Here’s the question: soap or liquid soap?
There seems to be two camps when it comes to washing your hands (or bodies)… and of course our family is divided.
Personally, I love scented bars of soap and even have my favourite locally made soap, but realistically…. liquid soap is now the most convenient and hygienic way to provide soap for multiple users.
When I discovered a recipe for homemade liquid handwash I knew that I had solved the dilemma for our family.
I could use my favourite locally made oatmeal soap with its subtle lavender scent and make it into a liquid soap that would appease the rest of the family.
AND…
Not only is liquid soap super easy to make… it is an incredibly cheap option too.
Can you believe one bar of soap makes 2.5 litres of liquid soap?
How to make homemade liquid handwash
Ingredients:
1 cup of grated bar soap,
10 cups of water,
1 Tablespoon of Glycerine.
Instructions:
1. Use a kitchen grater to grate your favourite bar of soap. I found that soap is really easy to grate and one bar of soap will yield approximately 1 to 1.5 cups of soap flakes.
2. In a large saucepan, combine water, soap flakes and gycerine and stir over a medium heat until all flakes have dissolved. This takes about 3 – 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool. It will thicken in consistency as it cools and I find it helpful to stir occasionally during this process.
4. Fill pump bottles with liquid soap.
Tip: I use an empty 2 litre milk carton to store my remaining liquid soap.
The soap I like costs $2 per bar, which makes 2.5 litres of liquid soap.
That amounts to 20 cents per bottle refill… which is great value!
My lavender oatmeal soap is my favourite, but I’ve tried several other soap varieties…. all with very satisfying results.
I love that this is yet another way I can provide homemade options for my family, while keeping control of the chemicals we use. Plus there’s the added bonus of saving money too!
If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear what you think of it.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
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This sounds wonderful Kerryanne.
Toni xx
It was lots of fun Toni xxx
Thank you for sharing this beautiful looking project. Would like to make some and hope I can find some pump bottles. Shirley
Even if you have to buy a bottle of hand wash Shirley, so you can reuse the bottle, it still works out much cheaper once you make your own. I hope you enjoy this project 🙂
I cannot wait to make some liquid soap, Kerryanne! Especially with my favorite French lavender soap. Thank you for sharing!
Debbie
xo
I like Lavender scented soaps too Debbie. Enjoy!!
Thank you for this recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try!
It is so easy Jackie – you’ll never want to buy hand wash again!!
I can hardly wait to try making this. I buy $1 a bar soap from Yardley of London at our $tree stores when I see it. One fragrance is English Lavender my favorite, and Oatmeal soap by Yardley also. Mostly I bought it to give our bathroom a nice clean pleasant fragrance. I will have bar or two of each in some kind of pretty dish on edge of tub and enjoy just going in to bathroom to smell the soap. I also have some fancy soaps I bought in 2008 that are still quite fragrant, love them too. Also have the Yardley soaps in our guest bath so anybody visiting can enjoy the pleasant fragrances in there. I’m thinking I’ll use the English Lavender first to see how it turns out then try some of the Oatmeal next time. I save my empty containers from other liquid handwashes I buy on sale. Always nice to have pretty containers. Won’t have to go out to buy bottles for handmade handwash then, ever thrifty, that’s me. I think this will be very satisfying to put together, will let you know how it turns out. Wonderful post KerryAnne, always enjoy being on your blog, you inspire me every time. Enjoy rest of week
I know you’ll enjoy this project Jane. It is so easy and very satisfying to have a great final product for little effort.
Have fun 🙂
I am going to give this a go. Thanks for the recipe!