Thursday, May 2, 2013

DIY Liquid Hand Soap Tutorial


 This is my fourth time making my own handsoap and I’ve got it down now so I wanted to share! My first two batches were okay, but not anything I wanted to jump up and down about. I’ve done this so far with Ivory, which is very cheap but well, it’s just Ivory and I felt a little embarrassed quite frankly when guests would wash their hands at my house! I also tried this with a cute bar of olive oil glycerin soap I picked up at a farmers market for some reason even though I don’t use bar soap (it was pretty!). My next attempt was a gallon batch with 2 bars of Yardley, Oatmeal Almond soap. They sell it at my local Dollar Store for $1 per bar. It’s labeled as being paraben and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate free, and smells heavenly. It turned out awesome! This handsoap has a nice texture (snot-like is a common term used in diy handsoap tutorial comments!), and even a light lather. I think my hands feel softer since I’ve been using it! You can also use this same method for making body wash.

The recipes I found previously did not stress the fact that you need to blend your soap after it sets up, this is how you get the nice consistency. You may think it’s too thick but it’s not it just needs to be blended (so don‘t start dumping more water in there or heating it back up until you've blended it with your mixer for a few minutes!). It should look like a thick gloppy pot of goop (technical terms). That means it set up like it was supposed to.

 So lets get started!

DIY Yardley Handsoap Recipe-
2- 4.5oz bars Yardley Soap (purchased at The Dollar Store for $1 per bar)
4 TBSP Glycerin (purchased at Walmart in first-aid section, $3.26 for 6oz)
1 gallon distilled water (about $.88)

Other supplies you’ll need-
Cheese grater
Large bowl
Large spoon
Large pot (lid is optional)
Electric Mixer
Ladle or scoop
Funnel
Gallon jug (that your water came in)
Soap dispensers

Start by grating your cheese soap using a hand grater. I'm using English Lavender for this batch, but I am definitely in love with the Oatmeal Almond!

 Place your gallon of water in a large pot and start heating it up. You do not want to boil the water, just getting it nice and hot.

 When your water is hot, dump in the grated soap and stir until it is all dissolved.

Looks yummy.

 Once your soap is dissolved, turn off the heat and stir in your glycerin. You are done for now. This needs to set for about 10-12 hours for the soap to cool down and set back up. This is like a big pot of lava and takes forever to cool down. You can cover the pot if you'd like.

 When you come back to your pot after it has cooled down and set up, as I said above, it should be a pot of thick glop and you are cursing me under your breath as you look at it thinking there is no way. I did cheat and put my covered pot in the freezer because after 8 hours it was still a bit warm and hadn't firmed up much yet, and well I wanted to finish this batch today. But then I forgot about it for a couple hours so it firmed up a bit more than it normally would. This is pretty close to how it would be without chilling it though. Your soap mixture is going to do some separating during the cooling/firming process and that's why you have to blend it! This is a solid, with water trapped under it, hence the next step...

 Get your beaters out, starting on low speed for the first minute (until the thicker parts are broken up and it will take longer if you chill it like I did!) then up it to high for another 2-3 minutes or so. After this, you should have a nice, luxurious handsoap ready to bottle up.

See, it's fabulous now!! 

  I just pour some into any empty dispensers I have and put the rest into the gallon jug the water came in. You won’t be able to fit the entire pot into the jug because you’ve added soap and beat some air into it. All done. Relatively easy, and cheap, and you are stocked on handsoap for a while! Enjoy!

If you try my recipe and tutorial, please leave me a note and let me know what you think! Follow me on Pinterest and like me on Facebook to keep up with the latest. Thank you for stopping by, much love!
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