I love DIY personal care and home care recipes because, as the name of my blog kind of implies, I don’t like using toxic chemicals around myself and my family. Its not just an ‘in principle’ kind of a thing either for me. Conventional cleaning products make my throat swell up and I get really seriously fatigued. So making my own stuff is both fun and helps me feel at my best all the time.
However…its got to work. I hate natural products that don’t work.
One product I do love is Dr Bronner’s liquid Castile soap, but when I’ve put it into soap dispensers in the past, it shoots out, straight past your hand onto your nice clean shirt (your houseguests will love this), and after a few days, it clogs up in the pump nozzle.
So I adapted this great recipe for DIY foaming hand soap from the Homemade Mommy’s blog and adjusted it to suit my love of rich, foamy and delicious smelling moisturising hand soap. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my essential oils and the Thieves oil I use in here isn’t just nice smelling (its that too!) but its antibacterial and it actually supports your immune system rather than systematically destroying it like the commercial antibacterial soaps do.* Here’s where I get my Thieves oil, but if you like you can make a version of it yourself. Or, you can use any essential oil or essential oil blend you like, such as lavender, orange, peppermint or tea tree. Keep in mind the antibacterial qualities will depend on the essential oil you’re using.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup liquid unscented Castile soap (such as Dr Bronners)
- 2/3 cup filtered water
- 1/4 tsp essential oil
Now, here’s where it gets really complicated. Blend all the ingredients together and pour it into your foaming hand soap dispenser. The one I got is from Interdesign and I ordered it from Amazon. I need to double the above recipe to fill my dispenser.
You’re done.
*Commercial antibacterial soaps and hand gels target all your bacteria, including your good bacteria. This weakens your immune system, leaving ‘gaps’ for bad bacteria to take the place of the good bacteria you’ve killed off.
Our Little Organic Life 
i have seen dr.bonners products and been wanting to try some for a while now, i like you like the foamy kind this is a fab idea i’m gonna have a look at hand made mummys blog for more great ideas x
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Yes she’s got a great home made antibacterial hand gel recipe too!
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I suck at DIYs but this one actually doesn’t look hard so I will give it a shot 🙂
Kristina
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I’m a pescatarian too! Yes, this is an easy
DIY and it looks really elegant in the bathroom or kitchen.
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This looks amazing! At the moment I’m struggling finding any nice soaps and they either smell awful or they react badly to my skin, so I’ll have to give the DIY a go! X
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Well if you don’t like the smell of a soap you’ve made yourself…you’ve only got yourself to blame! Its awfully fun and I think in the summer I’ll do a vibrant geranium & orange or a spicy black pepper & lime version. I hope you find the Dr Bronner’s works for your skin. It is so gentle. If you’re sensitive, maybe start with something like a chamomile EO?
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This looks great – I might have to give it a go 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Telina | Love, Telina
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Thanks Telina! Its super easy.
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Oh fantastic! I’d normally avoid something like that because I assume it’ll be tricky and time consuming, but you’ve certainly made it look very easy!
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It really is that easy! I just had a friend come over and couldn’t stop raving about my new hand soap in the bathroom…had to fess up that I’d made it myself!
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Wow this is so cool. Will play around with this
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Thanks so glad you like it – I love an easy DIY!
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you are right, lovely foamy soap.Thanks
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So glad you tried it out and that you like it!
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I made some last week and I absolutely love it. I tried grapefruit and black pepper and it smells divine. I am really excited to make more with different scents.
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I’m so glad you like it. I have to admit I’ve been loving how extra moisturising it is on the hands and changing up the scents each month when I refill it. I did lemongrass last time!
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I have been searching for combinations of scents. Could I use those diffuser recipes you sent me for the hand soap? Just adjust the drops to contain 1/4 tsp? I tried to look for a “cheat sheet” that would give you different combinations. Perhaps I’m not googling the right words.
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Yes any of those diffuser combos would work, as long as they equal the same amount of essential oil in the recipe!
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