Homemade Non-Toxic Liquid Hand Soap
By
I have something to say.
Commercial non-toxic liquid hand soap is way, way too expensive. Since switching over all of our household products to chemical free varieties, purchasing liquid hand soap is something that always makes me choke. We need easy access to soap at our sinks, but good grief all the options I found to order were crazy expensive -like around $5.00 for 12 ounces. Ouch.
Shame on them.
Do you know how much it cost me to make an entire gallon of non-toxic, all natural, organic liquid hand soap? Three dollars and fifty cents. Total. For an entire gallon. (A gallon, by the way, is 128 ounces. That’s some awesome savings!)
This may have been one of the easiest items I’ve ever made. It took hardly any time. And it only cost me $3.50. (Pardon my redundancy. I’m hung up on the fact that it only cost me $3.50 for a gallon of the healthiest hand soap ever. $3.50. $3.50!)
Because of this, I plan to get on a soap box (ha!) and encourage all of us to save a bunch of money by making homemade liquid hand soap.
Other recipes I’ve seen call for several ingredients I didn’t feel safe to use. Then, my friend BryAnna told me she’d been playing with making soap and had found these simple directions. She’s a genius. I love her.
Homemade Non-Toxic Liquid Hand Soap
4 ounce bar of natural soap (I used a bar of coconut oil soap from Tropical Traditions. Any natural bar of soap would work. I think the bars from Victorian Rose Soap Company would be great!)
1 gallon of water
First, heat the water in a pot, just long enough to steam:
In the meantime, grate your bar of soap.
Take the steaming water off the heat. Immediately pour the grated soap into the water. Stir the mixture, then let it sit for about 15 minutes.
Use a hand mixer to blend the soap and water mixture well. Let it sit overnight.
The next morning, use the hand mixer again to blend well. Done. You have a gallon of non-toxic liquid hand soap!
When my friend BryAnna made her batch, she found that it was quite thick and almost gel like the second day. My batch, on the other hand, was still quite runny. If your soap is too thick, you may want to blend in a little extra water. If your mixture is too runny…it doesn’t matter. It works just fine!
I had some extra pump bottles around the house which I filled and put by each sink. The remaining liquid soap, I funneled into a gallon water jug for storage.
If you’ve never tried making your own liquid hand soap, you’ve got to give this a try. So simple. So safe and pure. And so, so, so much less expensive.
Like, only $3.50 for a gallon. Or did I mention that already?
Ever tried making your own soaps? Which kind(s) have you tried? Hand soap? Laundry detergent? Bar soap?
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I made mine with hurts bees bar soap and it came out perfect, I love it
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What do you mean by non-toxic soap?
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Laura Reply:
November 14th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
When I talk about non-toxic soap, I am referring to soap made without any added chemicals that could be particularly harmful. For instance, I use a coconut soup from Tropical Traditions which is so pure, it only has one ingredient! http://secure.ttpurchase.com/77402E41-1E0B-90B3-0EF90F118D9A1D68
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Worked great! Looooove this! Thank you!
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Can you use tap water or does it need to be filtered? Thanks!
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Misty Reply:
December 10th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Also how much water, a gallon?
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Laura Reply:
December 10th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Yes, one gallon is what I use for this recipe. :)
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Laura Reply:
December 10th, 2012 at 4:43 pm
I just use tap water.
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I am new to making my own things at home. I’m worried about hand soap and it creating bacteria. What’s your thoughts? And where can I purchase essential oils that aren’t rediculously expensive?
Thanks.
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Laura Reply:
December 12th, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I really don’t worry terribly about bacteria, knowing that there are so many good bacterias in the air to combat the bad ones. Mountain Rose Herbs is a good source for some essential oils: http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/index.php?AID=116329&BID=674” target=”_blank
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I used the Victorian Rose Soap and it came out VERY liquidy, doesn’t ‘blend’ well, nor does it lather (at all!!) when used. Just wondering what I did wrong. :( A bit disappointed….was using this as Christmas gifts for my sons teachers. What can I do to correct? I hate to think of throwing it all out.
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Leah Reply:
April 20th, 2013 at 11:02 am
Organic/natural soaps do not tend to lather bc they don’t put surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate in them. Some surfactants have a biproduct called dioxine that is a known cancer causer among other things.
Soap of any kind does NOT need suds/bubbles or “antibacterial” chemicals to clean. As long as you use warm/hot water and scrub good it works just fine.
Hope this helps:)
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I think a gallon of water is WAAAY too much. Try using half that much per 4 oz bar, and your batch will come out much better, and is still economical. At the local health store I’ve found bars of quality soap in the bargain bin for as low as 75 cents each, even at $2 a bar your getting a good deal.
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Oops my bad, I checked my bars again and they are 2.65 oz.
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Would Kiss My Face olive oil bar soap work?
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Laura Reply:
January 30th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
I’ve not tried it, but it’s worth a shot!
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I have been looking for inexpensive ways to make liquid dish soap. Do you think this recipe would work for dish soap if you used organic castile bar soap?
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Laura Reply:
February 9th, 2013 at 11:29 pm
It’s worth a try!
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I read this article regarding the safety of homemade liquid hand soap. Let me know what you think, please.
http://www.greenideareviews.com/2012/07/22/diy-homemade-liquid-hand-soap-review-does-it-work/
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Verna Reply:
March 21st, 2013 at 6:10 am
I have made this recipe with one exception, I boil the water. I have had my soap for over a year. I don’t store it in the fridge. I haven’t had mold or any thing grow in it.
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Linda,
Maybe using some citric acid would prevent that? Citric acid is using in canning. It occurs naturally, and is often used in bath and beauty products. You can get it any where that has canning products, or I got mine at Whole Foods.
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see this link
http://www.ehow.com/how_6315775_use-citric-acid-preservative.html
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I make hand soap with Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, and as you can imagine, it’s very liquid-y/runny. Any suggestions as to how to make it thicker?
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I am allergic to citrus. What else can I use as a preservative for my homemade soap? How long will the soap be good for without the citrus?
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When you make homemade liquid soaps they tend NOT to lather. It does not affect the cleaning quality tho. For antibacterial add some lavender or tea tree essential oil. There are also no chemical emulsifiers in your homemade product sso it will tend to seperate give it a good stir or shake before each use. I make my own dish soap basically the same way plus a bit of borax it works great cuts grease and leaves my dishes and hands feeling soft to the touch. Hope this helps ya!
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How much citric acid should I use per gallon of soap?
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How many hours should I let it sit? I made mine in the morning and am wondering if it would be ready by this evening.
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Laura Reply:
April 24th, 2013 at 9:13 pm
I would imagine anywhere between 8-12 hours would do the trick. :)
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I am an impoverished college student, so I am always looking for ways to be thrifty. This seems do simple! I am going to try it with a bar of Dr. Bronner’s soap!
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I’m one of the people who makes that crazy expensive liquid soap you’re talking about. I’d like to give you a few points of information on soap that might be helpful to you.
First of all, natural liquid soap is very time consuming to make. I have a batch cooking right now. It’s been cooking for about 5 hours. The first hour or so takes my attention, then it’s like letting bread rise. It will cook for another couple of hours before the paste is finished and tomorrow I’ll spend at least a couple of hours diluting the paste. That’s how liquid soap is made. I can only make 2 gallons at a time at home and I use premium ingredients so it can’t be cheap. However, I make the most concentrated soap that can be made so if you took a foaming bottle and put about 1/2 inch of my soap in the bottom, and filled it with water you’d have a full container of foaming soap – great for kids. Harder to waste.
Another point: All soap is made with some kind of oil or fat and lye and water. You’re Tropical Traditions is made with one fat not one ingredient. If it were only coconut oil it would not be soap. It would be coconut oil. When a soap says 100% coconut oil (or in the case of real/original castile) 100% olive oil, it means that is the only fat used. There is still water and lye used. Lye and fat make a chemical change that produces soap so no lye is left when the soap is done.
I’ve experimented at length with making liquid soap from bar soap (because I really didn’t want to have to make liquid soap from scratch either). How the liquid soap turns out is dependent on how the bar of soap used for it is made. I find that my 100% olive oil soap works pretty well. No soap made this way will stay in the same form indefinitely. Some will change in days some over months. My 100% olive oil lasts in consistent liquid form for about 3 months. (I don’t really worry about preservatives because soap is alkaline and acid based products will spoil faster)
For dishes and all kinds of cleaning you can use plain old soap. If it is REAL soap and not some detergent bar or some fancy skin bar loaded with extra oils any soap will clean like crazy. Plain olive oil soap will clean dishes wonderfully. It won’t make suds in your dish pan but rub the bar on your dish cloth and wash the dishes with it and they’ll be spotless. Most other surfaces in your house will also be very well cleaned with plain old soap!
While olive oil soap will clean most things, the properties of coconut oil far surpass olive for cleaning. I make a 100% coconut oil soap that cleans just about anything!! (So your Tropical Traditions soap would make a much more cleaning liquid soap than most other bars would make)
Happy Cleaning!!
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