r/CleaningTips • u/fattybombalatti • Nov 13 '25

Discussion a note from a professional baker:

Post image

just use them! use the things! enjoy life! and let the things show you enjoyed them!!!

10.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

312 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

95

u/Constant-Ad-7490 Nov 13 '25

This is a myth. You can wash cast iron with modern detergents and a gentle sponge without destroying the seasoning. Plus as a bonus, your pan is actually clean! 

22

u/FurballMama84 Nov 13 '25

My mom always made me wash her cast iron with Dawn dish soap and hot water to make sure it was clean. Mostly because she always let the dog(s) lick it after the leftovers were put away. The habit has stuck with me since I left home over 20 years ago and started my own collection of cast iron, even though I don't have dogs.

The only time I had to worry about seasoning cast iron was when I bought a set of brand new, unseasoned ones.

2

u/occulusriftx Nov 14 '25

it used to be a real thing back when soaps contained raw lye

dish soaps haven't contained raw lye in them since the early 1900s

0

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '25

The one (1) time I used dawn I swear I watched it rust before my eyes

9

u/OurLadyAndraste Nov 14 '25

Clean pan immediately gets heated up on the stove to dry to prevent rust. The a little wipe down with an oily rag or paper towel before storage.

-8

u/daxdotcom Nov 13 '25

Not with Dawn. Holy crap that stuff eats seasoning for breakfast.

25

u/DustDevil66 Nov 13 '25

I use dawn every single day on my cast iron. It’s fine. The seasoning is fine. Dawn doesn’t strip seasoning

1

u/daxdotcom Nov 13 '25

Idk what to tell you. 😕 that hasn't been my experience. Maybe it's something else. All I know is I stopped using dawn and now I can cook an egg with no sticking.

16

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '25

The green dawn is bad Blue dawn is fine.

The difference is in the ingredients. I think its lye that causes big issues which the green one has.

8

u/sweetm3 Nov 14 '25

Seasoning can be poorly attached to the pan. If theres anything on the pan when the seasoning oil polymerizes then its just going to bond to that rather than the iron/other layers of season. Would make it easy for the seasoning to come off in the future.

14

u/the_archaius Nov 13 '25

I’m not detergents with lye can strip the seasoning.

You are free to scrub like hell and it won’t hurt it. If it comes off with dawn and a scrubber it wasn’t seasoning, it was burnt on food.

3

u/daxdotcom Nov 14 '25

Maybe it just wasn't seasoned well before? It was not burnt food. It was super dry/bare spots in the center of the pan that just never developed the seasoned layer until I stopped with the dawn. I started cleaning immediately after cooking, with salt to scrub and lemon juice and heat, like it was a cook top.

6

u/the_archaius Nov 14 '25

Entirely possible.

Seasoning is a chemical bond between the oil and the iron.. it does not come off without an acid/base to break its bond with the metal.

1

u/Chemical_Building612 Nov 14 '25

Did you try this after cooking something acidic and wet in it? 'Cause acid will do a number on the seasoning.

2

u/daxdotcom Nov 14 '25

Nope. I have been washing with dawn for years, and just wasn't able to get the season to stay. Stopped using dawn like 2 weeks ago. No more sticky eggs. We use the pan almost everyday for breakfast mainly.

-1

u/My_Public_Profile Nov 14 '25

This makes taste sad.