I’ve managed to tackle homemade laundry detergent, but homemade liquid dish soap for handwashing dishes has been on my DIY list for a long time. Making a natural dishwashing soap that works and is the right consistency can be tricky. Fortunately this version is natural, easy, and it really works!
It’s not difficult to pick up a natural dishwashing soap at your local supermarket, or even on Amazon. However, even some of the so-called natural ones have a laundry list of ingredients that I’m not so thrilled about. Plus, many of them don’t work nearly as well as advertised. And of course, there’s always the issue of cost. With a fairly large family to clean up after, dish soap doesn’t last for too long around here (especially when the kids are “helping” with the dishes).
Why Green Cleaners Don’t Always Work
I love my homemade cleaners, but they’re not without their downsides. I chronicle my ups and downs with DIY green cleaners over the years in this post.
Many recipes call for vinegar (powerful, but I can’t stand the smell) or Borax, which is controversial. I also just don’t have the time I used to (because kids, work, and life!). I still make natural cleaners when I can, but have found a few store-bought options like the Sal Suds featured in this recipe.
Still, I wanted to try my hand at making liquid dish soap for the reasons listed above, but most recipes I had tried in the past (not all though) fell flat. A lot of DIY recipes call for castile soap, which is great for so many things, but doesn’t have quite the same “oomph” as store-bought dish soap. For those who have hard water, castile soap can sometimes leave a film on glassware.
To get extra degreasing power, many recipes combine vinegar with the castile soap, but that doesn’t work so well either. The vinegar unsaponifies the soap, which is a fancy way of saying that the soap is no longer soap and doesn’t clean. Not something I want to use to wash dishes!
An Effective Natural Liquid Dish Soap
This dish soap recipe relies on Sal Suds instead. It’s a concentrated natural cleaner that’s produced by the Bronner family, the same company I buy my Bronner’s castile soap from. Both cleansers are equally safe and effective, but for the purpose of this recipe, the Sal Suds seems to work better.
Greasy dishes can be difficult to clean, so there’s also washing soda in this recipe to give it an extra degreasing boost. Washing soda is a staple in our home and goes into several of my homemade cleaning recipes. (This is not the same thing as baking soda, but baking soda can be baked in the oven to make washing soda.)
Conventional brands rely on synthetic thickeners to adjust the consistency, so natural dishwashing soap is often on the thinner side. There is an easy natural solution, though: plain table or kosher salt. (Mineral-rich sea salt and Himalayan salt are ideal for consumption because of their extra minerals, but the minerals interfere with cleaning power when it comes to soap.)
Clean and Fresh Essential Oils
I’ve used citrus oils here for their fresh, clean scent and antimicrobial properties. Lemon essential oil is a potent antibacterial and helps cut through grease. Grapefruit is also an antibacterial and antifungal disinfectant, and lifts the mood.
It’s possible to add almost any essential oil to this recipe, including lavender, sweet orange, peppermint, and eucalyptus. The Sal Suds cleaner in the recipe already has fir and spruce essential oil, so it’s best to pick an essential oil that will blend well with the pine scent. The additional essential oil can also be omitted if desired.
Natural Liquid Dish Soap Recipe
There are a lot of homemade liquid dish soap recipes you can find online, but I’ve found this one to work better than all the others.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup Sal Suds
- 1 and 1/3 cup distilled water
- 40 drops lemon or grapefruit essential oil (or essential oil of choice)
- 1 TBSP washing soda
- 1 TBSP table or kosher salt and 3 TBSP hot water
- large pot
- dish soap dispenser
Instructions
- In a small pot heat the water and salt, stirring frequently until everything is completely dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and pour the contents into a small bowl. Set the salt mixture aside. I used kosher salt and it wouldn’t completely dissolve, so I just strained the residual salt pieces out.
- Add the washing soda and 1 and 1/3 distilled water to the pot and heat just until dissolved.
- Add the Sal Suds, washing soda and water, and essential oils to a dish soap dispenser. If your container has a small opening, then it works best to mix this in a glass mason jar.
- Add 1 tablespoons of the salt water to the soap and stir. It will turn cloudy and thicken. Add another tablespoon of salt water mixture if you want it thicker. Keep in mind that it may thicken more over time.
- Pour the mixture into a soap dispenser.
Note: Over time this liquid dish soap may thicken a little too much. If this happens, add a little more water until it is the desired consistency again.
Ever tried making your own liquid dish soap? How’d it turn out? Share your experiences below!
Hi, sal suds does have sodium laureate sulphate ( SLS) as one of its ingredients. SLS is a known carcinogen, I would like to avoid it. What can I use instead?
I don’t find the SLS in Sal Suds concerning for several reasons. For one, it is not necessarily being used on the skin (you can wear gloves if it’s concerning for you). There is some concern about its safety in beauty products, but for cleaning products it is considered safe. It is often confused with sodium laureth sulfate, which does carry concerns and which has been linked to cancer.
Additionally, the amount used in this recipe is well below the recommended dilution ratio for SLS on skin and the SLS in Sal Suds comes from Coconut Oil. If you have concerns about SLS, this article from Dr. Frank Lipman helps explain the way SLS works and why it is considered safe when diluted in cleaning products but not recommended for cosmetics or skin use.
I WOULD NEVER USE THIS BEC THE MAIN INGREDIENT IS SLS…. IF OT WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT… – ONE OF THE LAST INGREDIENTS OR BETTER YET THE LAST ONE, THEN MAYBE.
What do you use instead?
Did you read the article that she posted about SLS?
SLS will stay on the dishes (that squeaky cleanness) so you will eat it later with your food
The SLS does not go INTO your dishes. It won’t stay on the dishes if you are thoroughly rinsing your dishes with hot water after you wash them.
Hello,
I love the recipe and tried it, thank you. I’m not sure if it’s me or if the instructions are unclear.
Do you mind giving them a check?
I have the same question!
The amount of water is not well-defined. Are there two batches of 1 1/3 cups (one for the recipe and another for dissolving the salt water)? Or am I missing something? Please clarify – I want to make this ASAP!
To mix the salt at the beginning, the recipe calls for 1 TBSP table or kosher salt and 3 TBSP hot water.
Thanks, Amy – I reloaded the page. Apparently I wasn’t seeing all the print for some reason!
This looks like the sort of thing that’s to make people feel like they’re doing/making something. Sal Suds (or any other light duty liquid detergent) alone should work as well on almost everything, without the contribution to dishpan hands the washing soda would add. For the few things that might benefit from an alkali treatment — a crusty cast iron pan, say — you’d be better off treating it separately by soaking it in (or in it) a washing soda solution preliminary to scrubbing it. And although there’s nothing wrong with Sal Suds, I don’t think there’s anything special about it either.
What this recipe mostly reminds me of are the widespread ones to make bubble bath by mixing liquid shampoo, water, salt, and in some cases essential oil — when all the salt does is re-thicken the shampoo after dilution and restore some of the preservative ability, and you’d do as well to simply splash the shampoo directly into the bath water, with essential oil at the same time if you want it.
Do you have suggestions on which brand to buy if someone isn’t up for making dish soap (*cough* me)? I currently use Seventh Generation however I remember reading somewhere that it’s not really as “gentle” as is claims.
I use ‘nature clean’ or ‘live for tomorrow’ I know you posted this years ago and only saw this post recently. I hope you found one you like or might consider these ideas.
Sal’s Suds has Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in it. I really try to avoid SLS, too bad this recipe has it as I was excited to try it!
I don’t find the SLS in Sal Suds concerning for several reasons. For one, it is not necessarily being used on the skin (you can wear gloves if it’s concerning for you). There is some concern about its safety in beauty products, but for cleaning products it is considered safe. It is often confused with sodium laureth sulfate, which does carry concerns and which has been linked to cancer.
Additionally, the amount used in this recipe is well below the recommended dilution ratio for SLS on skin and the SLS in Sal Suds comes from Coconut Oil. If you have concerns about SLS, this article from Dr. Frank Lipman helps explain the way SLS works and why it is considered safe when diluted in cleaning products but not recommended for cosmetics or skin use.
Is there an alternative to Sal Suds? It contains sodium lauryl sulfate and my husband is allergic.
I was all excited about this until I read that Sals suds contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate…. NOT good!
I don’t find the SLS in Sal Suds concerning for several reasons. For one, it is not necessarily being used on the skin (you can wear gloves if it’s concerning for you). There is some concern about its safety in beauty products, but for cleaning products it is considered safe. It is often confused with sodium laureth sulfate, which does carry concerns and which has been linked to cancer.
Additionally, the amount used in this recipe is well below the recommended dilution ratio for SLS on skin and the SLS in Sal Suds comes from Coconut Oil. If you have concerns about SLS, this article from Dr. Frank Lipman helps explain the way SLS works and why it is considered safe when diluted in cleaning products but not recommended for cosmetics or skin use.
Thanks! Have you found a good recipe for dishwashing soap?
Is this what you mean?
I actually make my own dish soap. It’s the one cleanjng product I consistently make at home.
I always use 1/2 cup each of Sal Suds, White Vinegar. I combine the two with 1 teaspoon veg glycerin.
Then in a separate bowl I mix 1/2 cup Distilled water with 2 teaspoons Kosher salt.
I mix the sal sud / vinegar/glycerin mix with the water/salt mix.. then add 10 drops Lemon essential oil with 5 drops orange essential oil. Lavendar and Rosemary are great too.
I love love my recipe. Try it and see…
It’s terrific.
I just discovered Sal Suds this year and really like it. I’m going to try this recipe. I haven’t been successful with other recipes I’ve tried.
Thank you!
This was good to know but I feel that just watering down Sal Suds soap works just as well without all the trouble of adding other stuff that is really just not needed..but adding a nice smell is not a bad idea .
The 1 or so parts Sal Suds and 2 parts water is fine..though for greasy dishes just using Sal suds seems to work great too.
Still great info and I get some pp like things cleaner than others. ^_^’
So ty this sounds like something and I may try it if what I’m doing stops work. ^_~