Hey, have you ever considered making DIY foaming hand soap? It’s easy, fun, and inexpensive! Making your own foaming hand soap is a fantastic way to reduce the toxins in your home which can help to keep your family healthy!

If you’d like to learn more about the toxins in our homes and why it matters for your family’s health, read my article about why you need a non-toxic home.

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I’ve long been interested in health and wellness, but it was only recently that I learned how important it is to watch out for the toxins in our home. If you’d like to learn a fun and easy way to lead a less toxic life, read on!

Or, if you would rather learn how to save money on household items…read on!

Or, if you’d like to learn how to do a fun new hobby that makes something you actually need…read on!

I’ve tweaked my recipe to perfect it. I’m so happy with the results – I wash my hands many, many times per day and may skin stays soft and nice. It’s a great non-drying formula.

What you need to make non-toxic DIY foaming hand soap

First, you’re going to need some supplies. To make the DIY foaming hand soap, you’ll need:

• Castile soap
• Aloe vera
• Oil
• Distilled or boiled water
• Essential oils – these are optional but highly recommended! They make the foaming hand soap smell delicious!

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Castile Soap

Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap is a favorite. There are several kinds to choose from. I like the unscented kind because if you use unscented you can create your own fragrance using essential oils. It also comes in lavender, peppermint, almond, rose, and more. It is readily available. I’ve bought mine at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Trader Joe’s, and on Amazon. I even found a sample pack on Amazon that you can try if you want to smell all the scents.

What is Castile soap? According to the Dr. Bronner’s website:

“In earlier centuries, an all-vegetable-based soap was made in the Castile region of Spain from local olive oil. By the turn of this century, “Castile” had come to mean any vegetable oil-based soap, as distinct from animal (tallow) fat-based soap. ‘Pure-Castile’ is now also your guarantee that what you are using is a genuinely ecological and simple soap – not a complex blend of detergents with higher ecological impact and slower biodegradability. Unfortunately, many synthetic detergent blends are deceptively labeled as ‘liquid soap’ despite the fact that they contain absolutely no real soap whatsoever.”

Aloe Vera

Next, you’ll need to get some aloe vera. I bought mine at Sprouts and I’ve also seen it at Whole Foods. I purchased pure aloe vera juice. You don’t want the gel style because that would be harder to mix with the other ingredients. Aloe vera is rich in antioxidants and vitamins and can help to soothe skin and reduce inflammation. I think this may be the secret to why my hand soap is so non-drying!

Oil

You can choose which type of oil you’d like to use in your soap. The oil is moisturizing to your skin and counteracts the drying effects of soap. There are lots of great choices for oil to put in your DIY foaming hand soap! Here’s a list of choices and their benefits:

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba oil has similar properties to our skin’s own sebum (oil). This allows it to penetrate deeply and also means that it’s appropriate to use for people who suffer from dry or overly oily skin. It can be good for chapped skin and has been known to help with eczema and psoriasis.

Fractionated coconut oil

Fractionated coconut oil is coconut oil which has had its chemical composition changed such that it stays liquid at room temperature. It’s colorless and odorless – you won’t notice a “coconuty” scent. It’s extremely moisturizing and has anti-microbial properties.

Castor oil

Castor oil has been used for its health benefits for centuries. It comes from the seed of a flowering plant. It’s anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory.

Sweet Almond Oil

Sweet almond oil has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been shown to help with eczema and psoriasis. It’s mild and is safe for sensitive skin. And it smells wonderful!

I found this sample pack of oils that you can get if you’d like to try out the different varieties.

Water

This part is easy! It is best not to use water straight from the tap as you are going to have it sitting around for a few weeks. You want to assure that there is no bacteria in it. So you can purchase distilled water if you like, or you can do what I do: I put some water in a pot, bring it to a boil, and let it boil for a few minutes. This kills anything that might be lurking in the water. Then I just let it cool off a bit before using it.

If you are choosing to use essential oils in your DIY foaming hand soap, it’s best to not use extremely hot water because it can deactivate some of the benefits of the essential oils. So let that water’s temperature come down before you use it (you could stick it in the fridge if you’re in a hurry).

Essential Oils

Now, this is the part that’s the most fun! Choose which scent you’d like for your DIY foaming hand soap! You can skip this step if you want to keep it unscented…but don’t skip it! IT’S FUN!

When I started making my own hand soap, my go-to scent was lavender. Lavender is definitely one of the most popular and well-known essential oils. But then I started to branch out! I tried Thieves essential oil blend from Young Living. It’s a great choice for DIY foaming hand soap because the oils in it have anti-bacterial qualities.

I also think it’s fun to start with one oil and then think about which other oils complement it. You can open the bottles and smell them to decide which blends you’d like to create.

The best essential oils come from Young Living. Young Living is the global leader for essential oils and has rigorous sourcing and scientific standards. Their oils are pure and of the highest quality.

If you are interested in buying Young Living essential oils, you have two choices. You can either purchase at the retail prices or you can become a member and purchase at wholesale prices. Either way, if you choose to buy something I would really appreciate it if you use my member number to make your purchase. I will get a commission and then I can afford to keep bringing you the best information on my website. My member number is 20180622. To learn more about this, please contact me or read my article Why Your Family Needs Essential Oils.

If you just want to hurry up and get some oils so you can get to soap making, you can buy them many places, including at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or on Amazon. Just be aware that the essential oil industry is not very well regulated, so there are a lot of poor quality and synthetic oils on the market.

Resources for your non-toxic home

Are you interested in having a clean, organized, and more non-toxic home? You should check out the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle! It’s got more than $1200 worth of resources to make your life clutter-free and organized, and also includes recipes, parenting help, and more! It’s available for $29.97 only until June 26th, so hurry!

With your purchase you also get over $100 of bonuses that include natural skincare from companies like MadeOn, PuroCo, and Bloom Naturals.

Other Supplies

There are a few other things you need before you can mix up your DIY foaming hand soap.

Mason Jars

I like to use mason jars for my foaming soap dispensers. I replace the lid with a foaming soap pump.

Mason jars are very easy to find. I’ve bought them at Safeway, Target, and of course, on Amazon. Mason jars are a great choice for your DIY foaming soap. They are inexpensive, reusable, and dishwasher safe – plus I think they’re kinda cute. And since they come with lids, it’s easy to make extra to store until you’re ready for it. You want 16 oz ones for using as soap dispensers.

They come in blue, too! Super cute.

If you’d rather get plastic foaming soap dispensers, that is possible, too. You could reuse ones you already have, of course, or you can buy ones like these. I bought some of these when I made some DIY soap for Christmas gifts.

Foaming Soap Pumps

These are the foaming soap dispenser lids that I bought and they work great. I bought the dark bronze ones, but they also come in silver.

I also bought this set in white because I like this look, too. They are okay- they don’t pump as much as the bronze ones. That’s alright though, you can just pump it twice as you wash your hands. No matter which foaming soap pumps you get, just be sure to match the size of your mason jars to the size of your pumps. I bought the regular size – there is also a wide mouth version.

I also found this set that comes with both the mason jars and the lids, so you’d be all set if you ordered these.

Kitchen Items

You probably have what you need for making DIY foaming hand soap in your kitchen already. But just in case you’re not really into cooking and don’t have much, here is what I use:

A nice set of Pyrex liquid measuring cups. You can use these to boil the water in the microwave if you want, and they are also handy for pouring the water into the mason jar.

And some measuring spoons. These are fun and colorful:

How to make DIY foaming hand soap

This is the fun part! I like to mix up each jar separately as its own small batch to make sure I have the ingredients evenly distributed. It’s so simple, you can easily do a bunch at once.