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The Art of Making a Home

How to Make Your Own Foaming Hand Soap (+ Best Essential Oils for Hand Washing)

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I’ve always been a compulsive hand-washer, even before hand washing was really, shall we say, cool. With a husband who’s equally obsessed with cleanliness, it seemed like were always running out of soap. Not only is it expensive to stock every sink in the house, but those cheap plastic bottles create a ton of trash, which I always felt guilty about. I know it sounds ridiculous, but learning to make our own foaming hand soap almost felt like winning the lottery. (Almost.)

The beauty of DIY hand soap is that you can ditch all the chemicals, colors and crazy scents. Plus, one bottle of all-natural castile soap fills an almost endless supply soap dispensers, meaning you’ll never run out again.

How to Make Your Own Foaming Hand Soap

How to make your own foaming hand soap

You know you’ve officially gone DIY when you find yourself giddily making your own hand soap on a Saturday afternoon. Just 2 tablespoons of castile soap is enough to make 16 ounces of foaming hand soap! Plus it keeps heaps of trash out of the landfill and chemicals out of your home. It’s a win-win-win.

While I used to save leftover plastic foaming soap bottles that I’d then refill over and over, I recently invested in a few glass dispensers that I keep stashed next to every sink. I bought ’em for the looks but I love that they last forever and you can run them through the dishwasher. Alternatively, you can also just purchase some foaming soap pump lids and convert old mason jars into soap dispensers.

Why Castile?

As for the soap, I recommend using liquid castile soap. Castile is a plant-based, biodegradable, natural soap that can be used as a base for DIY beauty and household products, as well as on its own as a powerful cleaner.

Because it’s incredibly concentrated, you only need a couple tablespoons to make an entire bottle of foaming hand soap. Dr. Bronner’s is one the more popular brands, but there are plenty of equally green, less-expensive brands to choose from.

How to Make Your Own Foaming Hand Soap

Best Essential Oils for Hand Soap

If you like your hand soap scented, you can add essential oils. I recommend using oils that’ll help boost the antibacterial power of your soap, like lavender, tea tree and lemon. But you’re free to use whichever oils you like.

Our recipe calls for 27 drops of essential oil, which is a 3% dilution. Along with lemongrass and ginger, here are a few of our favorite scent combinations:

Floral finish: 10 drops of rose and 17 drops of lemon

Minty clean: 13 drops of tea tree and 14 drops of peppermint

French lavender: 27 drops of lavender

Orange blossom: 12 drops sweet orange and 15 drops vanilla essential oil

Fresh scent: 10 drops of eucalyptus and 17 drops of lemon

Ingredients for making foaming hand soap

Ingredients

Instructions

Pour Castile soap into bottle. If adding essential oils, add them now too.

Slowly add water into bottle, making sure to leave room for the foaming pump.

Screw on the lid and gently shake the bottle to mix everything together.

To use, just pump one or two times into hands and wash for 20 seconds. Then rinse with warm water.

How to Make Your Own Foaming Hand Soap

Foaming Hand Soap FAQ

Can I make foaming hand soap with dish soap?

Any liquid soap should technically work for this. If you run out of castile soap, you can use dish soap, body wash or even traditional gel hand soap. But these types of soap aren’t always as gentle, or as natural, as castile soap, and they may dry out skin.

See also
How to Clean Grout + Keep It Clean

How can I make moisturizing hand soap?

If you suffer from dry skin, go ahead and add a tablespoon of oil to your foaming hand soap. I like sweet almond, jojoba or sesame oil because they’re light and shouldn’t leave your skin feeling terribly greasy. But use whichever oil you like.

Just remember to shake your bottle of hand soap prior to each use.

Do I need to add preservatives to homemade hand soap?

We go through soap pretty quickly at my house, so I’ve never had an issue with it going bad or growing mold. But this soap is mostly water and mold can become an issue if it’s not used quickly enough. If you’d like to add a preservative, I recommend a natural one, such as grapefruit seed extract.

Will foaming hand soap work in a non-foaming dispenser?

Without a foaming dispenser, your hand soap will be more liquid, than foam. While it will still work to get rid of dirt and grime, it won’t give you the dense foam we all know and love.

Can I add alcohol or some other antibacterial agent to my hand soap?

I wouldn’t recommend it since alcohol is especially drying, especially if you have sensitive skin. But I do recommend adding essential oils for an antibacterial boost. Cinnamon, eucalyptus and tea tree are my personal favorites.

Looking for more ways to use that bottle of castile soap? Here are 6 green cleaning recipes that use castile soap.

Photos by Ana Stanciu

DIY Foaming Hand Soap

Hello Glow
With just two ingredients, making your own foaming hand soap couldn't be cheaper -- or easier.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 mins
Total Time 2 mins
Course Green Cleaning
Servings 12 ounces

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Pour castile soap into bottle. (If you choose to, add essential oils, honey and almond oil at this time as well.)
  • Slowly add water into bottle, making sure to leave room for the foaming pump.
  • Add lid, shake, and you are good to go!
  • When ready to use, just pump one to two times into hands and rinse with warm water.

Notes

Any liquid soap should technically work for this. If you run out of castile soap, you can use dish soap, body wash or even traditional gel hand soap. But these types of soap aren’t always as gentle, or as natural, as castile soap, and they may dry out skin.
To boost the antibacterial power of your soap, try adding cinnamon, clove, oregano, lavender, tea tree or thyme essential oils.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
48

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sherry says

    I haven’t tried Method yet but I’m looking forward to it. I love the bottle designs.
    I’ve been using this idea for awhile,I’m cheap and it’s great!

  4. Seriously Sassy Mama says

    I liked them. Never thought of this idea. I will blame my let brain for my lack of creativity.

  5. erica says

    i like method on FB. and i REALLY like their products. been using their soap and cleaning spray for about a year now. (and just tried the laundry detergent too!)

    <3

  7. Susanna says

    This is a great idea, never thought about that, your bottles are much cuter than what I have too 🙂

  14. sara says

    I liked Method on Facebook. Those bottles are super fun! I have refilled Method dish soap bottles because I love their shape, but these are even better!

  16. Kim L. says

    I love those bottles! I agree with you, the pump is much easier for kids to use and they use so much less! My son was putting about 3 pumps of regular liquid soap on his hands at a time. (and they still weren’t clean lol)

  18. Joanna says

    I liked Method on Facebook and I loooove everything Method in real life! Hope I win. Thanks so much for hosting this super giveaway. Nifty trick by the way, i will definitely be trying this.

  30. Margot C says

    I already do this! (my husband thinks that I am a crank putting water in the liquid soap, now I can point to your post!)

    I liked Method on facebook already; I hope that counts.

  49. Catherine S says

    I do love the Method line. And I do recycle my foaming handwash containers in this way too. It’s amazing how little soap is necessary to make a fine foam.

  50. jodine q says

    i like method on FB. i haven’t tried this product, but i would be interested in trying a more environmentally friendly brand. it also helps that i can re-use the bottle to make my own soap.

  53. Jelli says

    I liked Method’s FB page. I also use Dr. Bronners for our foaming soap dispensers at home. Sadly, I ran out of it the other day. Would love to try Method!

  79. beatriz says

    I liked them on fb! we have made our own foaming soap for 2 years and I really do need new bottles!!

  92. Lisa says

    I liked their Facebook page with the username of Lisa Alyson. I also think it’s really neat how you can make foam soap so easily..who knew?

  94. tink Pixiedust says

    I didn’t even know that method had an FB page! Just ‘Liked’ them. 🙂 I found you via Pinterest and am so glad I did! 🙂

  111. Rachel Robertson (Azrael) says

    Luv the bottles and luv luv the foaming soap idea! thanks 🙂

  112. Geoff K says

    I love Method soaps and cleaning products! They’re always coming up with new and interesting scents, which I love, and their holiday collection can’t be beat. Thanks for the chance to enter!

    I like Method on facebook: Geoff K

  118. Sara Haaf says

    I already liked method on fb and thanks for the heads up on their contest, now that’s also entered.

  127. Michelle Tucker says

    I liked their page. Thanks so much for the opportunity.
    michelletucker at baconnation dot net