Liquid Hand Soap Recipe

We go through a lot of hand soap. A lot. From the diaper changes to the “mom come wipe me”s, there is much hand washing in our house.

Ever the DIYer, I’ve been making foaming hand soap for years, and we still use it daily. The only downside of foaming hand soap is that you need a special foaming pump and these eventually wear out (though this one has been going strong for over a year at our house).

Liquid Hand Soap…

I got enough questions about if this would work as a liquid hand soap that I decided to create a recipe specifically for liquid hand soap. This uses the same idea as my homemade laundry detergent of grating a natural bar soap and melting in water to form a natural gel.

This is not only cost effective (a $3 to $4 bar of premium natural soap will make up to a gallon of soap), but simple and more natural than regular soap.

Is it Antibacterial?

As I mentioned before, I avoid antibacterial handsoaps and other products because of their potential to create resistant bacteria and microbiome changes. Plain soap and water have proven as effective as antibacterial soaps without the risk (source) and this natural version is a simple and cost effective natural soap.

What You’ll Need

A natural bar soap of choice. Homemade bar soaps usually work well and my other favorites are Dr. Bronners, african black soap, and Kombucha soap (available here).
Distilled or filtered water
A dispenser: Reuse an old soap dispenser, use a glass one or metal one, or make one out of a mason jar by drilling a hole in the top and hot gluing on the top of a soap pump dispenser.

What You Need:

1 ounce of finely grated bar soap (about 1/4 of a bar of soap) I used this one
1 quart of water
Optional: Essential Oils of your preference

What to Do:

Place the bar soap and water into a small saucepan.
Turn on medium heat and stir constantly until soap has dissolved into the water.
Let cool completely and add the essential oils if using. Pour into the container you plan to use.
It will take about 24 hours to completely “gel” but it will not be quite as thick as regular hand soap. You can add more grated bar soap to create a thicker soap but it will be more difficult to pump and will not get hands any more clean, so I stick with this.
After 24 hours, shake well to make sure it has gelled completely and use as normal.

What type of hand soap do you use? Ever made your own?

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

110 responses to “Liquid Hand Soap Recipe”

Teresa

December 19, 2017

Can I use liquid Castile soap instead of bar soap?

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Doaa

October 30, 2017

Don’t we need a preservative here in the soap?

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Megan

October 18, 2017

I tried this recipe but, it seemed to separate. I have what looks like little white balls in it and streaks of what looks like a gel like soap, all mixed in a clear liquid. I tried with way less water and it did the same thing. How do I get these to combine and stay that way?

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  October 18, 2017
  
  Did the soap melt completely in the first steps? Did it sit for 24 hours?
  
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Kathy

October 10, 2017

How long will liquid soap last without a preservative? Mine would be around probably a month. Which preservative would you suggest?

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Kathy

October 10, 2017

Hi, I recently made liquid soap with Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap, distilled water, almond oil, vitamin E, and guar gum powder to thicken, and essential oils. I love how it came out. Do I need to worry about bacteria growth and mold? Is there a way to test it? Sending to a lab isn’t practicle for me, as this is just a hobby and I give most of my products away.

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  October 10, 2017
  
  I just make sure to make it in smaller batches and use it within a few days (which is never a problem with hand soap with all the hand washing that goes on here).
  
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Marlene

October 8, 2017

I have to comment here – maybe I’ve already done this. You cannot ever make liquid hand soap from bar soap. Here is why: Liquid soap uses a different chemical to saponify oils into soap. Bar (solid) soap, uses something else. I make soap, but I always mix the two up when trying to explain. They are two completely different chemicals. When you grate bar soap, and add water to it, you will get what you think is liquid soap, which either has the consistency of snot, or water. This is because the oils are “desaponifying” if that is even a word, and you are exposing your skin to very harsh lye, which can actually burn you. When you run water over bar soap and make lather, it’s not the same thing, the soap doesn’t have time to break down and become “desaponified”.

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cathy

October 8, 2017

so im not sure what im doing wrong.
i used 12 ounces of soap and 1.8lts of water.
my soap is still watery and after sitting in the bottle it seams to seperate slightly.
how do i thicken this mixture?

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  October 10, 2017
  
  Use more soap. And you may need to give it a quick shake before each use.
  
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Beajay

October 4, 2017

Hi, I want to try to make liquid hand soap, since I have very sensitive skin I use Clearly natural clear. I would like to try this, but I would like to get a strawberry scent. What natural strawberry scent could I use and how much do I add to your receipe?

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Vickie Sage

September 19, 2017

I tried making the liquid soap today. I love Shea Moisture’s soaps so I tried their Raw Shea Butter Soap, w Extracts of Frankincense & Myrrh. I used the fine shredder of my Cuisinart and melted it in the water. It melted great, but got so thick when it cooled. So, I added more water. I ended with probably 3 quarts of water and it still got to thick to even consider putting in a pump, basically like solid jello. I took a little bit and tried to use as soap … there was no bubbles or lather whatsoever. I suppose no bubbles does not mean you don’t get clean, but … I was really frustrated! I decided it must just be that soap. I’ll have to get one of the brands you mentioned. I had hoped this one would work since it is natural too.

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Marie

September 11, 2016

I really like this recipe – I’ve doubled the amount of grated soap, added some tablespoons oil (castile/grapeseed), essential oil, one tablespoon raw honey and is using it for showergel! I use black soap 🙂

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Esther Rogers

September 8, 2016

I want to make a DIY liquid hand soap that you can use in the automatic dispensers. The ones you put your hand under and the soap comes out.
Is there a good one that won’t clog up the spout? Thanks!

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Heather

August 11, 2016

It seems easier to use the liquid Bronner’s Soap instead of grading the bar soap. Is there any reason not to do this?

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Julie

July 11, 2016

Hi. I made this for the first time using instructions but it didn’t gel. Could it be because I didn’t use distilled water? I only used tap.

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Marlene

June 28, 2016

This is not a good idea to make. I understand that you do this, and it works well, but as an experienced from scratch soap maker, I have to tell you a few things: 1.) It’s not that hard to make you own soap from scratch.

2.) MOST IMPORTANTLY: When you grate bar soap, to turn it into liquid soap, you are desaponifying the oils that were used to make the soap, from the lye that was used to make the soap. When you do this, you are usually left with a gooey mess of soap product, and some water, etc. You are then exposing yourself to raw lye, although in small amounts, but it will be terrible for your skin, and will cause dryness, cracking, burns, etc.

When a hard soap is made, it is made using sodium hydroxide, which hardens the oils as it saponifies it, and thus you are left with hard bar soap. When one makes liquid soap, you use a different form of lye, called potassium hydroxide, which saponifies the oils, but leaves them liquid. Soap making companies DO NOT grate bar soap to sell as liquid soap. They use a totally different chemical to do so. It is impossible to make soap without using some form of lye. Cream soaps are made using a combination of both forms of lye, but done so in a controlled environment.

I promise, using lye to make soap is NOT difficult, and is very rewarding. Soap companies remove glycerine from their soaps, to resell, as it is very valuable. If you make your own, it is all still there, whether it is a liquid or bar soap.

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  June 28, 2016
  
  I wrote about the process of making soap with lye here: https://wellnessmama.com/60992/how-to-make-soap/
  
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Erica

June 4, 2016

Hi. I need some tips 🙂
I was thinking transforming this to a liquid handsoap: https://www.amazon.com/Oliva-Pure-Olive-Soap-125g/dp/B011UUO9RI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=wellnessmama-20&linkId=64381f3abbecdae8305d56497d92794a&language=en_US

But isen´t 28 grams of bar soap and 9,4 dl water very much dilluted? Which means, less cleaning effect?
Have I misread the information? Living in Norway, and maybe has found wrong translating measurments 😉

Thank you.

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Lindsey

May 5, 2016

Hi! So I’ve made hand soap this way several times. For some reason, this time when I made it, it didn’t solidify. It’s just peppermint-scented water, even after sitting for two days. Any idea why this would happen, or how to fix it? I think I may just have to dump it. 🙁 I used castile soap.

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Sara

April 6, 2016

I’ve tried your recipe twice now and both times my soap hasn’t gelled at all. Its soapy water. Is there anything I can add to what I’ve made to help it thicken a little bit at least?

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1. Wellness Mama
  
  April 10, 2016
  
  You can add more of the grated soap or decrease the water to get a thicker soap
  
  Reply
Roseanna

April 3, 2016

When I was a kid, we used a bar of soap to wash our hands in the bathroom and the kitchen. Is there anything wrong, health wise, with a bar of soap for hand washing, or does bar soap make your hands dry out more? Or do people just use liquid hand soap because it is less likely to get messy on the counter? I’m not trying to be sassy or anything. I’m really curious. I was in Korea on a trip and lots of bars and restaurants had bar soap in the bathrooms. It didn’t bother me, but my friend was really freaked out about it, so it got me wondering.

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Cate

March 25, 2016

Do you think this would work as a dish soap? I love using it as hand soap!

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Ciara

February 18, 2016

this soap will start to clog aka actually reharded because to really make liquid soap Potassium hydroxide needs to be added

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