Get my simple recipe for all-natural DIY foaming hand soap and make your own in less than 1 minute, for only pennies a bottle. Your kids will love it and they might just wash their hands a bit more often… maybe!
In 2020, our family switched to using all-natural cosmetics and personal care products — it’s been SUCH a positive (and relatively easy) switch for us!
As a result, each of our bathrooms now has a bar of all-natural goat’s milk soap next to the sink… which our kids DO use.
Tip: I use a junky knife to cut our bars of soap into thirds for small hands.
However, I’ve heard back from many of you whose kids have trouble with bar soap, so I thought I’d share my super simple ALL-NATURAL recipe for DIY foaming hand soap.
In my opinion, foaming soap is easier for small hands (especially when they’re in a hurry — a.k.a. all the time!)
Foaming hand soap doesn’t slide off their hands like gel soap and it’s not as slippery to hold as a bar of soap… so for young children, foaming hand soap is a little way to make it easier (and more fun) for them to properly wash their hands.
I learned how to make my own foaming hand soap many years ago.
At the time, I couldn’t believe how simple the process was — I felt confident it wouldn’t actually work for me!
Low and behold, within 1 minute, I had made my very first bottle of DIY foaming hand soap… I’ve never looked back since!
Recipe for DIY Foaming Hand Soap
Materials
- Castile soap or gel soap
- water (filtered is best)
- foaming soap dispenser
- optional essential oils
Instructions
- Pour 2 T. of Castile soap (or gel soap) into the bottom of soap dispenser
- Add a few drops of essential oils (optional)
- Slowly fill soap dispenser with water and screw on the pump top
- Gently swirl to combine
- Use and enjoy!
Notes
I suggest using filtered water as regular tap water could promote bacteria growth if you don't use your soap quickly.
If your foaming soap pump gets clogged or stops working, I suggest soaking the top of the pump in very hot water for 5 minutes, then pumping vigorously to clear our any gunk that may be stuck in the pump.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Plus, as I mentioned above, if you have small children, the foaming hand soap really is much easier for them to use themselves. Even our 2-year-old kiddos can easily pump and scrub their own hands!
A Few Helpful Notes:
- Check out my Instagram Stories for a 1-minute video tutorial of how to make foaming hand soap.
- Most gel dish soap WILL work for this foaming hand soap recipe (but won’t necessarily be all-natural).
- Creamy hand soaps (and dish soaps) will not work.
- You may add essential oils if you like.
- If you want to give your soap a little farmhouse charm, consider these ridiculously cute foaming soap dispensers!
- This recipe also works to refill automatic foaming hand soap dispensers like this one (and the one pictured above).
- You might consider using filtered water if you don’t use up your soap quickly (like we do!) This will reduce the risk of bacteria growing inside the bottle of soap.
- If your foaming soap dispenser gets clogged, simply soak it in hot water for 5 minutes and then pump vigorously to clear out any clog or buildup.
Related Reading:
- Make your own homemade all-natural face wash and makeup remover
- All my favorite all-natural cosmetics and personal care products
- All my favorite homemade cleaning products
- Our favorite goats’ milk soap from Bend Soap Company (use the code AD10 to get 10% off!)
This simple DIY foaming hand soap recipe is so easy to make, even your children or grandchildren can do it!
Have you tried making your own foaming hand soap? Do you have a favorite scent?
Pin this recipe for later so you don’t lose it!
Barb says
I purchased 4 Method foaming hand soaps. I liked the clear plastic bottles and the wide flat bottoms (less tipping). I have refilled these for a few years; they work great for refills.
Andrea says
yes, those are the bottles I used to use before I found mine on Amazon!
Katie says
By filtered water, do you mean distilled? I recently started doing this but I’ve used Castile soap and tap water. Thinking I should change them out due to the water!
Andrea says
yes, the distilled works well!
Julie says
That stainless steel one pictured above in your post is that foaming also? Do you have a link for that?
Thank you
Andrea says
Hi Julie! Yes the stainless steel dispenser IS foaming as well. We LOVE it!
I can’t find the foaming one in stainless anymore, which is why I linked to the white/clear foaming dispenser in the post (It’s under the “recipe” in the “recommended product” section).
Hope this helps!
Pat Harris says
I have been doing this for years but I have a problem with the pumps failing on the third or fourth refill. Have you found a pump that works longer? I even invested in one of those $10.00 bottles from Bed Bath and Beyond that has markings on the bottle for the amount of soap and the amount of water. It lasted 2 fills!
Pat Harris
Christina says
I also have this problem. The pumps start “sticking” after a few refills. I’d be curious to know if there’s a brand of pump that lasts longer.
Liz says
Hi Andrea, where else can you buy this soap and the soap refill? The link you sent via Amazon is only for Prime Users? Any idea? Do they sell this at Meijer? This is a great idea for our family since we go thru liquid soap like we go thru water! 🙂
Andrea says
I should be available and Meijer and Target — probably Walmart too. You could also do a search for it on Amazon — I didn’t realize I linked to a link just for Prime users… oops!
Tracey says
I’ve been doing the exact same thing for awhile now, and it has worked out so well! Such a great tip to share on your blog. It saves money and the environment by reusing that pump bottle many times over,
Foaming hand soap is a great “invention”…so much quicker and easier to have that instant lather. We love the Sweet Water scent, but all the Method soaps are so nice.
Melissa Frederick says
Do you know if this would work with hand sanitizer as well? I teach Kindergarten, and we go through TONS of hand sanitizer every year!
Andrea says
Honestly, I have no idea — but you could always try a really small batch. That’s actually a really good idea if it does work!
Rachel says
I purchased the foaming soap dispenser from Pampered Chef a few years ago but I also have recycled one from Bath and Body works. In both of them, I put a small amount of dish soap and fill the rest with water. Works like a charm. Except the “lotiony” type soap does not work so I stick with good ole Dawn original.
Georgia says
We’ve been doing this for years with foam and gel pumps to extend the use of our soap and to also save money. With a family of seven, I’ve learned that saving money in the smallest of areas can add up to big savings! Take care and enjoy your day~ 🙂
Jaime says
We’ve been doing this for a couple of months and I love it! We also have two of the Misto oil sprayers, one for vegetable oil and one for olive oil, that we can refill and reuse. While I certainly appreciate the money saved with these and the soap pump, I have really enjoyed not having to remember to buy them, or worse yet, running out and not realizing it until they’re needed!
Andrea says
yes, it’s amazing how long the soap lasts when you only need a little bit every time to make a whole bottle!