DIY Foaming Hand Soap Recipes for Summer

Making your own foaming hand soap with essential oils is one of the easiest homemade products possible, and it is super budget-friendly. This has saved me a lot of money! It’s as simple as combining castile soap, water, and essential oils in a foaming soap dispenser. In addition, you can avoid all of the toxic ingredients that are in most big brands of hand soap, with one of the most common ones being artificial fragrance.

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It’s also really fun to try different essential oil combinations and customize them just the way you want. Scent can trigger memories more than any other sense, so I love to utilize it to celebrate the best parts of the current season. It can help you slow down a bit to embrace the unique joys of the season and get a little nostalgic.

Below you will find some delicious-smelling recipes that I’ve put together that are perfect for the summer season. In summer, it’s all about bright sunshine, lazy beach days, outdoor adventures, and fresh & light flavours. I hope you’ll find a little bit of summer bliss in these recipes! (I’ve used them all and love them!)

This post focuses on which essential oils to use for foaming soap that are perfect for summer, but I previously wrote a blog post with more details on how to make the soap base. Be sure to check out that post here to see additional details!

In addition to the castile soap and essential oils, you will need a foaming soap dispenser. You can either re-use a current foaming soap container that you have, buy a foaming pump to go on a current dispenser you have, or purchase a new foaming soap container that you can refill again and again. If you don’t want to make foaming soap, you can also use the essential oil combinations below as a guide to add to unscented liquid soaps or in your essential oil diffuser.

I just recently purchased these amber glass foaming soap dispensers, and have been really happy with them so far. I also really like the labels that came with them (which included two of the “hand soap” labels… most of the dispensers like these only come with one).

How many drops of essential oils to use

The below essential oil blends are how many drops I used for 8 oz of liquid soap. It’s important to note that essential oils are potent and concentrated and should always be properly diluted to be used safely. The dilution rate that is best for most people is 2%. A 1% dilution is best for children and anyone with really sensitive skin. Here’s a quick reference for the correct amount of drops to use for those dilutions:

• 2% dilution: 12 drops of essential oils per 1 oz of carrier liquid
• 1% dilution: 6 drops of essential oils per 1 oz of carrier liquid
• This means that for 8 oz of liquid soap, you can do up to 96 drops of essential oils for a 2% dilution (8 oz x 12 drops = 96 drops). I find that most scents don’t need this many drops, as you’ll see below. It’s always best to use less if you can.

How to make the foaming soap:

1. Leaving about a 1/2″- 1″ of space at the top of your soap dispenser for the pump, fill your soap jar 1/3 of the way with castile soap.
2. (Optional) If you want a soap that feels a bit more moisturizing, next add 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp of a liquid, skin-friendly oil to the castile soap. Examples of oils you could use include: olive oil, fractionated coconut oil (must be fractionated), sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil. Please note, I find that the added oil does not emulsify (mix together) with the other ingredients as effectively as soap made with just castile soap & water. This means you have to shake the dispenser more often to keep the ingredients incorporated… keep that in mind if you want to add the extra oil.
3. Then add your essential oils to the castile soap (see below for the essential oil blends) and thoroughly stir them together. Use a glass liquid measuring cup to determine how many liquid ounces fit in your dispenser if you aren’t sure.
4. Add filtered or distilled water to the remaining 2/3 of your dispenser (leaving some room at the top for air and the pump). Stir this together, and you’re done!

The summer soap recipes:

I had endless ideas of scent combinations that remind me of summer! It was so hard to choose which ones to start with. So, I anticipate I’ll be adding even more summer recipes to this list as time goes on.

Key Lime Pie

This one truly smells like key lime pie! Bright, delicious lime with hints of sweet creaminess from the vanilla.

Limoncello

If you love lemon, you will love this one! It’s really bright, fresh, and zesty, with some herbaceous notes. What more can I say… it really smells like sipping on limoncello! Really fresh and delicious.

Cabin at the Lake

This one reminds me of relaxing at the lakeside, surrounded by beautiful forest. It’s like the calming waves of water mixed with invigorating orange.

Pool Party

This blend of citrus oils reminds me of a summer popsicle, but the peppermint makes it cooling like a dip in the pool! This combination is a favourite of many!

Sweet Orange

Don’t underestimate the simple joy of pure orange! It’s sweet, fresh, and so uplifting!

Lime Refresher

Inspired by a mint mojito, this one is really refreshing and oh-so-summery.

I really hope you enjoy these recipes! Feel free to customize them to your liking. Just be sure to use the dilution guidelines above. Let me know in the comments below which of these recipes is your favourite!