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Figured out I was washing my cast iron skillet wrong for 5 years
My buddy came over last weekend and saw me scrub my cast iron with soap and a steel pad. He looked at me like I'd lost my mind and told me I was basically ruining the seasoning every time. That cheap Lodge skillet had been sticky and rusty for years and I thought it was just normal. Switched to just hot water and a chainmail scrubber and now eggs slide off like teflon. Anybody else learn the hard way that soap is the enemy?
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murray.spencer1mo ago
Honestly, I think people get way too worked up about cast iron. A little soap isn't going to ruin your life.
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patricialee28d ago
Read the manufacturer's website once, they said mild soap is fine.
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lucaslee28d ago
Oh boy. Yeah, soap is the enemy until you read a dozen conflicting opinions and just give up and go back to scrubbing with steel wool out of spite. My buddy used to wash his cast iron with dish soap and a sponge every night, and his skillet looked like a mirror. Meanwhile I was babying mine with salt scrubs and chainmail and it still flaked seasoning into my eggs. Honestly, I think the whole "never use soap" thing is just a hazing ritual for new cast iron owners so we all feel like idiots for a while. Now I just wash it normally with mild soap and dry it on the stove, and it works fine. The real enemy is letting water sit on it overnight, not a little soap.
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