Keep it clean

LITTLE ROCK — Branch Basics

Many household cleaners warn you about skin contact, to the point that you might feel you need to dress in a hazmat suit to clean the bathroom.

Not so with Branch Basics. Skin contact is actually encouraged. You can even use it to wash your hair. Or your baby. Or your dog. Or to kill ants.

Obviously, this isn’t your typical cleaning product.

You buy it in concentrated form, in sizes from a 32-ounce bottle ($25.95) to a 5-gallon bucket ($344.75), then dilute it with water. The various product-to-water ratios each have different purposes. Want to clean up a grease spill or soothe bug bites? That’s 1:1. Cleaning the bathtub or washing dishes? That’s 1:5. With 1:30, you can clean the carpet or your kids’ stuffed animals.

It also works as a jewelry cleaner, a shampoo, a cleaner for your fish tank and a laundry soap.

How does it do all that? The nontoxic soap is made from fatty acid found in plants, which in turn breaks down hydrocarbons and kills bacteria, viruses and mold.

Everything in it — like coconut oil, folic acid and enzymes — is organic and human- and pet safe, though those enzymes are useful in breaking down insect exoskeletons.

It’s an odor-free product, but if you want it to have the scent of fruits or flowers, you can add an essential oil to the mix.

For details, see branchbasics.com.