As I turned to a more natural lifestyle, I started making my own foam hand soap. Because of the little kids who are worried about antibacterial soap and potty training, they find it necessary to wash their hands a thousand times a day with soap, I need a healthy and frugal option.
Now that the kids are old (and not that messy), we still have a lot of hand washing! Thankfully, there is also a homemade and incredibly simple option that works too. It also has almost nothing made in every bottle and is made with clean ingredients.
Simple DIY Foam Hand Soap
The recipe itself was actually so simple that my six-year-old was responsible for refilling the homemade foam hand soap container. I keep some simple ingredients on hand and we never have to buy hand soap or worry about using it out. Surprisingly, this foamy natural soap also makes a nice shaving cream and shower gel in the shower…
Before you start, you need a foamy handmade soap bottle. I originally ordered this beautiful handmade soap dispenser online. You can also reuse your favorite pump bottle of foam soap.
Why use foam hand soap?
A few years ago, I was addicted to soap making and we always had plenty of different soaps. Since living in different ways, I rely more on natural liquid soap and foam soap to foam. The foam pump can produce a nice foam, but overall use less soap than regular liquid soap.
This is great for kids who think it’s fun to pump soap containers over and over! Of course, it’s healthier (cheaper!) than popular versions in places like Bath and Body Works.
Ingredients used in homemade soap
The basic recipes are soap, oil and distilled water. You can keep it unsensual or add a few drops of essential oil. Not only will these help it smell good, they can also add natural antibacterial properties to deal with unwanted bacteria without the use of synthetic antibacterial chemicals. I use Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, which comes with a odorless version as well as mint, lavender, citrus and other essential oil aromas.
I use olive oil in this recipe because it has a deep moisturizing, but jojoba oil, sweet almonds, or any liquid carrier oil can work. Just avoid solids like coconut oil. For the extra gliding you can also add 1/2 teaspoon of glycerin.
Because this recipe uses water and has no preservatives, it should be used within about a week. If you are not too quick, you can cut the recipe in half. In our home, this is not a problem! The basic recipe is 1 serving soap to 12 servings of water, so you can scale up or down.
Here is a (super easy) tutorial about how to make your own homemade foam soap!
DIY Foam Hand Soap Recipe
This simple foam hand soap contains only water, liquid es soap, moisturizing oil and optional essential oils for simple and frugal homemade soap.
yield: 13 ounce
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Fill the soap dispenser to about 1 inch on the top. Make sure to leave room for soap pump foam.
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Add at least 2 tablespoons of liquid estile soap to the water mixture. Note: Do not add soap first, otherwise bubbles will occur when adding water.
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If you use it, add oil and any essential oils.
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Rotate close to mix.
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Use regularly as per the regular foam soap.
- You need a foam soap dispenser for this soap. Either buy one online or reuse the bottle from a store-bought foam soap.
- If you don’t have distilled water, you can also use the filtered water that is boiled and then cool.
Pay attention to essential oils
1/2 teaspoon of essential oil is still less than 1% dilution, much lower than the average maximum amount of washing products. However, use more irritating oils such as cinnamon, cloves, oregano and lemongrass in small quantities or avoidance. Oils that have natural antibacterial properties but are milder in the skin include lavender, orange, lemon and tea tree essential oils.
If you are using soap that already has essential oils, you don’t need to add more.
Have you made your own soap? If not… are you starting now? Share below!
