How To Make Foaming Hand Soap

Making your own foaming hand soap is a budget-friendly way to fill your soap dispensers with natural, non-toxic soap. Not only will you save money doing this, but you’ll reduce your exposure to toxic substances and also reduce plastic waste.

What You’ll Need

Making your own foaming hand soap couldn’t be easier. There are many variations of DIY foaming soap recipes out there on the internet with different ratios of ingredients, but here’s how I make mine with just two ingredients + water. This is how I’ve been making mine for years, and it has worked well for us! I’m all about easy, no-fuss recipes.

All you’ll need is a foaming soap dispenser, castile soap, filtered or distilled water, and essential oils! To make the soap feel a bit more moisturizing, you can also add a tablespoon of a liquid, skin-friendly oil such as olive oil, fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, etc. The essential oils are optional, although I always add them to give the soap a nice smell and for the additional antibacterial, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. Plus, if you buy unscented castile soap like I do, you can change up the essential oils to suit the current season or whatever you heart desires! I love using bright citrus oils in the summer, and warm cozy oils like cinnamon, clove, & pine in the winter.

Check out this post here with 3 recipes for amazing fall-themed foaming soaps! They are great for winter too!

The Ingredients

A lot of other foaming soap recipes out there will tell you to add additional ingredients like aloe vera, vitamin E, or glycerin. You can totally add these things if you want, but I have found that they just aren’t necessary! When you have multiple soap dispensers to fill up, I like to keep the recipe as simple as possible. Vitamin E is a natural preservative, and can be a good idea when making products at home that include water. Water is a medium that can allow for bacteria to grow. However, I haven’t found this to be an issue for me, and is another reason why I like to include essential oils in my soap. They are antibacterial and antimicrobial, which helps to keep the soap from going bad. Also, a lot of castile soaps will have vitamin E already added to them, so check for that!

If you want the soap to feel a bit more moisturizing, you can add 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp of a skin-friendly oil, such as olive oil, fractionated coconut oil (must be fractionated), sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, or grapeseed oil. This is optional, so don’t worry if you don’t have one of these on hand.

For the castile soap, my favourite brand to use is Green Beaver. It is affordable, palm-oil free, and uses organic ingredients. It’s also a great Canadian brand! I usually purchase it from well.ca, but you can also find it at Superstore, sometimes at Winners, from Green Beaver’s website, or other online retailers. Keep an eye out for bottles of castile soap at Winners, as they sometimes have good deals on it (like the bottle shown in my pictures below). Just be sure to check that the ingredients don’t have added artificial fragrance!

If you’re wondering why I say to use filtered water or distilled water, this is to help reduce contamination of the water and help prevent the soap from going bad too quickly. Distilled water is best as it will remain shelf-stable the longest, however I’ve always used filtered water. Ideally you would boil the filtered water first, then allow it to cool, to remove any lingering microbes, however I’ve never taken the time to do this and our soap has turned out fine! You can definitely do this if it makes you more comfortable.

If you need a good place to get essential oils, check out my family’s small business here. We are proud to offer only 100% organic essential oils. You can use our pre-mixed blends to create a lovely scented soap without having to think about what essential oils to use! (Two of my favourite blends to use in hand soap are the Everyday Citrus and the Festive Mingle!)

For the foaming soap dispenser, you can re-use any foaming soap dispenser you may have, or you can purchase a new one. It’s best to use glass if you can! I purchased a foaming soap top from Etsy that is designed to go on a regular-mouth mason jar.

Directions:

1. Leave about a 1/2″- 1″ of space at the top of your soap dispenser for air. Keeping this in mind, fill your soap jar 1/3 of the way with the 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 and 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 and mix them together with the soap (I use the back of a spoon or fork to stir them).
   • You can add up to 12 drops of essential oils per 1 oz of liquid, but I typically only add about 30-50 drops total to my soap dispensers. For a kid’s soap or for extra-sensitive skin, err on the side of caution and use the amount on the lower end of the scale.
   • Use a glass liquid measuring cup to determine how many liquid ounces fit in your dispenser if you aren’t sure.

3. Add filtered or distilled water to the remaining 2/3 of your dispenser (leaving some room at the top for air). Stir this together, and you’re done!

Notes:

• Water and oil (castile soap is made with saponified oils) will naturally separate over time. Shake your bottle periodically to incorporate the ingredients again. I typically do this about once a week, or whenever I remember. If you include the optional step of adding 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp of oil to the soap, it will need to be shaken more often.
• Use up the soap within about a month. If you aren’t sure if it will be used up by then, just make a smaller batch of the soap.

Enjoy your foaming soap!

DIY Foaming Hand Soap

Make your own foaming hand soap with just two ingredients plus water. It is budget-friendly, non-toxic, and super easy to do!

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Total Time:5 minutes mins

Keyword: foaming soap, how to

Equipment

• 1 foaming soap dispenser

Ingredients

• 1/3 of dispenser- liquid castile soap
• 2/3 of dispenser- filtered or distilled water
• 20-50 drops of essential oils see notes below for dilution amount
• 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp olive oil, fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, or grapeseed oil optional

Instructions

• Leave about a 1/2″- 1″ of space at the top of your soap dispenser for air/the pump. Keeping this in mind, fill your soap jar 1/3 of the way with castile soap.
• (Optional) Next add 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp of a skin-friendly oil, if using.
• Add your essential oils and mix them together with the soap (I use the back of a spoon or fork to stir them). See notes below for how much to add.
• Add filtered or distilled water to the remaining 2/3 of your dispenser (leaving some room at the top for air/the pump). Stir this together, and you’re done!

Notes

– Essential oils are concentrated and potent, and need to be diluted when used.

– You can add up to 12 drops of essential oils per 1 oz of liquid (2% dilution), but I typically only add around 30 drops total to my soap dispensers. For a kid’s soap or for extra-sensitive skin, err on the side of caution and use a 1% dilution rate, which would be 6 drops essential oils per 1 oz of liquid.

– Use a glass liquid measuring cup to determine how many liquid ounces fit in your dispenser if you aren’t sure.

– Water and oil (castile soap is made with saponified oils) will naturally separate over time, though I haven’t found this to be much of an issue. Shake your dispenser periodically to incorporate the ingredients again. I typically do this about once a week, or whenever I remember.

• If you add the optional 1/2 tbsp – 1 tbsp of oil, your soap will need to be shaken more often to keep the ingredients fully mixed together. The added oil doesn’t emulsify as effectively as soap made only with water & castile soap.

– Use up the soap within about a month. If you aren’t sure if it will be used up by then, just make a smaller batch of the soap.