When I decide to try making my own cleaners of any kind, I spend days searching the internet for recipes.  I read them all, with the accompanying blog posts, articles and all the comments before I decide which one I want to try.  Sometimes I decide to use a recipe I find just as it is; sometimes I use other peoples comments and experiences and put them together to make my own.  This case is no different.  I found dozens of recipes for making hand soap; I put this one together because it was the simplest and least expensive and my family is happy with the resulting soap.

You can really play around with the amounts; some of the sites I found made their soaps similar to this, but some used more water, some less.  Some used glycerin, some didn’t.  You’re not out much money to make it and the savings are huge, so it’s worth it to experiment until it’s exactly right for your taste.

Supplies and Ingredients:

Bar Soap – One of the bloggers I read recommended Yardley.  Since their Oatmeal and Almond soap is one of my family’s favorites –and since Walgreen’s regularly puts it on sale for $ .69, I decided to go with this.  Many commenters had very different results when they used different soaps, especially kinds that had a high content of moisturizer, so if you want to use that kind, it may be worth a google search for a different recipe.

Water

Glycerin – Many people left this out.  Those that used it said it made the liquid soap keep a smoother texture.  I decided to make it with.  I found this bottle at Walmart in the section with the vitamins.  I don’t remember the exact price, but it was right around $3.

Cheese Grater

Large Pot

Something to put the finished soap in – I reused the old containers from previous store-bought soap refills.

Directions:

Grab the bar of soap and grate the entire thing.  I found that my one bar of soap made 1 1/2 cups of soap flakes.

Put the soap flakes into a large pot, along with 15 cups of warm water and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the Glycerin.

Cook and stir this over low to medium heat until all of the soap flakes dissolve.  This will not take long; maybe 5 minutes.

Once you see that all of the soap flakes are dissolved, keep stirring and cooking about 1 minute more.  It should look very smooth and creamy.

Now just remove it from the heat, and set it somewhere it can cool.  Let it cool for several hours.  I left if sitting on my counter all afternoon and just gave it a little stir every time I walked by.

Once it is completely cool, it will turn really thick and congealed.

Now you want to whip it back to a smooth, liquid consistency.  I used an immersion blender, but I’m sure that you could also use a regular mixer.

Use a funnel to pour the finished soap into containers for storage. 

When you are ready to use it just pour into the soap pump of your choice.

*Note that this soap is not foamy.  If you are someone who really needs the foam, then I would recommend buying a bottle of foaming hand soap from the store and reusing the bottle when it’s empty.  Put this soap in, and it should foam up for you just fine.

As you store the soap, it can sometimes get a little thick.  No biggie at all; just thin it out with a little bit of water and shake well.

So, I spent $.69 for the soap, $3.xx for the Glycerin – but only used about 1/6 of the bottle and this is how much finished soap it made (these are 64 ounce bottles).