Homemade handsoap (without castile soap)

 I think most of us can agree that handsoap is not especially expensive, especially if you hit the dollar store, like we often do. 

In our situation, we have 2 toddlers who quite enjoy dumping out the bottles of handsoap into the sink (because, fun). While this could be intercepted by keeping the bathroom door closed, we also have 4 older children who chronically forget to close the bathroom door. 

So, even at only $1.50 per bottle of handsoap (that's the cheapest one, which doesn't account for 2 of our kiddos having eczema, so drying products aren't great for them), when the bottles are being poured down the drain even twice per day...well it adds up quickly. 

So, I did a bit of research and figured out how to make our own handsoap. I did not want to purchase anything extra. I know that castile soap is highly regarded and used often in natural cleaning products. In this situation, I wanted to see if handsoap could be made without it. 

Well, it can! It is surprisingly cheap, and my favourite thing about this project: 
The handsoap has become all purpose! 

-I take our bottle of handsoap into the shower and use it as body wash.
-I use it for hair (same difference as using a bar of soap to wash your hair).
-I use it to wash our hands in the bathroom.
-I use it to wash our hands in the kitchen. 
-I sometimes use it to wash my face in the mornings. 

Also, because this recipe makes such a large batch, I just dispensed the extra into mason jars and have them stored for when the dispensers need to be refilled. 

If you have a preference for a specific scent, you can easily add a few drops of your favourite essential oils to the bottle and give er' a good shake. 

In this here recipe, I chose to use dove soap (I like it for it's moisturizing qualities), however you can also use African Black Soap, Alepe Soap and Goat's Milk Soap. 

*The soaps mentioned above do not contain glycerin. This handsoap recipe needs to be made with a bar soap that DOES NOT have glycerin in it. The glycerin is a thickening agent, and in breaking it down and using it for handsoap, it quickly becomes a terrible mess. So, no glycerin soap. Consider yourself warned. :-) 

If you have a favourite artisan soap that you would like to make go a little further, you can feel free to use it for this recipe too (just as long as it doesn't have glycerin in it). 

We put ours in a foaming handsoap container (Amazon has some beautiful ones! I just reused an old one from the dollar tree though) because the foaming soap is a little easier for our children's little hands. 

As you probably guessed in reading this, I am pretty excited about this recipe. I know, I know, it's just soap. But also, it's the little things, right? 

Sometimes I do a little meditation while I wash my hands. I connect to my heart and just take a moment...
"As I wash and release the germs from my hands, so do I release my anxieties about the future, any fear, and any beliefs about myself that are limiting my ability to live my best, fullest life." 

And just like that, my hands are clean and my heart is cleared.
Happy handwashing beautiful people.

To get the full recipe and the quick and easy instructions to make your own homemade handsoap without castile soap, check out the full blog post here. 

https://thatzoilife.com/homemade-handsoap-without-castile-soap/

XX,
-Celeste

www.ThatZoiLife.com