DIY Foaming Hand Soap Recipes for Every Season (15+ recipes!)
Making your own foaming hand soap is an easy and affordable way to use more non-toxic products, and save money at the same time! I often experiment with different essential oils and love creating oil blends that suit the current season. It’s a great way to embrace seasonality and celebrate the best of what the current season has to offer.
I’ve created several hand soap recipes for every season, and this post has them together all in one place! Making your own natural foaming soap is as easy as combining castile soap + distilled/filtered water + 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.
This page contains some affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase through these links. I only recommend products that I LOVE and personally use. Read more here.
This post focuses on which essential oils to use for foaming soap that are suited for each season, but I previously wrote a blog post with more details on how to make the soap base. You can see that post here for additional details if needed!
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 (Dilution Chart)
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 base
- 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.
- (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.
- 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.
- 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 Seasonal Recipes
Spring
Drops of essential oils for 8 oz of liquid soap:
GARDEN WALK
- Pink Grapefruit- 30 drops
- Lavender- 15 drops
- Rosemary- 15 drops
LAVENDER LEMONADE
- Lemon- 33 drops
- Lavender- 20 drops
LAVENDER LEMONADE (VERSION 2)
- Litsea- 20 drops
- Lemon- 16 drops
- Lavender- 20 drops
CLEAN KITCHEN
- Bergamot- 25 drops
- Eucalyptus- 10 drops
- Juniper Berry- 5 drops
Summer
Drops of essential oils for 8 oz of liquid soap:
KEY LIME PIE
- Lime- 18 drops
- Orange- 8 drops
- Lemon- 8 drops
- Vanilla (CO2 flavor extract)- 8 drops
LIMONCELLO
- Litsea- 18 drops
- Lemon- 12 drops
- Basil- 6 drops
CABIN AT THE LAKE
- Sweet Orange- 22 drops
- Pine- 14 drops
- Lavender- 12 drops
- Black Spruce- 10 drops
POOL PARTY
- Pink Grapefruit- 14 drops
- Lime- 12 drops
- Sweet Orange- 12 drops
- Peppermint- 10 drops
SWEET ORANGE
- Sweet Orange- 30 drops
LIME REFRESHER
- Lime- 30 drops
- Peppermint- 10 drops
- Rosemary- 10 drops
Fall
Drops of essential oils for 8 oz of liquid soap:
CRISP LEAVES
- Lemongrass- 16 drops
- Frankincense- 10 drops
- Black Spruce- 7 drops
MOUNTAIN SPA
- Sweet Orange- 12 drops
- Balsam Fir- 10 drops
- Black Spruce- 5 drops
- Vanilla (CO2 flavour extract)- 5 drops
- Nutmeg- 3 drops
CANDY CORN (SPICED VANILLA ORANGE)
- Sweet Orange- 30 drops
- Vanilla (CO2 flavour extract)- 25 drops
- Cedarwood- 8 drops
- Clove Bud- 4 drops
Winter & Christmas
Drops of essential oils for 8 oz of liquid soap:
FRESH EVERGREENS
- Pine- 20 drops
- Balsam Fir- 15 drops
- Black Spruce- 10 drops
- Juniper Berry- 10 drops
PEPPERMINT CANDY CANE
- Vanilla (CO2 flavour extract)- 68 drops
- Peppermint- 18 drops
WINTER WELLNESS (THIEVES BLEND)
- Lemon- 18 drops
- Clove- 10 drops
- Cinnamon Bark- 4 drops
- Eucalyptus- 3 drops
- Rosemary- 3 drops
BRIGHT FOREST
- Pine- 14 drops
- Grapefruit- 14 drops
- Balsam Fir- 6 drops
ALL IS CALM
- Juniper Berry- 15 drops
- Lavender- 14 drops
- Frankincense- 10 drops
- Sweet Orange- 5 drops
CHRISTMAS MORNING
- Sweet Orange- 32 drops
- Black Spruce- 22 drops
- Cinnamon Bark- 14 drops
Don’t forget to save this post to Pinterest!
I really hope you enjoy these recipes! Feel free to customize them to your liking. Just be sure to use the dilution guidelines discussed above. Let me know in the comments below which of these recipes is your favourite!
Hi any way i can make a bubble gum smell but of course not using synthetics
Hi Patricia! I have seen that combining ylang ylang + grapefruit + eucalyptus essential oils can give you a bubblegum-like scent, but I haven’t tried this combination yet myself. Also, there is a natural foaming hand soap and lotion I know of that you might enjoy- the scent is called “fresh cucumber”, but it reminds me a bit of bubblegum. They use a combination of peppermint + cucumber flavor extract. It’s made by a company I love called Pure Anada. If you’re interested in that product, there’s a link to their website on my “Shop My Favourites” page. I hope this helps!
Hi Patricia! I thought I would send you a second follow-up comment about this, because I recently created a DIY soap recipe that smells like bubblegum. You can see that recipe in this post: DIY Foaming Hand Soap Recipes for Kids. Hope this helps!
I made the Winter Wellness, Pool Party, Christmas Morning, “Snowbird” Orange, and “Lemon” Refresher recipes for Christmas gifts from Southwest Florida this year. Thank you for your ideas. Lemon was because I didn’t have lime essential oil and snowbird was added to the sweet orange recipe.
That sounds lovely! I’m so glad to hear. Thank you for sharing!