Homemade...Liquid Handsoap!

I'm not sure "homemade" is the correct term for how I made handsoap.  I didn't use lye or lard or anything needed to create from-scratch soap.  I just took a bar of handsoap, glycerin and water and made myself a gallon of handsoap for about $5-$6.  To buy an equal amount of Meyer's brand liquid handsoap, you would spend $64.  I'd call that a good deal.

First you take a bar of handsoap and a grater.  I used Meyer's Clean Day bar soap in the lemon verbena scent.  I couldn't find the bar soap at target, but I did find it at our local co-op.  I'm sure you can use many different types of soap, but I have read that using soaps with added moisturizers (Dove) can prevent the soap from hardening properly, resulting in soap that is too runny.

Grate the entire bar of soap.  It takes a little muscle, but I did the whole bar in 5-10 minutes.

Put the soap shavings in a large pot with 2 tablespoons of glycerin.  I found this at the Walgreen's Pharmacy (behind the window).  I've also heard you can find it in the band-aid section of any drug store. It costs $3-$6 for the bottle, but there is enough in it to make 6 batches of soap.  Also add 1 gallon of water (16 cups) to the pot. 

Heat the soapy water over medium/high heat until the soap is dissolved.  It won't take long!  Remove the pot from the heat and just let it set for 10-12 hours.  After 3-4 hours it will start to cloud.  By the next morning, mine was very thick.  I added ~ 1cup water to the pot and beat it for a minute with my electric mixer.  It looked great after that.

I grabbed a funnel and poured it into soap dispensers around the house.  It smells wonderful and works great.  It can also be used as body wash!

I poured the extra soap in a milk jug and put it in my linen closet for future use.

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 2, 2012 at 6:52 PM

    What a great idea! I'll definitely have to try this out.

    ReplyDelete

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