Coming from a household comprising 4 adults and 4 young children, it is easy to imagine the high consumption of household products and toiletries, among other things. For example, we have 7 basins in the house, each basin must have a hand soap dispenser. It is no big surprise we buy hand soap in bulk. What I don't fancy is the fact that we use a lot of Dettol hand wash (husband's choice of brand), which not only contains many chemicals, but is also very expensive in the long run. The children also love to play with the hand soap, which also means there will be occasional wastage.
I have been on the lookout for hand soap which is not only economical, but also as natural as possible (least chemicals). My friend Grace recommends me to try this DIY foaming hand soap tutorial by Don't Mess With Mama. The ingredients are easy to find, and has very minimal trace of chemicals.
This formula is adapted from the posting above, I omit aloe vera gel as I tried it but didn't quite like the texture to the foaming soap
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup liquid castile soap
- 1 tbsp witch hazel
- 5 - 8 drops good quality essential oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 foaming soap bottle
Note
- Liquid castile soap can be purchased from Watson Singapore. There are two brands available - Dr Jacobs and Dr Brommers.
- I try to match the scent of the castile soap with the essential oil I have at home. If I am making lavender foam hand soup, I will buy lavender liquid castile soap to be paired with lavender essential oil.
- Witch hazel can also be purchased from pharmacies. I bought mine from Watson Singapore
- Most of the ingredients above can also be purchased online in Malaysia. Try websites such as Craftiviti and Soap Artisan.
- For the foam soap container, any one will do, but I personally like to use the foam soap pump bottle from Dettol. Don't Mess with Mama website suggest 10oz bottle is the best.
Instructions
- Pour in the following ingredients into a measuring cup : Liquid castile soap, witch hazel, essential oil.
- Stir briefly and pour the mixture into the foam soap bottle.
- Fill up the remaining bottle with water, be sure to leave some space so that the pump can be inserted without the contents spilling over.
- Close the bottle, give it a hard shake to mix all the ingredients together.
- Foaming Hand Soap is now ready to use!
Although buying liquid castile soap may not sound very economical, but one 22oz bottle of liquid castile soap can last a very long time. I also like the fact that the ingredients are all natural and no more chemicals from the commercial hand soap. In terms of helping the environment, using one big bottle of liquid castile soap means NOT using around 3-5 Dettol hand soap bottles, including the pump which I understand cannot be recycled.
One unexpected bonus - I realised the children don't use too much foam soap as compared to the conventional liquid soap. Perhaps it is when the soap is dispensed from the bottle it is already foam, they do not need to pump again. With liquid soap, sometimes they just press the pump too many times before being reminded they need to add water to create the lather and bubble effect.
Out of curiousity, I have also experimented with making my own video, this is my first attempt in making an instructional video. Please do click below to view it and let me know what do you think!
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