Soap!
If you know me personally, you know the last several months I’ve dove into the world of cold processed soap making!
It’s been an exciting journey going from creating a good, quality soap and shampoo bar for our family to expanding into selling at our roadside stand and stocking two local stores! I use locally sourced grassfed/grass finished tallow and locally sourced pigs raised on pasture for our soaps. Hopefully someday soon, I’d like to test out making some goat milk soaps to offer.
While our family loves the bars of soap, one thing I found is that using those bars at a wash sink with little children can get quite messy! The slippery soap bar turns into a toy and coats the entire counter and sometimes floor with soap. (Boys!)
I decided to try making a foaming hand soap with the hopes it would be easier for the boys to use and be a fun alternative! Overall it’s worked really well for us and is incredibly inexpensive to make. Another bonus, this recipe is great for beginners with soap! There are not hot oils, hazardous lye water solutions, and is safe to do in the house!
For me to use the Citrus Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap when I purchased it (about 18 months ago), it costs me about $.07 per pint jar to make with this recipe. That does not include the reusable items you will need, but the initial investment of a ball jar and the hand pump is about the same as purchasing one or two brand name hand soaps from the store.
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What You Need
- Pint glass ball jar (I use the regular mouth ball jars. You will find some of the ball jars have measurements embossed on the side which makes measuring your soap amount easier!)
- Foaming hand soap pump top (make sure to order the size that matches your glass jar’s mouth size.)
- Castile soap (I prefer peppermint, orange, or lavender options but you can also get unscented)
- Water
- Optional: essential oils (I usually don’t use essential oils for this recipe. I always get scented Castile soaps. If you get Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, they already add in essential oils.)
Directions
- Add 1/8 cup of Castile soap to the pint jar. Most recipes I had found called for 1/4 cup of Castile soap, but that gave us a soap that was too drying for our hands. I have found 1/8 cup give a really good foam and lathers still without becoming too drying.
- Slowly add in warm water. I do prefer adding the soap in first to help mix everything together. If you add your water too quickly, it will foam up and make a mess!
- Gently stir the water and soap together.
- Screw on your pump lid tightly.
- Test out your soap!
Do you have any tips or tricks for swapping out household/personal cleaners for family save and inexpensive items? I’d love to hear about them!