Homemade Plastic-free Hand Soap
How many times a day do you wash your hands?
Cold and flu season is creeping up on us, and as we all know, washing our hands is one of the best ways to prevent yourself from getting sick and stop the spread of germs if you do happen to be sick. But what’s in your soap? What container did it come from?
I like to use as little plastic as possible–or at least as little as I can manage while keeping my sanity with a baby. But hand soap is one thing that I can manage to go plastic-free with.
Get a ceramic (or other reusable material) soap dispenser. I’d love to find a ceramic one made by a potter one day! Even if you just stop at this step and buy large, refill containers, you’re already cutting down on the plastic waste. Or, you can read on and find out how to make your own liquid hand soap.
Buy a bar of soap. I like to use castile soap, especially Dr. Bronner’s! It’s made of organic oils and jojoba wax (which is naturally derived from the jojoba plant). All Dr. Bronner’s products are fair trade, organic, and cruelty-free. The bar soap is wrapped in post-consumer recycled paper, so no plastic!
Put a half gallon of water on to boil. Carefully add the soap and bring the water down to low heat.
The soap will fully dissolve. Let it simmer for 1-2 hours to reduce down and thicken. (If you would like the soap to be more gel-like you could keep it on the burner until it reaches your desired thickness.)
Fill your soap dispenser! Make sure you have a funnel for this part. I bought one years ago when I started making my own hand soap and realized after that it was a valuable kitchen tool.
You will have a lot left over. I store leftover soap in yogurt containers and refill as needed.
Tips:
I buy unscented castile soap, but if you have a favorite scent, feel free to buy that! It doesn’t even have to be castile soap—really anything will work. You could also add in a few drops of your favorite essential oil.
I find the soap separates from the water after a while. Shake it up when you are ready to refill your soap dispenser.
Add more water right into the dispenser if you have some thick soap at the bottom.
Not only is your homemade hand soap plastic-free, it’s also economical and made of quality ingredients.
Thanks for reading!
💜
Laura
