How to Make DIY Foaming Hand Soap - SAWDUST AND CORNBREAD

Ever since our girls came home from the hospital, I have had a couple of obsessions that go hand-in-hand. Hand and hand soap to be exact. I am a hand-washing maniac. I have (for the most part) ingrained this sudsing up way of life into my next of kin. Wash your hands before you eat, after you touch an animal, before you cook, after going outside, before you brush your teeth, after you come home from school, plus all the standard hygienic times, as well as a few simple “crazy handwashing lady” situations.

Why We Need to Make Foaming Hand Soap

All of this handwashing uses up a LOT of soap. When the girls were tiny, I came to realize that the stuff packaged all pretty and marketed on store shelves as “hand-soap” is STUPID EXPENSIVE. A dollar or two a bottle may seem reasonable at the time, but think of how much of that stuff we go through!!! Another caveat, my little daughter’s hands would turn bright red and get all crackly in the late fall and winter months.

How Store-Bought Foaming Hand Soap is Made

As a cosmetic formulator, I know for a fact that these lovely bottles are filled with ninety percent or more water…aqua…. the stuff that comes out of your faucets. The other ten or less percent is comprised of the cheapest ingredients possible to make it foam, smell nice, and convince you it is “moisturizing as you wash.” Side note, water does this too. Pardon my scientific and consumer rants, but we are paying top dollar for fancy bottled water with a dash of emulsifier, detergent, fragrance, and a minute amount of vitamin (so they can claim that it contains vitamins.) We must STOP the madness! At least stop paying so much for it. Make it last longer. But don’t stop washing your hands.

The Trick to Making DIY Foaming Hand Soap

A favorite trick of mine is to fill a foaming pump dispenser about 95% full with water from the faucet. I then simply add about five squirts of the store-bought “hand soap” into the bottle. Screw on the lid, give it a shake, and you have foamy lux soap for days. I originally re-used a foam pump that came with liquid soap in it. Most definitely don’t waste your money on that more than once! Foaming soaps are even more diluted, therefore you are paying for more water! l have since transitioned to a fancy glass foamer pump bottle similar to this. I like it because I can add essential oils without it breaking down the plastic.

A Secret About Foaming Hand Soap

Another secret…foaming hand soap doesn’t have to come from “hand soap.” Any liquid soap (which is technically a detergent) can be made into foaming soap. Body wash, shampoo, liquid dish soap, face wash, yep, they’ll all do the trick. You can even add your custom ingredients, such as the aforementioned oils, glycerin, or moisturizers. Have fun and curate your family’s signature soap. 🙂 Just don’t go too wild with the extras. It is possible to kill the sudsing power with too much oil. Another fun fact…you don’t necessarily need bubbly suds to make things clean. Yeh, I like it better sudsy just the same.