"Calling Dr. Bronner. Emergency. Please Come Right Away!"

Over the last few days, I'd been trying to think of a fun title for this piece and the same thing kept coming back to me. "Calling Dr. Bombay" from the '70s TV Series, "Bewitched". Forgive me for once again not only aging myself but delving into my seemingly endless childhood memories of life in the '70s. No, I'm not writing an article about witch/homemaker, Samantha Stevens or her occasional magical helper, Dr. Bombay. However, there is a bit of a nexus between Dr. Bombay and Dr. Emanuel Bronner and the fictional warlock. Sometime post-college, I was introduced to Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Pure-Castile Liquid Soap. I can't recall exactly who or what induced me to buy a bottle of it, but I'm sure I was attracted to its claims of being a pure, natural soap with no synthetics and was also a Fair Trade retailer. The bottle's strange label is filled with an encyclopedia's worth of information that gives you an inkling to what kind of person Dr. Bronner was: "magic," "uniting all mankind," "18-in-1 hemp peppermint pure castile soap made with organic oils," tons of philosophical quotes about all of mankind being united, the moral ABCs and so much more. Taking the cap off the bottle of peppermint soap, a very, very strong peppermint scent greets your nose. I'm typically a bar soap person in the shower but really wanted to feel some magic, I guess, so I tried the liquid soap out. Well, let me tell you, it was pretty darn magical. It felt both soapy and oily but not in a clinging sense. The magic came from the tingling sensation I felt all over my body as I soaped up and the tingle is a slight understatement when Dr. Bronner's soap met certain more sensitive areas of the body. Woohoo! Ever since then, I've always had a bottle of the peppermint soap in my shower and use it mostly during the summer because the peppermint acts as a cooling agent on your skin. After a few hours of yard work in the summer heat, Dr. Bronner is so refreshing and reviving. It's concentrated so you don't have to use very much, either. A 32-ounce bottle of Bronner's magic will last me and my partner a good year. Who exactly was this hippy dippy Dr. Bronner? He actually was a pretty fascinating guy, and the company is still family owned today. Dr. Emanuel Bronner was a German-Jewish soapmaker who immigrated to Milwaukee from Germany in 1929. There's plenty of articles online about the revered man who was not actually a doctor but an activist. According to www.bronnerfamilyfoundation.org, the third-generation master soapmaker used his labels to spread his message about unity across all religious and ethnic divides. A passionate public speaker in the 1940s, whether to a crowded auditorium or on a street corner, Emanuel vigorously shared his belief that all of humankind was equal and should be united in peace, love and happiness. Throughout his proselytizing, he'd also sell his Peppermint Pure-Castile Soap on the side. The array of natural products the company offers has expanded greatly over the decades, all related to natural cleanliness and all still wrapped in the company's pure vision of world peace. Originating in the Mediterranean, castile soap is made from olive and other vegetable oils, and it gets its name from the Castile Region of Spain, a soapmaking center for centuries. There are no animal fats, making it vegan and no synthetic substances, making it nontoxic for body, home and pets. All the Dr. Bronner's soap variety names include "18-in-1 Hemp" in front of their scent. Hemp is full of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and the hemp oil helps the soap lather and moisturize. Other varieties offered are Eucalyptus, Rose, Tea Tree, Citrus, Almond and Lavender as well as an unscented version. You can find Dr. Bronner's at natural foods stores and other groovy establishments. I think Eucalyptus will be next on my list and I look forward to another "woohoo!" in the shower.