Here is a simple recipe for Homemade Hand Soap, using just two ingredients! Learn the secret to making homemade foaming hand soap plus a non-foaming version too. Also try our recipe for chemical-free Homemade Hand Sanitizer!
I once had to make a tough decision to make…
Do I keep the 4 bottles of hand soap I have in the stockpile closet and move them across the country?
OR…Do I toss the store bought soap and move the ingredients I had on hand to make homemade hand soap?
OBVIOUSLY, as the title of today’s post already gave it away, I chose the latter… and BOY am I so glad I did!
Someone should have told me eons ago that making your own hand soap was SO EASY!
You know how your brain sometimes over-complicates things and convinces you that whatever you need/want to do is too hard, too time consuming and/or too expensive?
Yeah, that’s what happened here for me. Luckily, making your own homemade hand soap isn’t hard, time consuming or expensive! It will actually save you money!
DIY Homemade Hand Soap
Before I share the recipe (pssh, if you can call it that), I want to share why you should even bother making your own homemade soap in the first place:
- It’s easy. Yes, that is totally a legitimate reason.
- It only requires 2 ingredients. Again, legit.
- It’s 100% natural. As in no chemicals, no colors, no dyes… just pure ingredients. Soap and water.
- It works. This isn’t some wanna-be hand soap. This stuff cleans.your.hands. And it’s really good for sensitive skin too, especially if you have to do a lot of hand washing.
Ingredients for DIY Hand Soap
- 2 Tbsp liquid castile soap (I like Dr. Bronner’s, but any will do)
- Water (you can use regular water, boiled water, or distilled water)
- Essential Oil (not necessary and completely optional!)
Note: If you’d like to make this soap foamy, you’ll need a foaming hand soap dispenser (re-used or new online or combo of old mason jar and new pump).
How to Make Homemade Hand Soap
This literally takes no time at all!
- Fill an empty 8 oz soap container nearly full with water.
- Add 2 Tbsp liquid castile soap to the top. (Adding the soap first will create bubbles, so do the soap last.)
- Replace the cap/pump and wash as normal.
Tip: If the castile soap settles at the top or bottom, gently turn the bottle upside once before dispensing.
What type of container should I use for DIY hand soap?
You can use whatever container you have – I happened to have foaming hand soap back from my couponing days.
I’ve also seen foaming hand soaps at my dollar store (ignore what’s inside – you just want the container). If you prefer brand spankin’ new, here are some cool foaming soap dispensers on Amazon.
How can I make DIY foaming hand soap with a ‘used’ bottle?
If you follow my footsteps with a “used” bottle, you’ll want to clean out the dispenser.
This is tough, as the foaming dispenser will keep giving you foam… making it hard to discern whether or not the remnants of the old soap are truly gone.
- Fill a glass with water and over the sink, “pump” the water through the dispenser in order to clean it as best as you can. Then empty.
- Fill the empty 8 oz soap container nearly full with water.
- Add 2 Tbsp liquid castile soap to the top. (Adding the soap first will create bubbles, so do the soap last.)
- Replace the cap/pump and wash as normal.
How do I make homemade hand soap for a regular pump?
If you don’t want foaming hand soap, just use a regular pump. The pump is what makes soap foamy, NOT the recipe.
So just go about your business, mix it up and pump away. Although I do still recommend cleaning the pump from the old stuff using the method above.
What type of castile soap should I use for DIY homemade hand soap?
Any castile soap will work, including the scented kind (which is like a bonus because it makes your homemade hand soap smell good!)
If you have unscented soap and want a smell, add a few drops of essential oils just after adding the soap. Here are a few scent combos to get you started:
- peppermint for the Christmas season
- lemon for Spring
- lavender is calming
- tea tree oil & peppermint together is refreshing
Note: I know there are a lot of essential oil companies out there and I’ve certainly tried my fair share of brands. But after testing and researching and more testing, only one is worth spending money on (in my opinion). For a couple years now I’ve been committed to Young Living oils, and you can read more about their oils and my decision HERE.
However, if Young Living is out of your reach, I’ve heard great things about Plant Therapy on Amazon.
Really, the combinations are endless. And I think it’s neat that you can create whatever scent you want, whenever you want. Shoot, you can make every bathroom smell different if you want to!
Whatever may be stopping you from making your own hand soap, just ignore it. You’ll kick yourself later when you do finally end up doing it, because you’ll realize how crazy easy it is and wish you had done it sooner.
More non-toxic homemade cleaning products
- DIY All Purpose Cleaner (no vinegar)
- DIY Thieves Foaming Hand Soap
- Bleach Alternative
- Simple Carpet Deodorizer
- Homemade Stain Remover
How long do this hand soap last??
Hi Terrie,
I suppose it depends on how much you use when you wash your hands. I’m sure it will be perfectly fine until you use all of it up. Hope this helps!
Hi there,
Every time I add oils to my straight Castile soap it turn the soap mix all liquid. I have awesome soap sipe sets – non foamy ones I love so I thought I could just use straight Castile soap with my own oil concoction – what am I doing wrong.
I just ordered some of the Grove products to get the free stuff. Then I read your post. I like all of your recipes but after saying your kept your oils you don’t give that many uses for them. How do I know i will use them enough to recoup my money? Thanks, Kathy
Hey Kathy! It took me a few weeks to transition from traditional cleaners to oils, but I now use them for EVERYTHING and don’t buy any personal hygiene or cleaning products at Walmart or Target (or Amazon or Grove). I either make them all myself, or buy them from Young Living if it’s too complicated for me to make. It’s hard to explain “using them enough,” but if you consciously think about how often you reach for a bottle or an over-the-counter something, I now use oils instead… so they’re definitely not sitting on my shelf going unused!
I’ve been using this recipe for a few years and recently started adding a teaspoon of fractionated coconut oil to add a little moisturizer. I love it! But I have noticed my bathroom sinks tend to get a film in them that I really have to scrub to get off. Had this happened to you? Not sure if it’s the Castile soap or what? It was happening even before the addition of coconut oil so I don’t think it’s that. Thanks!
I’ve been using the same mix and haven’t noticed any build up (unless I skip cleaning for a couple weeks). I use a green scrubby if I notice any build up and it comes right out.
I like to add a tablespoon of oil to this recipe for moisture. I also add a little lemon oil to whatever other essential oils I use since it helps with grease when I’m washing the dishes.
Great idea!
I have never used a ‘foaming’bottle and I do believe they are good… but, I have made my own soap, both bar soap and liquid soap- from scratch for 15 years, may I add ALL soap is made with Caustic Soda and oil, yes even Castile soap. In saying that making soap from scratch is quite a task and it is dangerous if you don’t take certain precautions. But you do get to use a beautiful soap and you know what is in it!!! May I suggest in making foaming soap as told above, every drop of oil you put in the bottle lessons the foam, may I suggest you put 2 drops of glycerine in the soap foamer instead of perfume, glycerine is so good for the skin, it draws moisture from the air and keeps your skin soft. All commercial soap has had the glycerine removed, so put it back in, you will notice the difference. I am a firm believer in DIY body products, I shudder when I see people going down the shopping isle looking at body creams etc. they have no idea what they are buying. But….enjoy your ‘homemade soap’.
I am guilty of this very same thing and my bottle of Castile has been giving me the stink eye mask… I usually use dawn to refill my soap dispensers, which to my knowledge is safe and gentle? I should check that out, just bc they use it on baby birds doesn’t mean it’s safe and gentle, but that was my thinking.. anyway, my cheap old soap dispensers have lasted years with it, so I hope this “recipe” will be just as forgiving!
Thanks to your post, my soap dispensers are all refilled (I added some oils as per some of the comment suggestions, I used apricot as that’s what I had on hand) and I’m feeling pretty darned pleased with myself! 😅 Lol
i use foaming dispensers also, that had some other garbage soap in them. they break down after awhile but then i just go buy another for super cheap compared to premium ones. i used to have pampered chef ones but they broke down time and time again with use. they were replaced for free but then they stopped making them, so, no more pumps. im sure its becuz they wore out for everyone. plus you had to wait a couple weeks to get the new ones and um, we wash daily around here :/
i make facesoap in mine. lavender dr bronners and tea tree oil. you need to shake the bottle every use or the oil stays in the bottom. ive made face soap for about 20yrs now. the foaming soap for hands never has enough soap in it for filth n grease. adding more soap clogs the dispenser — for me anyway.
we use dr b’s for our body soap (diluted in half) so its always on hand to put in the lil bit needed for the face soap. i’d love to use it for clothes with borax and washing soda, but All Free is just waaaay too much cheaper per load in the 3x concentration and dont need to buy borax and washing soda besides.
dr b’s makes great produce wash too i hear, heavily diluted.
I’ve had multiple pumps from different places and they always seemed to break down after a short while. Someone tipped me off to adding 1tsp of Fractionated Coconut Oil (olive is what I used) to the mix. It helps the pump stay working by lubricating the mechanism but it doesn’t make your hands greasy.
I’ve been using this recipe, proportions variable, for over 3 years now. We used to have various fancy dispensers which never dispensed it well. I ordered what I thought were foaming dispensers on Amazon. While they didn’t foam, they dispensed fine. Until they broke in less than 6 months. I almost ordered another set but I ended up cancelling the order just before going for a vacation. We used Airbnb and the hosts had hand soap in….dial complete foaming dispenser. I went ahead and bought 2 containers after coming back (no dollar store near enough to make it worth my while to go just for a few foaming hand soaps). I couldn’t bring myself to toss the liquid out. It’s almost all gone. I’m going to mix up some peppermint Castile soap in the dispensers. Our Costco has only peppermint dr. Bronners. I wish they’d have tea tree or eucalyptus but they have the best prices of any I’ve found, including on Amazon. So… Bottom line. Dial complete dispensers. They look good. In my student days, I used soft soap hand wash and refilled many times, without the container breaking. Hopefully, dial will do the same.
I got a large bottle of Peppermint Dr. Bronners from Costco for like $10. I have been using that bottle to make foaming hand soap for about a year now. I did buy a bottle of distilled water to make it with too. I also use the distilled water for a few other home made items including toner. I bought my foaming dispensers from aromatools.com. Super cheap! I use a little more soap than 2TBS because I like it soapy and my hubs complained that the 2TBS in the dispenser at the kitchen sink did not cut through grease. But still, it’s a really good deal and lasts a long time!!!!
It does last a long time! I hadn’t considered using castille soap for cutting grease on dishes – thanks for the idea Alicia!
My experience making it without the foaming dispenser is that it will harden up around the nozzle, and then when you pump it, liquid soap will shoot out in unpredictable directions, including once into my eye… So I definitely recommend the foaming pump, lol!!
LOL – thank you for this tip Ann!
How do u get it thicker if not using foaming soap dispenser
I have been making my own foaming hand soap for years now! One of decisions that opened the doors to a ton more natural/DIY/from-scratch things I do now. I do the “recipe” you have and then add a squirt of sweet almond oil, and 5 drops each of tea tree oil and lavender oil. My recipe also calls for some Vitamin E oil, but I haven’t had any of that in my house for quite some time, and it still works out nicely. It’s nice to have some of the moisturizing oils in there, since Castile soap has a tendency to dry out the skin (and I wash my hands a TON with 2 in diapers, and another still giving me potty-training grief).
Good idea to add the extra oils for moisture, especially with all those potty interactions! 😉
Hi I have made this soap before bit I don’t have a foam dispenser. Where I live we have hard water. Is this why mine separates. Thanks and good luck on you venture
Thanks Louise!
What is the consistency of this soap? I don’t have any foaming dispensers and overly watery soap tends to just slide right off your hand when soaping up.
Recently, I took one of my homemade bars of soap and tried using that to make soap but it was a total watery flop. I’m too scared to keep trying and wasting my precious soap! 🙂
This is a thinner soap Heather. Your homemade bar didn’t make liquid soap well? Mine has always been on the too thick side – odd!