Liquid Hand Soap

The DIY liquid hand soap I made a few years ago has been one of my most-visited posts.  I recently made it again, but changed up the recipe a little, so I'll share what I did differently!

What I loved about the first one was:

• It made over a gallon of hand soap
• It was free from hazardous crap like triclosan (in antibacterial soap; read more about it from the FDA, wikipedia, beyond pesticides, EPA, but essentially it can bioaccumulate, it's a hormone disruptor, and it isn't proven to be better than regular soap)
• It was cheap

What I didn't love:

• It kind of felt like snot
• It didn't get sudsy enough for our tastes
• My husband hated it

So I fixed all that!  This recipe still makes cheap, healthy handsoap, but doesn't feel like snot and gets plenty sudsy.  My husband had no idea it was homemade.

I picked up this yummy little soap at Homegoods for $3.  I simply went through them all and picked the one with the best scent that didn't have nasty chemicals in it.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 c grated soap
• 2 T vegetable glycerin
• 8 c water
• It's the ratio that's important here.  If you grate your soap and get 3 cups, just double everything!

Method:

• Grate the bar soap using one of the finest grating on your cheese grater
• Add all ingredients to a large kitchen pot (it's OK to use a good one - it's just soap!)
• Heat and stir until the soap is dissolved (I like to use a whisk)
• Let cool completely to room temperature, so you know for sure you're not ending up with a brick of soap sponge (like the first time I ever tried this)
• Fill up your containers!

The only bummer about using more soap in the recipe is that now it doesn't make as much.  Still, 2/3 of a gallon of hand soap for $3 is pretty darn good!  It also made less than the first time because the bar of soap was a good bit smaller.

Some hints:

• If it turns into a spongey mess once it cools, just heat it back up and add more water
• If it's too liquidy, first make sure it actually cooled all the way, then add more soap, reheat, etc.
• I got my Glycerin at Whole Foods, but my readers say it's also available in pharmacies.  I paid about $6, but haven't even used half of it yet.
• Avoid using soap with "stuff" in it, like tea leaves or exfoliating beads - they clog up your soap dispensers.

Bonnie Projects

Make Your Own Hand Soap

*** I've updated my recipe - read about it here ***

The recent flurry of bar soap to hand soap DIY projects on pinterest piqued my interest!  Between being cheap and liking to know what goes into the products I use, I was sold.  It's tough to find hand soap without antibacterial triclosan polluting it.  You could also use up those little gift soaps or hotel soaps you never know what to do with.

All it takes to make hand soap is:

• A bar of your favorite soap
• Vegetable glycerin (I found mine at Whole Foods for $6)
• Water
• About 15 minutes

Here's how to do it:

1. Grate the bar of soap into small flakes.  The smaller they are, the quicker they'll dissolve.
2. Add 1 cup of flakes and 1 T of glyerin to 10 cups of water in a large pot.
3. Simmer for a few minutes until the flakes dissolve.
4. Let it cool.  ALL THE WAY.  I'll explain later.
5. Refill all your hand soap pumps and store the rest for later!

 

Did you get that?

1 c bar soap + 1 T glycerin + 10 c water = oodles of hand soap = $3.50

It cost me $8.00 to make my first batch of hand soap, and I didn't even use up all my ingredients!  I would guess it's more like $3.50 for about a gallon.  Now I have healthy and cheap hand soap with a smaller carbon footprint because they didn't ship water hundreds of miles.

Some issues I encountered: Ok, so I let my mixture cool to about the temperature of bath water, and it was still super runny.  Some googling told me that sometimes happens, so just add more soap and glycerin if it does.  I did.  Still watery.  I also read that you can put the mixture through your blender.  Lots of suds.  Still watery.  So I gave up and went shopping.

When I came home, I found all my cooking stuff was full of soap the consistency of lard!!!  Apparently it goes through a phase change of sorts around room temperature.  I added enough water to get back to the original recipe, boiled it down, let it cool, and finally had the right consistency.  Patience is a virtue!

Also, my future in-laws and many coworkers decided I was a crazy person for making my own hand soap, so be prepared for skepticism.  I think when I bring them samples to try they'll change their tune!  I'm not sorry that I have over a gallon of cheap, healthy hand soap!