> I was pretty turned off by the idea of not doing the same soap and water scrub process I do with everything else.
You can mostly do the same soap and water scrub as everything else. Assuming you use a reasonably modern dish soap an not something harsh, if you don't leave it soaking in the soapy water it will be fine.
Yep the “don’t use soap on cast iron” is a holdover from older soaps that had lye in them that could strip the seasoning (hence why you can use lye to reseason your pan).
If your seasoning is perfect (it isn’t) you could in theory leave it to soak too since it would be completely encased in the polymerized fat.
Yeah, the "don't soak it rule" isn't because it will explode if it's underwater for long, just that there are inevitably gaps and it doesn't do you any good. Just get it in there, have a good scrub, and rinse off.
You can mostly do the same soap and water scrub as everything else. Assuming you use a reasonably modern dish soap an not something harsh, if you don't leave it soaking in the soapy water it will be fine.