Dr. Bronner's Magic Peppermint Soap

We've just finished watching the documentary "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox" streaming on Netflix. Ok we lied, we made it about halfway through. But that says more about our attention span than it does the movie, which was actually pretty interesting. Now we've seen this stuff in pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS before but never thought much of it and have yet to try it. But it turns out there's people who absolutely swear by this stuff - you'd think it was some sort of magic potion.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap was the creation of Emanuel Bronner, an immigrant from Germany whose parents were both killed in the Holocaust. He was reported to be somewhat insane and was even institutionalized at one point in the 1940s. He started making the soap in the first half of the 20th century which includes religious and philosophical writings on the outside label, something he referred to as the ABC's of morals and "All-One-God-Faith". We heard so much about how great this soap was in the film that we decided to see if we could find any reviews of the stuff online to find out if it was really that good. We turned to Youtube and it ended up being a great resource.

First up is blueottlisa, she has very good things to say about the peppermint soap but starts off asking why nobody warned her about the tingling. Hmmm so this soap causes a tingling sensation? We want to try it even more now! She continues to say that after washing her face with it she decided to use it in the shower: "if I thought the tingling on my eyes was bad...this thing tingles ALL. OVER. YOUR. BODY." She goes on to compare it to a boyfriend of hers who used to eat a lot of pepper and then go down on her. Ouch! Be careful ladies!

Next up we have 1SEXYTINA1, with a video entitled "PEPPERMINT SOAP... *** FOR WOMEN ONLY***"



ooooo we're on the edge of our seat already. I feel like a kid again watching a rated R movie late at night after everyone's gone to bed. It really had us wondering though, does this peppermint soap cause people to have orgasms or something? Is that the secret nobody's telling us? Are people getting off on this shit? Unfortunately it's the exact opposite, it'll make your junk feel like someone just poured hydrochloric acid up your urethra. 1SEXYTINA1 offers some great advice and her delivery is great, but the main takeaway here is this: Do not use much of this soap at a time at all. One tiny drop should last you a week, and you'll want to dilute it in water. If you try using this stuff like it's any other soap you might as well set your naughty bits on fire.

Lastly we have genipha4life who offers what she calls "a commercial for my favorite product in the whole wide world".




- Good reading material on the bottle
- You can wash many things with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap: your hair, brush your teeth with it, your bathroom and your clothes
- Can use it to relax, by putting it on a warm towel to be placed on your forehead

Alright alright, we're convinced. First thing tomorrow we're going to go out and get us a bottle of this peppermint soap. I'll probably pass on the brushing your teeth part of it though, yuck.

Healthcare Solution: Everyone Pays Cash

Everyone's always talking about the health care crisis, it's one of the biggest "hot button" issues these days. Some of us here at People Liking People have had major health issues and we know first hand how incompetent the health care system can be. Costs are skyrocketing and health problems are going undiagnosed for years. So when people start complaining about health care, we're the first to agree and say that some changes do need to be made. Unfortunately the solutions most people are proposing and putting into action are dead wrong and are the complete opposite of what needs to happen to improve health care. Everyone is demanding that the government do something about the crisis, and the government is more than happy to oblige because usually their solutions end up giving them more power.

The real solution is for everyone to pay out of pocket 100% for their health care. Now I know the thought of this scares a lot of people. The reason it's so scary is because health care costs are through the roof and most people can't afford health care at current rates, ourselves included (We're not rich here at People Liking People). However, you need to understand that the reason health care costs so much is because of the third party payment system.

The third party payment system effects many factors:

1) The health care provider's real customer is no longer you, it's whoever is actually footing the bill. Their real customers are the insurance companies and the government.

2) People stop paying attention to the real cost. Most people don't know how much their doctors actually charge for visits, they don't know how much a CT scan is, and they don't know much their medication really costs. All they know is that with their insurance card, they pay their $25 co-pay and they're on their way. Nobody prices around looking for the best deal on a health product or service. Our insurance card takes care of that and we don't need to think about it.

3) As a result of people not paying for their health services, people aren't really that demanding with the quality they receive. We are not as demanding as we should be with doctors. We put up with their in-and-out 5 minute visits and we put up with them not always being the most thorough. We don't really make a big deal about it though it didn't cost us that much, oh well it was just $25.

4) Whoever foots the bill has the control. We have to go through their approval process to see whether or not we can receive a certain procedure.

People Liking People's Golden Rule: The more someone else is paying for a product or service you're receiving, the less of a say so you have in it. Also - you cannot complain about something you are receiving for free. Wheres your bargaining power? You have none. You're a liability now.


Imagine if tomorrow someone flipped a switch and all the sudden there was no health insurance. No third party payment systems. All cash out of pocket for doctors visits and procedures. What do you think would happen?

The first thing that would happen is patients would be calling their doctors offices asking what they're charging for a visit. There would be a lot of "WTF? you gotta be kidding me!" moments. For the first time people would be finding out just how much health providers have been gouging us. There would also be a lot of "Uhmm that's the best price you do? I'll have to call you back let me check around". Within a week prices would be driven down significantly by the market. If the doctors kept prices at the same high levels, appointments per day would drastically go down. Doctors would be forced to lower their prices to get demand back to what it was. All of the sudden little by little it would turn into a real competitive market, with the patient calling the shots and having the bargaining power. Doctors would be competing with each other, trying to offer the best quality at the lowest cost, and hospitals would be doing the same with the cost for procedures and tests.

And now that everyone is paying with cash, you better believe people are going to be a lot more demanding with the quality they're receiving. That's money coming right out of their pocket, they're not going to leave that office until the problem is resolved. And doctors and hospitals will work extra hard to keep customer loyalty.

If you were to have a bad experience at a restaurant and you speak to the manager and threaten to take your business elsewhere, there's a good chance they will be very apologetic and maybe even give you a meal for free. Try threatening to take your business elsewhere in a doctors office and see how quickly you get laughed out of there. They do not try hard for our business, they do not care. You're not the one paying them. When you pay for what you receive, that gives you complete control and bargaining power. It gives us the right to be demanding and creates a competitive dynamic among providers. This is how you lower costs and increase quality. Having someone else pay for it puts us completely at the whim of the payer and provider.