In my Naturally Frugal Essential Oils group on Facebook, one of the most popular questions is how to make your own foaming hand soap. Y’all…if you haven’t done this yet, you NEED to! It is super-simple, costs pennies to make, and kills germs to boot! Not to mention, do you know all of the dangerous chemicals and even warnings from the FDA against using those store-bought anti-bacterial soaps. From the FDA website:
“In fact, there currently is no evidence that over-the-counter (OTC) antibacterial soap products are any more effective at preventing illness than washing with plain soap and water, says Colleen Rogers, Ph.D., a lead microbiologist at FDA.
Moreover, antibacterial soap products contain chemical ingredients, such as triclosan and triclocarban, which may carry unnecessary risks given that their benefits are unproven.
“New data suggest that the risks associated with long-term, daily use of antibacterial soaps may outweigh the benefits,” Rogers says. There are indications that certain ingredients in these soaps may contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and may have unanticipated hormonal effects that are of concern to FDA.”
We ditched the store bought soaps years ago in the KnowitAll household, for cost and health reasons. We found something cheaper, and safer, to keep our hands clean and help prevent the spread of illnesses at the same time. All it takes is a couple of inexpensive ingredients, and about five minutes to assemble. While this recipe uses a foaming soap dispenser, this recipe can be used on ANY soap dispenser–we also use this exact same blend in our guest bath, with the automatic soap dispenser. It works in any dispenser.
We personally use Peppermint essential oil the most in our soap–everyone loves the stimulating scent, and it is a germ-killer. Thieves essential oil is another popular one around our home. Other popular oils I’ve seen used would include orange, tea tree, lavender, or rosemary.
1 foaming soap dispenser (We bought ours on clearance for $2)
1/4 cup Dr Bronner’s Baby Mild Liquid Castile Soap (32 oz bottle is $9.99 at my local Kroger store)
15 drops of essential oil, your choice
1 cup of water
Add 1/4 cup of the liquid castile to the soap dispenser, then add the essential oils. Shake to blend together. Then add water. Shake to blend, and you’re ready to use!
Total cost per refill of soap dispenser: $1.37
Total cost per use (avg 300 uses per refill): .003 <—that’s less than a penny per use!
Looking for more information on essential oils? Here are a few other resources you can check out:
- Our Naturally Frugal Essential Oils group on Facebook, where we share questions and testimonies about our experiences
- This post talks about why I chose Young Living essential oils, and how you can order them for yourself–and save 24% when you do!
- My 14 day FREE ecourse on essential oils is full of great information to help you get started!
- This post is part of a 31 Days series on Naturally Frugal Essential Oils. Check out the main page for more posts!
