This DIY Foaming Hand Soap is one of the easiest things you can make! Not only do you control exactly what goes into it, you also save a ton of money!
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Forget spending $3.50-$5.50 on a bottle of quality soap, this can happen for as little as $.50. Quite the savings for 30 seconds of work. (And nope, that’s not exaggerating.)
I know life can get crazy and sometimes we need to put DIY on the back burner, but this is something you can keep up with during even the craziest seasons. You also know exactly what’s inside of it and can easily change scents without adding harmful ingredients or artificial colors.
DIY Foaming Hand Soap Ingredients:
Liquid Castile Soap – 1/4 Cup
Where to buy:
- Vitacost (this is what I buy)
- Amazon
- Grocery/Health Food Store
Moisturizing Oil (optional)
- Vitamin E Oil (Vitacost, Amazon) – 1/2 teaspoon or
- Olive Oil – 1 teaspoon
- Almond Oil (Amazon, Plant Therapy, Vitacost)- 1 tablespoons or
- Fractionated Coconut Oil (Plant Therapy, Amazon) – 1 tablespoon
Water (distilled, filtered, or boiled) – to finish filling container
- I use water from my Berkey
Essential Oils – 15-30 total drops
- I love Plant Therapy oils. Try Germ Destroyer, Lavender & Lemon, Spearmint & Lime etc
Preservative – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
- Optiphen Plus. I’ve seen some places that recommend adding this preservative to extend the shelf life. It’s a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative.
Foaming Bottle
- Here’s a 3-pack from Amazon.
- An even cheaper option is to purchase a $1 bottle of foaming hand soap from the store, dispose of the contents, rinse the bottle, remove the label, and reuse.
Do you make your own hand soap? Any favorite essential oils combos I should try? (Keep reading for the recipe in printable, consolidated format 🙂 )
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What are your favorite (easy) DIY projects?
- ¼ cup unscented liquid castile soap
- 15-30 drops essential oils
- Moisturizing Oil (optional) choice of: ½ teaspoon vitamin E oil, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon almond oil, or 1 tablespoon fractionated coconut oil.
- ½ teaspoon optiphen plus (optional)
- Water (distilled, purified, or boiled)
- In the bottom of foaming bottle place castile soap. Add essential oils and moisturizing oil and preservative (if using).
- Gently swish around.
- Fill bottle with water being sure to leave room for lid.
Thank you for this recipe! I have everything available except the Optiphen Plus, which you mention as being optional. Do you personally use it when making this? I know people say mold can grow because of the water….what makes the Optiphen Plus optional?
I personally don’t use it because I don’t make big batches and we go through the soap quickly with kids that like to get messy, lol! But yes, it preserves the soap so that it will last a lot longer and prevent the bacteria growing problem!