Friday, February 3, 2012

DIY Foam Hand Soap

I love foaming hand soap. We have been using Dial's Complete foam handsoap for a few years. Every time they would run out, we would replace them, bottles and all. I hated how wasteful this was, so we researched and found refill bottles. We felt a little better about re-using our plastic foam dispensers. However, we were disappointed to learn that the refill bottles were still very pricey.

Through some experimentation using materials that we already had here at home, we were able to come up with the perfect recipe for the perfect, cheap foaming handsoap.

We calculated that it cost us $0.80 to make forty ounces of foaming liquid handsoap, which is going to last us quite some time. (The liquid handsoap cost us $4.00 for 40 ounces. This means that each ounce of soap cost $0.10. To make 40 ounces of foaming hand soap, we needed only 8 ounces of soap!) 



Materials:
  1. hot water
  2. measuring cup
  3. liquid handsoap
  4. an empty soap dispenser (made specifically for foaming soap)

Step 1:
The key to this recipe is the ratio between liquid handsoap and hot water. The ratio that worked best was 4 parts water to 1 part liquid soap. To garner this ratio, we chose to fill up our measuring cup with 16 ounces of hot water.



Step 2:
Fill the same measuring cup with 4 additional ounces of liquid soap with the hot water still inside. This would bring the total liquid to 20 ounces.



Step 3:
Slowly mix the hot water and liquid together with a spoon. It is important to avoid making foam. This is why it is easier to mix it with a spoon than to pour it in the bottle and shake it.



Step 4:
Once the soap is fully dissolved in the water, pour it into your foaming soap dispenser.



It's ready for use!

10 comments :

  1. Good informative article

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  2. Good informative article

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  3. hi very nice blog and very nice information and so cool.. I LOVE this product. I will most definitely buy this again. I love foaming hand soap. We have been using Dial's Complete foam handsoap for a few years. Every time they would run out, we would replace them, bottles and all. I hated how wasteful this was, so we researched and found refill bottles.

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  4. I have been buying the refill bottles for years but knew the foaming hand soap was just watered down regular hand soap. Target is the only place that sells the foaming refills and they run out, every other time we need it. Great receipt!

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  5. thank you so much for posting this!

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  6. Recipe works great😊

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    Replies
    1. I tried to put a smile there but got two question marks... how did that happen

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  7. Really great very nice blog post. Thanks for sharing this interesting and very informative hand soap refill bag

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  8. Thank you for the great info and instructions. I had done this in the past and forgot the ratio of soap to water. I love the idea of mixing it with hot water and doing so BEFORE I put it in my dispenser. Great info. Thanx a bunch!!

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  9. I bought foaming 'ball mason' jars with foaming pump lids at Factory Direct Craft fdc.com. You can buy just the pumps, lids, lids w/pumps or jars with lids and pumps. Even offer in several different colors. Daughter n law bought some from Amazon.com.



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