The hippie soap company that took over the world

One [classic blog post]( I think about a lot is a 2016 piece of stunt journalism on Vice, in which a man uses multi-purpose Dr. Bronner’s soap for everything he can think of, including cooking potatoes. As someone who often forgets to replenish the house olive oil, it really stuck with me that Dr. Bronner’s does fry vegetables, even if it makes them taste like peppermint soap. That’s part of why I loved Kieran Dahl’s [history of Dr. Bronner’s]( on The Goods, which includes the also-unforgettable tidbit that Drake includes a bottle of the soap on his tour rider. Mostly, though, it’s really nice to read about a modern hippie planting hemp on the DEA’s lawn and paying his employees well above minimum wage. Lovely soap! —[Kaitlyn Tiffany](, reporter for The Goods How a decades-old hippie soap brand became a touchstone of wellness culture [Dr. Bronner's soap]( Sarah Lawrence for Vox Bobbi Brown’s cosmetics brand sells more than a billion dollars’ worth of products every year, including a tiny glass tub of moisturizer for $100 and a 1-ounce jar of “face oil” for $70. But Brown’s own go-to body-care product is Dr. Bronner’s all-natural liquid Castile soap, which costs $18 for 32 ounces so concentrated that a thimbleful will have you smothered in suds. The peppermint Dr. Bronner’s, specifically, is her favorite. One time, on Oprah, Brown said that every bathroom in her house was stocked with a bottle of the tingly stuff. During another Oprah appearance, she called Dr. Bronner’s “probably the finest soap in the universe,” adding, “I’m obsessed with it! I cannot get enough of it!” Brown is far from the only celebrity to be a die-hard Dr. Bronner’s fan. [Olivia Wilde]( and [Jason Mraz]( have called it, respectively, “the greatest” and “the best soap ever.” [Zoë Kravitz]( uses the almond soap in the shower, [Sandra Bullock]( in her DIY window cleaner recipe. [Drake]( includes the peppermint soap on his tour rider (along with more rapper-standard items like Hennessy and rolling papers). Hollywood queens ([Natalie Portman](, [Greta Gerwig](, [Kate Hudson]() and literal royalty ([Meghan Markle]() alike are devotees of the lavender soap. [Read the full story on Vox ]( My mom died 8 years ago. Why won’t the internet stop showing me Mother’s Day ads? My mother died eight years ago. While the loss gets easier, Mother’s Day does not. Even just seeing those two words — Mother’s Day — makes me feel very small and sad. It reminds me of all the Mother’s Days, birthdays, Thanksgivings, and Christmases I’ve spent without her and will have to spend without her in the future. Sure, it’s a nice thought that millions of people are celebrating their mom. But it doesn’t make me feel any better about mine being gone. Getting through the day itself actually isn’t that big of a struggle. The worst part is the six-week lead-up of commercials, promotional emails, and targeted ads fueled by narrow-minded marketing calendars. Brands act as though I could possibly forget Mother’s Day when I’d give anything for the chance to scramble for a last-minute gift for Mom; it’d mean that I have something to forget in the first place. [Read the rest of the story here ]( A mysterious gut doctor is begging Americans to throw out “this vegetable” now. But, like, which? There is a gut doctor, and he begs Americans: “Throw out this vegetable now.” This news is accompanied by a different image nearly every time. This morning, the plea appeared at the bottom of an article on Vox next to a photo of a hand chopping up what appears to be a pile of green apples. At other times, it has been paired with a picture of a petri dish with a worm in it. Other times, gut bacteria giving off electricity. The inside of a lotus root. An illustrated rendering of roundworms. The gut doctor’s desperation pops up over and over, on websites like [CNN]( and [the Atlantic]( (and as I said, this one), in what are known colloquially as “chumboxes.” These are the boxes at the bottom of the page that have several pieces of clickbaity “sponsored content” or “suggested reading.” They’re generated by a variety of companies, but the largest two are Taboola ($160 million in funding) and Outbrain ($194 million in funding), both founded in Israel in the mid-aughts. [Read the rest of the story here ]( More good stuff to read today - [The complicated gender politics of going zero waste]( - [“It’s not right”: why Uber and Lyft drivers went on strike]( - [The latest Instagram jewelry craze: bracelets you can’t take off]( - [How Barilla used its CEO’s homophobic comments to reshape the company’s image]( - [A high school’s dress code for parents sparked backlash. The principal is standing by it.]( - [The best $115 I ever spent: a sequined circus costume]( Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving emails from Vox Media. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved.