Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps

Have you tried Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps? You should, if you haven't already.

The first time I encountered Dr. Bronner's was almost 30 years ago. I was sleeping at my friend Laurel's house. Laurel's mom was a vivacious Southern Republican with a fine pedigree and definite opinions. They were rich (I was given the guest room and had my own bathroom!) and introduced me to new things constantly; "The Sound of Music", "The 700 Club", cornbread cooked in an iron skillet, sheepskin seat covers. The soap in "my" bathroom was an amber liquid in a plastic squeeze bottle that smelled like candy canes (!). At home, our soap was Yardley's oatmeal soap, which only remotely smelled like oatmeal cookies. This soap was an absolute delight and I marveled at how differently rich people bathed.

Years later, in the East Village, I became friends with a bewtiching art student. The exact opposite of Laurel and her mother, she was a liberal with a fine pedigree and definite opinions. She introduced me to some new things; homemade Hollandaise sauce, "The Threepenny Opera", J. Crew before it got ridiculous. We became roommates and she introduced me to Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap. One whiff and I was back in the guest room at Laurel's house. Rich people soap! The label on the bottle was inscribed with tiny letters spreading the gospel according to Emanuel Bronner. Beautiful, bewildering preaching, Biblical and a little extra-terrestrial. There was an explanation of Essene birth control using lemons and soap. No wonder Laurel's mother had decanted the soap into a plain bottle - such a good Christian wouldn't want the word to get out that they were using hippie soap!

There was a wonderful documentary about it on Sundance, "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox". Fascinating.