Making your own hand soap with essential oils is a creative way to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of these precious liquids. You can play around with different essential oil blends and create fantastic smelling products! It’s incredibly fun and an enjoyable activity to do with your kids, however, it’s not just about the fun factor – you’re also protecting your health in a powerful way:
Did you know that the average hand wash contains a whole slew of toxic chemicals that even FDA studies have proven are downright dangerous to our health? (1) Chemicals like triclosan are hormone disruptors that have been linked to infertility, early puberty and other hormone-related problems.
Learn how to make your hand wash recipe with essential oils and benefit from them in more ways than one:
Why Use this Essential Oil Hand Soap Recipe
✓ It’s all natural. Who needs to add unpronounceable chemical ingredients and preservatives that are proven to have bad long term side effects when you can just use pure ingredients from Mother Nature? You don’t even need to worry about the shelf life of this natural hand soap because essential oils are powerful antioxidants and antimicrobials that will keep away germs and prevent spoilage.
✓ It’s healthy. In the world today, there’s no limit to the amount of toxins we are exposed to everyday. There are toxic substances literally everywhere; in the air we breathe down to the hand soap we use to scrub our hands clean countless times during the day. If you want to be healthier and cut down the amount of toxins, replace your store-bought hand wash with this natural hand soap.
✓ Only 4 ingredients needed. You basically need only 2 ingredients – distilled water and liquid castile soap to make your own hand wash but the additional ingredients (including essential oils) improve the scent, moisture your skin, have healing properties and make the consistency of the lotion silkier.
✓ It’s super easy to follow. There are only 5 simple steps that anyone can follow super easily and end up with their own hand soap in just a few minutes – no complex and hard-to-follow instructions.
✓ It won’t dry out your hands. Many hand soap recipes out there are perfect except for one problem – they dry out your hands. This essential oil hand soap recipe contains vegetable glycerin and lavender oil which both have moisturizing properties that leave your hands soft and smooth.
Easy Essential Oil Hand Soap Recipe
What you need
- 1 oz unscented liquid castile soap (where to get it)
- 1 tbsp vegetable glycerin (where to get it)
- 6.5 oz distilled water (where to get it)
- 7 drops lavender essential oil (where to get it)
- 8 oz foaming soap dispenser bottle (where to get it)
What Each Ingredient is Useful for
» Liquid castile soap – A natural plant-based cleanser, liquid castile soap gently purifies skin while effectively removing dirt and grime.
» Distilled water – Using distilled water, which is extremely pure water that doesn’t even contain minerals, makes this hand soap last longer. Tap water contains chemicals like chlorine and can also have microbes that decrease the shelf life of the hand soap. If you’re sure your hand soap will get used up fast, then you can go ahead and use normal tap water.
» Vegetable glycerin – Also derived from plants, vegetable glycerin is the moisturizing ingredient in this hand wash recipe. It also gives the hand wash a silkier consistency and makes it foam better and acts as the base for the essential oils.
» Lavender essential oil – A soothing and calming oil, lavender is known to be gentle on skin. It has powerful antibacterial and antimicrobial properties that protect the skin from germs. You could easily use tea tree oil in place of lavender but I chose lavender because it is multifaceted – it not only cleanses skin but also has antibacterial properties, moisturizes skin (tea tree oil will make your skin dry) AND has a lovely fresh scent!
Directions
- Begin by adding the distilled water to your foaming soap dispenser. You can use the help of a funnel.
- Then mix the lavender essential oil in the vegetable glycerin and gently add that as well.
- Now pour in your liquid castile soap slowly so you don’t activate the soap bubbles.
- Once you’ve added all ingredients, screw the pump back on and swirl the dispenser to combine all the ingredients.
- Keep it right on your sink to use in place of store-bought hand soap! To use, pump once on your palm, lather up and rinse off with warm water.
- You don’t need to apply moisturizer afterwards because this essential oil hand soap recipe contains glycerin (the moisturizing element) and hydrating lavender oil that will both keep your hands soft and silky.
References
(1) http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378393.htm