DIY Foaming Hand Soap

Inside: How to make a simple, luxurious hand soap with clean and budget friendly ingredients.

Hand washing is an unavoidable part of every day life and having a hand soap that you like, that works, and that is clean makes all the difference. Foaming hand soap feels particularly luxurious, but many types of commercial hand soap are full of yucky ingredients and can be irritating to sensitive skin. 

When we started our journey to swapping out clean household products, hand soap was one of the first that I knew needed to go. The harsh ingredients and fragrances were not only ingredients I preferred to stay away from, but were extremely irritating to my skin.

I tried several different “clean” brands and just didn’t love them and then I stumbled upon this simple recipe to make my own.

If you’d like the luxury of foaming hand soap, but don’t want the added ingredients, making your own foaming hand soap at home is a cost-effective way to go. You will save money, plus you get the benefits of knowing exactly what is in your soap! This hand soap recipe ends up costing me pennies! You will never want to go back to store-bought hand soap again.

What is Foaming Hand Soap?

Foaming hand soap is a type of soap that comes out as a bubbly, foamy liquid. It feels lighter and more luxurious than regular hand soaps, but many are full of synthetic fragrances and harmful chemicals that we try and avoid in our home. With a few simple ingredients you can make your own homemade hand soap and have the same luxurious foaming soap without all the extra ingredients. 

What Do I Need to Make Foaming Hand Soap

To make this foaming hand soap, you will need two ingredients:

Liquid castile soap – I like to use Dr. Bronner, liquid unscented soap, but use your favorite. 

Water – I use distilled water because our city water is not great, but you could absolutely use tap water for this. 

You will also need a foaming hand soap dispenser. You can either choose a specific hand soap jar or use a mason jar with a foam dispenser lid.

Can I Add Essential Oils to My Hand Soap

Yes! Essential oils are totally optional, but a few drops of your favorite essential oil is a nice way to add scent to your hand soap, plus many oils also have antibacterial properties.

A few favorite oils for adding to hand soaps include:

• Citrus oils

• Tea tree oil

• Lavender oil

If you enjoy using essential oils, play around with different essential oils combinations until you find a scent that you like. 

Carrier oils such as a sweet almond oil or fractionated coconut oil could be added as well for more nourishing, softening qualities in your soap. Vitamin E oil is another great oil for skin hydration that you could add to your soap. 

How Long Will My Soap Last?

The shelf life of homemade foam soap is definitely not as long as the store-bought version, but it will last a long time in a cool, dark place. I generally just mix up one jar at a time and then we use it and before it has a chance to go bad. I just refill hand soaps as needed. 

How Do I Make My Hand Soap?

The amount of water you will need for your soap depends on the concentration you would like to have and how much soap you would like to make.

As a general rule, I like to mix about one cup of castile soap to three cups of water. To keep things very simple, I usually take my empty soap jar and fill it about one-third full of liquid pure castile soap. I then fill it up with distilled water and add a few drop of essential oils. That’s it! Literally so simple and quick. 

Making your own foaming hand soap is an easy way to make a luxurious foaming hand soap, that is free of synthetic fragrances, harmful chemicals, and saves you money all while nourishing your skin and leaving you with clean hands. 

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