHelp. May is mental health Awareness Month, a reminder that you don't have to do this life alone. Right now, many Americans are struggling. Nearly two thirds report feeling anxious and more than half cite financial stress. Having a licensed therapist with you by video phone or chat can make a difference. And BetterHelp makes it easy. Sign up now and get 10% [e-mail] NewYorkTimes that's betterhelp.com NewYorkTimes.

[Rosie Guerin]

Welcome back. Before the break, Andrea, we talked a lot about why dish soap makes a great cleaner. Now we want to hear about your favorites and what they can clean. So tell us, what dish soaps do you recommend?

[Andrea Barnes]

We recommend Ultra Palmolive Pure and Clear, which is a more traditional dish soap that also does not contain dyes or fragrances. It's on the EPA Safer Choice list, which is one of the things that we like about it. And it also does not contain any harsh ingredients for people with who have allergies. So there's some preservatives that are put in dish soaps that can be really irritating to skin if you are allergic to it. And this does not have that in there.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And presumably it's a very good cleaner.

[Andrea Barnes]

It's a really good cleaner. And the reason that we chose it as the top pick. Well, one is that I had so many people complaining to me about sponges smelling.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I was going to ask you about that. That's also why I don't use dawn and Palm Olive, because I hate the way my sponge smells after you smell it, really.

[Andrea Barnes]

So I do not experience that with Dawn. But there is like a very deep belief in this. And so I think what we probably should describe our top dish soap pick as is for people who hand wash dishes.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay.

[Andrea Barnes]

And not just using it to like clean a pan or something, because those are gonna be people who have sponges and really care about this. And I will say, I got so many emails thanking me for choosing a dish soap that doesn't make sponges smell.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay.

[Andrea Barnes]

And we did do like kind of informal tests. We used the same sponge in testing for months with one specific soap and left it out. And Palmolive had no odor, so we decided to keep with that. But the soap itself didn't smell over time and some of the soaps kind of got like a weird smell. So our next pick, which is called the best for cleaning other than washing dishes, is actually Dawn Platinum dish soap, which we loved. In testing, it removed oil in seconds from plates. It was really an impressive cleaner. But beyond that, what we found it does great on is other tasks. So it's really good as an all purpose cleaner. It's really good for pre treating laundry stains that are oily. And I think, Christine, what we noted when going through all of the cleaning articles is that even though we had one dish soap recommendation, we were still recommending dawn for certain cleaning tasks.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And is that one. Is the Dawn Platinum one. Is that also a clear dish soap or does it have.

[Andrea Barnes]

No, it has electric blue dye. I'm pretty sure that that does not occur in nature, but it's a really good strong cleaner. And we did test on Free and clear too. And we did actually find that the scented version was more pleasant to use.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

The scented and blue version was more. More pleasant than the clear unscented Dawn.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. Which I also liked a lot. And then the last one we recommend is from a brand clean Cult. One thing I'm trying to be more aware of when making recommendations is that there are a lot of people who do not want to buy plastic and Clean Cult comes in an aluminum bottle. So of those kinds of dish soaps we tested. So we tested bars and we tested several in aluminum packaging. And that one was by far the best of the quote unquote, plastic free. It's not entirely plastic free. Cause there's a pump.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And how does it clean in relation to the palm olive and the dawn?

[Andrea Barnes]

You might need a little more, but it still cleans well. You could totally wash your dishes with it. And again, against the competition of the same category of dish soaps, it was easily the best.

[Rosie Guerin]

Now we want to get into all of the things you can actually clean with dish soap besides dishes. So, Andrea, you wrote a piece about this. We'll link it in the show notes. I want to start with using dish soap as an all purpose cleaner, which is apparently what you're doing in your home. Tell us, how do you do it? Why do you clean with it?

[Andrea Barnes]

The ratio of dish soap to water is going to depend a little bit on what you're washing. So definitely go to our cleaning guides for specific ratios. However, as an all purpose cleaner, I put two drops of dish soap and I'll change up the dish soap. Sometimes I'll use our top pick palm olives. Sometimes it'll be dawn and you fill a spray bottle of water and you put really two or three drops maximum of dish soap into the water bottle and then shake it up and use it as a spray cleaner. I use it on anything that might have body oil or grease on it. So it could be something super obvious like your kitchen backsplash, but it could also be used on yoga mats or kitchen counters. But the reason you want to limit how much soap you put into that spray bottle is that the one challenge with cleaning with dish soap is that if you use too much in a mixture, you'll have a lot of suds. You have to wipe down.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And then you have to do like a whole water wipe down.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. And then if you've used like two gallons of water, I'm not sure you were actually saving the environment that day. Your first full cleaner.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And when you're talking about this spray bottle, it's kind of like a large spray bottle, right? It's not like a little mini one?

[Andrea Barnes]

No, it's a large spray bottle. I have seen people use mini spray bottles with dish soap for their eyeglasses.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I think we also, if you look at our oven cleaning guide or our toaster oven cleaning guide, we are using a smaller bottle with a little bit more soap in it. So it's a little bit more concentrated. But that's a little different process.

[Andrea Barnes]

But there's so many other things you can do with it. If you look through our guides, you can clean wood floors, you can clean stainless steel. You can use it as a bathroom cleaner. I actually love using dish soap to clean. I have river tile in my shower, which is the bane of my existence. And one of the only things that actually cleans it is dish soap.

[Rosie Guerin]

Obviously, this is not disinfecting, so you're not using it in your toilet. Right. In the bathroom. You're maybe using it on sink, sink or.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah, sinks, showers, faucet. Again, limiting how much you're using if

[Christine Cyrclassette]

you need to to sanitize something. I always get confused. The sanitizing versus disinfecting cleaning. If you want to disinfect something, like if you just, you know, prepared raw chicken in your sink. Right. We have a guide for how to do that. And you do need to use something that has like bleach in it basically to disinfect.

[Andrea Barnes]

This is just a cleaner.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay, so let's move on to the favorite topic that we've talked with you about in the past. Laundry. How are you incorporating dish soap into your laundry practice?

[Andrea Barnes]

So a lot of people use dish soap as a pre treater for oily and greasy stains, and it does work on moderate stains. It does not necessarily work as well as a good laundry detergent, but what I find it to be great for with laundry is actually any and all makeup stains. Last year I interviewed our wardrobe supervisor who works on Broadway, and she introduced me to a bunch of people in that world. And everybody uses dish soap for makeup stains. Backstage in stain testing, we found that it did better than most stain removers and laundry detergents for makeup stains, especially dawn, which is the one we recommend for that. It is also great for shoes. So again, one of the benefits of dish soap is that it is a very neutral cleaner. So you can also use, again, very small amounts to clean your crocs. You can use it to gently clean shoes. You can use it to clean outdoor equipment. It really is very, very versatile.

[Rosie Guerin]

This is a silly question, but if you're using a dish soap like Palm Olive or Dawn that has the blue or the green dye in it, is that gonna dye your white tennis shoes? If you're.

[Andrea Barnes]

It shouldn't. It shouldn't. I wouldn't use a ton. If you're rinsing it off and wiping it down, it should be fine.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

What are some other unexpected things that you can use dish soap on as a cleaner?

[Andrea Barnes]

You can use dish soap to clean jewelry, mouth guards and retainers. You can even use it for outdoor security cameras, which we have a walkthrough in our guide to how to clean security cameras. Again, really, anything you're cleaning that might have sort of residual oils, dish soap is going to be an ideal cleaner for.

[Rosie Guerin]

So speaking of the guide, this really surprised me when I was reading it. You list treating poison ivy as a job for dish soap?

[Andrea Barnes]

I wouldn't say treating. I would say preventing.

[Rosie Guerin]

Okay, talk about it.

[Andrea Barnes]

So if you have been exposed to poison ivy, you should use dish soap to wash off any exposed areas.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And why is that so?

[Andrea Barnes]

Dish soap, because it's designed to break down oils, can break down the oil that causes poison ivy. Poison oak and poison sumac might not work, but why not try it?

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Well, yeah, rotten poison ivy, you know. And is there, like, a certain window that you have to do this within

[Andrea Barnes]

the experts I spoke with, I spoke to a couple of dermatologists. They Both said within 20 minutes, what

[Rosie Guerin]

shouldn't I be using dish soap on?

[Andrea Barnes]

My father, who loves dish soap, is gonna disagree with me on this one. You shouldn't wash your dogs or your pets. Dish soap.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Is that because it, like, strips too many oils from their skin or something?

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. And there's the gentler cleaners for that specific task. But definitely you don't wanna use it to wash your own face. Right. You don't wanna strip oils from your face. And then the number one thing, which I would hope most people know, but I'm surprised to learn not always, is don't use it in your dishwasher.

[Rosie Guerin]

Why?

[Andrea Barnes]

Because it's designed to suds, so it will make your kitchen sudsy.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

You know a lot about other types of cleaners. And because we've been talking about green cleaning and this whole topic, I gotta ask you, you wrote this piece for their site about laundry pods and dishwashing pods. And this is a category where so many people assume that the pods are contributing to microplastics, that they're bad for the environment. Even my kid yesterday asked me about this. She was looking at a pod and said, hey, this has so much plastic in it. But you reported a piece that's pretty interesting that kind of refutes that. Can you explain? Do pods shed plastic?

[Andrea Barnes]

So pods do not shed microplastics.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay.

[Andrea Barnes]

The film on pods is really similar to school glue, and because it dissolves, it's inherently completely different than a plastic that you'd say, like, is on your water bottle. Microbes in the environment can break it down.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And when we hold a pod, it looks and feels like plastic. Is it made with petrochemicals it can be.

[Andrea Barnes]

I would say many of them are. But what I look for when I'm evaluating green cleaners is I want to see brands that are trying to use less petrochemicals without scaring people. Then you can kind of see who's marketing and who's not marketing. And one brand that I think does this really well, and they do have bio based PVA is drops.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

PVA being the pod film.

[Andrea Barnes]

They use bio based pod film. I think they're USDA certified bio based. So they do exist. But most pods are gonna have petrochemicals in them.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay. But when it breaks down, it's not turning into synthesis.

[Andrea Barnes]

No, it's actually, if you think about it too hard, it's kind of crazy that the environment's breaking down something synthetic.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Ye. And when we're thinking about the hierarchy of our choices in terms of, you know, the environment, you're not too worried about pods.

[Andrea Barnes]

No. And I think pods can do a lot of good outside of cleaning. They shield people from chemicals. Right.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So you're not touching it with your hands.

[Andrea Barnes]

You're not touching it. You're not breathing it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Rosie Guerin]

All right, Andrea, final question. What's the last thing you bought that you really love?

[Andrea Barnes]

Okay, so we have a new lipstick guide.

[Rosie Guerin]

It's a great guide.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah, it is from my former teammate Ayanna. It's an awesome guide. And I visited my grandmother, who's 99 recently, and she was wearing Revlon lipstick. And I had this, like, memory that she was always wearing Revlon lipstick. And I bought a tube of the lipstick by Revlon that we recommend for our best drugstore pick, I think, and I'm obsessed with it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

That particular Revlon is great.

[Andrea Barnes]

Yeah. And it's just like, exactly what you want in a lipstick.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah.

[Andrea Barnes]

It's like old school lipstick. But I bought the Shade Toast of New York, and I very much like it. That's so nice. Sweet. I love that.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Well, Andrea, thank you so much. We gotta have you back soon.

[Andrea Barnes]

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

[Rosie Guerin]

I love getting schooled by Andrea.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

She's got, like, the perfect combination of practical advice, but also she goes real deep and nerdy on all of the details, which I really, really love. What are you taking away from this episode?

[Rosie Guerin]

Well, obviously, I know you're taking it away too. The center circle.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Center circle? Yes. Time, heat, chemical friction. Seems like you gotta have at least two or three of these to make it work. Right. So I think it's a great to think about when you're assessing how a cleaner is working to just think about that.

[Rosie Guerin]

For me, I really. I mean, the takeaway of this entire episode is essentially you can use dish soap on everything and probably a lot

[Christine Cyrclassette]

less than you think you need to use.

[Rosie Guerin]

Well, that is also my takeaway. I've been using too much. I'm not gonna use it on the pets, I'm not gonna use it on the babies, I'm not gonna use it on my face, and I'm not gonna use it in the dishwasher. And on your poison ivy.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, and poison ivy. Good to have in your outdoor kit for that.

[Rosie Guerin]

If you want to find out more about Wirecutters coverage or if you want to check out any of the products Andrea mentioned today, you can head to our website. You can find a link in the show notes to her guides as well. That's it for us. Talk to you soon.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Bye.

[Rosie Guerin]

The Wire Cutter show is executive produced by me, Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Elisheva Etoupe, Rowan Nymisto, Katherine Anderson and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter's deputy publisher and general manager. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor in chief.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm Christine Cyrclassette.

[Rosie Guerin]

And I'm Rosie Guerin. Thank you for listening. Time. Heat, chemicals, friction. The same things that theoretically help the longevity of our relationship.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Your gut isn't just about digestion. It's the command center of your whole body. New Ollie. Precise probiotics are made with clinically studied strains to provide targeted benefits beyond digestive health by supporting your metabolism, skin health or stress response. Start giving your body what it needs. Shop precise probiotics with skin, stress or metabolism support at your nearest Walmart. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.