My first articles about homemade products were really driven by the need to find cheaper household products in this tight economy. Of course 100% natural would be ideal but we can still make our own detergents with very little chemicals and CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! I have to admit though that I am loving those experiments and the satisfaction it brings when I finally come up with a recipe I like and a product that works!
Take a minute and look at the ingredients listed on the liquid hand soap… are you as surprised as I was? YES you read right, the majority of it is water and if you take a look at the body wash, guess what you will find out… YES AGAIN, water!
So here is my new baby and I am very proud of it! I use it as a liquid hand soap but I know that it will double as a body wash as well. Once again, I did my homework and combined several “recipes” I found online to one that suits me. I chose to use Mrs Meyers soap and ordered it online since I could not find it in my local stores. Some soaps have extra moisturizer, making it harder to set firm, Dove being one of them. I guess you could add more soap to the recipe but I have not tried it with any other soap yet.
Here is what you need:
Cheese grater, pan and spoon (from the dollar store so that you can use them only for your homemade “soap/detergent” making)
2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin (found in the band aid section at any drugstore or grocery store or online if you’d rather use vegetable glycerin)
1 – 8 oz bar of soap (I used Mrs Meyers Basil soap)
1 gallon of water (that you will use to store your soap once made)
Great the entire bar of soap. Add the soap shavings to the pot. (This is my favorite part, it’s so easy to grate!)
Add the liquid glycerin.
Add the water and turn the heat to medium/high and stir until the soap dissolves. This step will take approximately 20 minutes.
This is what it looks like once it’s dissolved, basically just soapy water.
Leave it alone to cool for at least 10-12 hours. It begins to cloud up after 3-4 hours.
After it has cooled completely around 12 hours later it will harden and look like liquid soap.
If the soap is harder than it should be you can take some beaters and blend it while adding just a little bit of water until the consistency is more like liquid soap.
Now you can refill your 12 ounce bottle of liquid soap (that cost an arm and a leg) with your gallon of refill that cost less than $5.00. That’s some huge savings don’t you agree!!!
So I’m totally in love! This smells FANTASTIC and it works! The lather is not significant (the original bar of soap lacks surfactants – petrochemicals derived from crude oil) Well… I won’t miss those! I’m happy to have found a cheap solution to a common product and my whole family loves it!
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