Friday, May 4, 2012

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

Does anyone else LOVE foaming hand soap? I used to buy it on sale at Bath & Body Works for $3 a piece. Here's what I didn't know back then, the soap in those fancy containers is mostly water! Each year, I was paying $90 for water and a little bit of soap, not to mention the 30 empty soap containers that ended up at the landfill. What a waste! Here's how I've been saving money and going green by making my own foaming hand soap. If you have hard water, try this foaming hand soap instead.


Foaming Hand Soap Recipe
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tbsp Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Liquid Castile Soap
1-2 vitamin E capsules or 1/2 tsp oil or 1 tsp vegetable glycerine
foaming hand soap dispenser


1. Fill foaming hand soap dispenser with water. I bought the Equate brand foaming hand soap from Walmart a couple years ago and have been re-using the soap pump ever since. Fill the soap pump with water first. If you add the soap first, it will suds up when you add the water. My soap container only fits 1 cup of water so adjust the measurements based on your container. Leave room for the soap, glycerine, and the top of the pump.

2. Add Soap. Add more or less soap depending on how soapy you want it to feel. I like Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap because it is made of natural ingredients. I've seen a 32 ounce bottle at Trader Joes for $10 and at Whole Foods for $14. You can even buy it on Amazon if your local health food store doesn't carry it. Dr. Bronner's soap comes in many different scents, my favorite being peppermint. I use Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Castile Soap for my homemade all-purpose cleaner, which could also be used in this hand soap. You can even make your own scent by using Dr. Bronner's Unscented Baby Castile Soap or Castille Soap from Mountain Rose Herbs and adding essential oils of your choice.

3. Add vitamin E, oil, or glycerine and shake to mix. Add one of these moisturizing ingredients so that your soap won't be drying. Break open one or two vitamin E capsules and add it to the soap. Or add some oil, like sweet almond oil. I've even heard of people using olive oil in their foaming hand soap, but I haven't tried that yet. Or vegetable glycerine can be used. Vegetable glycerine is a carbohydrate that is naturally derived from vegetable oil and attracts moisture to your skin. You can find vegetable glycerine at your local health food store, Amazon, or Mountain Rose Herbs.


Concerned It's Not Anti-Bacterial?
I used to always buy anti-bacterial soap but after reading tons of articles like this one about how anti-bacterial products are not necessary and are doing more harm then good, I've changed my ways. Also, anti-bacterial soap contains questionable chemicals like triclosan. According to this article, soap with triclosan is not more effective at preventing disease then regular soap and it interferes with fish hormones, which means it could be interfering with human hormones.


Cost Savings
$0.33 - 1 1/2 Tbsp Dr. Bronner's Liquid Castile Soap (based on a $14, 32-oz. bottle)
$0.10 - 2 vitamin E capsules or 1/2 tsp sweet almond oil or 1 tsp Vegetable Glycerine
$0.43 - Grand Total

Sayonara, overpriced Bath & Body Works Foaming Hand Soap!

Have you made your own hand soap before? How do you do it?


This post was proudly featured at:
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27 comments:

  1. I like that you added up the cost of how much you were spending and how many bottles were just thrown in the trash. It feels good to be a wise steward doesn't it!? Thanks for stopping by http://ourjourneytoselfreliance.blogspot.com/
    I like texture you used in your photos I am a texture junkie myself.

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  2. I totally have to try this because I love the foaming soap. I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for sharing all your secrets!!!
    Lori

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  3. I have made my own foaming soap but have never used the Castile or glycerine to make it. I plan to try it. Thanks for sharing :)

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  4. I love foaming hand soap!!! Thank you so much for the recipe, I'm following you now, (found you at Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways).

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  5. Smacking my head. I always thought it was the recipe of the soap that made it foam up...you mean it's just the DISPENSOR that does that. Goodness do I feel foolish.

    I can't wait to try this out now that I know the secret to getting the foam. Thanks for sharing - foind this on the Frugally Sustainable link up.

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  6. Talk about serendipity, I was just thinking I needed a new recipe for hand soap and I have a foaming soap container thats just about empty. Voila!

    owningwellness.com

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  7. This is great, and I know how castille soap can sometimes be drying because it is pure soap. My question is if I use Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild soap that has added oils and vitamin E, do I need to add additional oil? I do have sensitive skin that is prone to getting dried out, but I'm wondering if it is still necessary. Thank you :)

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    1. I've never used Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild soap so I'm not sure. I would just try it and see if your hands get dried out. Let me know what you find out. Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. It might. I would add the glycerin.

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  8. I love your website. I have been making home-made foaming soap but have not added glycerine. Thank you for the tip!

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  9. Thanks for this recipe!! I'm officially convinced antibacterial is the way to go. I bought the Dr Bronner liquid castle soap and I'm excited to start my family off on our 3rd household item that doesn't contain chemicals. I love this recipe! Thanks again for sharing it and for encouraging me to check antibacterial soap contents and effects.

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  10. If you want some germ-killing qualities, just add a few drops of tea tree oil (that's what I do). Love making my own foaming handsoap! Great post.

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  11. This recipe would probably work well with a grated bar of bar soap. You've got to heat the water and melt the soap, but it works great. I just use Ivory which is what I have used to bathe with every day for as long as I can remember.

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  12. Wonderful! Just bought ingredients for hand soap but had not seen your recipe yet. This one has the glycerin which I was thinking of adding to the other one I saw, but now I know how much to use. Is there a difference between glycerin at Walmart and the Vegetable Glycerin at GNC? Also, has anyone tried adding essential oils or something else to give it a stronger or different scent if needed?

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  13. What a great idea! I'm trying to move my family away from commercial products in favor of ones I make myself (better for the environment and my wallet!). I'm going to give this one a try tomorrow!

    http://www.beingathomebynature.com/

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  14. We do this too, but I've never added any oil or glycerine and don't find it too drying. I guess it depends on your skin sensitivity.

    If the foamer stops working after a while, usually it is just clogged with soap, and taking it apart and soaking all the pieces in hot water and then rubbing them will fix it.

    This summer we got mildew in the undersides of the nozzles of our soap foamers. I took off the lids, set them upside down in a small bowl, and poured straight hydrogen peroxide on them. It bubbled off all the mildew and prevented it coming back.

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  15. try mixing 1/4 liquid hand soap or dish soap to 3/4 H20 into a foamer container

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  16. I love how informational this post is and love your pictures!

    Would love for you to link up to Healthy 2day Wednesdasy with all your healthy posts every week from Tues 11pm EST to Saturday Evening!

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  17. So easy! I am encouraged as this is the first time I've made
    my own, and I love that it is ALL natural! Thanks!

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  18. Just made this. I used Dr. Bronner's tea tree oil with 2 vit e capsules. Seems to work well. I still had my Young Living "Thieves" foaming handsoap container so I used that. Next time I will try sweet almond oil and then glycerine. See if there is any difference between the three. Thank you so much. I am going to try the dishwashing recipe.

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  19. I have been making my own foaming antiacne facial cleanser for awhile now (reusing the old pump and using a facial cleanser with a consistency similiar to liquid hand soap) and it works great. And with the price of antiacne cleansers, it's very budget-friendly to make my own. I recently made the foaming hand soap with an old pump and some handsoap that I have from Avon. I haven't needed to add anything else since it foams nicely and it doesn't dry my hands out.

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  20. I made this today, but used Almond scented soap and it smells amazing and work well. Thanks :-)

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  21. I use almond castile or lavendar castile, water and abut 2 ounces of peroxide to make it "antibacterial" mine always turns cloudy after a week or so, I'm guessing I use too much castile soap??? I use probably 2 or so ounces, one big squeeze

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    Replies
    1. Try distilled water. The Castile soap is probably reacting with the minerals in the tap water.

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  22. I use 1 1/3 tbsp of Dr. bronners peppermint. 1/2 tbsp of the glycerin. 1 tsp of almond oil and 2 drops of tea tree oil for antibiotic and fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water. I luv the stuff.

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  23. does castile liquid soap foam up

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