Have you looked at the price of liquid hand soap? You may not think you’re paying much if you’re paying say, .99 for 6 oz in a pump bottle. But if you buy a gallon’s worth of soap at that price you’re paying about $10 per gallon.
So, I played around in the kitchen last week and made some liquid hand soap of my own. I used Walmart brand bath soap that was sort of a knock off of Dove, liquid glycerin and water.
You can buy liquid glycerin at hobby shops or drug stores. Its usually cheaper at places like Hobby Lobby. I found it in the soap crafting section.
The reason you want to use it, is that it causes the liquid soap to gel just a little. Otherwise its completely liquid. If you don’t mind completely watery hand soap, just use the bar soap and water. That’s the kind of hand soap I used ot make back in the day when glycerin wasn’t as easy to find. I saved my soap scraps and mixed them with warm water to dissolve. Ta-Da – liquid hand soap.
Well, this recipe is better, Its thick and creamy but still pourable.
1 cup of grated soap, which is about 1 bar of bath soap
1o cups of warm water
1 tablespoon of liquid glycerin.
Other equipment you’ll need:
a grater
a large pot
a wooden spoon or spatula for stirring
a container for holding all the soap
a pump bottle for dispensing the soap
20 drops of Tea Tree Oil if you would like anti-bacterial qualities in the soap
Instructions:
Grate the bar of soap. You need 1 cup of grated soap.
Heat 10 cups of water in a large stock pot.
Add the grated soap and glycerin to the water.
Stir til the soap is dissolved.
Add Tee Tree oil. Stir.
Allow to cool for about 10 hours.
The soap will slowly gel. Pour into glass jars or jugs to store.
That’s it!
This would be most economical if you regularly use an expensive brand of bar and hand soap like Tom’s, Mrs. Meyers, etc. You could use a bar of the bath soap to make a gallon of hand soap.
You can add small amounts of warm or hot water to make it less thick if you need to.
You can experiment with adding oils to make the soap more moisturizing.
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