Liquid Hand Soap - Half Gallon For A Dollar

Soap has been around for nearly 2,800 years, but liquid soap is a much newer creation.  It was invented in the early 1800s, was patented in 1865.  In 1898 B. J. Johnson introduced a liquid soap made of palm and olive oils which he called...wait for it..."Palmolive".  By the turn of the century Palmolive was the most popular soap in the world and B. J. Johnson renamed his company Palmolive after its flagship product.  In 1928 Palmolive bought an even older soap company named Colgate.  Today Colgate-Palmolive has nearly $17 Billion on annual revenue.  Soap is big business, and in 1987 Colgate-Palmolive bought the nascent liquid handsoap business called Soft Soap.

The advantage of liquid hand soap is that dirty hands don't come in contact with the remaining soap so it is more hygienic.  In addition it is convenient to dispense only what you need.  The problem with liquid hand soap is the expense.  There is a solution for the expense.  Make it yourself!

I checked online and found an 11 ounce Soft Soap refill for $4.  Here's a recipe for making half a gallon of liquid handsoap for about $1, or it can be virtually free if you save up and re-purpose all those little soap bar scraps you get that are so small or broken they become hard to use in the shower.

Here's How to Make Liquid Hand Soap Yourself:

• 8 ounces Bar Soap (I used my own homemade soap but you can use 2 bars of ivory soap or a collection of leftover soap scraps from the shower)
• 8 cups Water
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil - used as a very effective moisturizer in the hand soap
• Essential Oils (optional)
• Food coloring (optional)

Use a cheese grater to grate up the the soap or chop it finely with a knife.  Put the water in a pan on the stove and pour in the soap flakes.  Add the coconut oil.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, to avoid a boil over.  Reduce the heat and keep stirring until the soap flakes are all dissolved (if it's a little lumpy you can use a stick blender to make it smooth.  At this point the liquid is very thin.  Let it cool to room temperature stirring occasionally.  Put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours (I put mine outside because it's winter now) stirring occasionally.  By this point it will have become thick like yogurt.  Add any scents or colors you want and stir in until completely incorporated.

Use a funnel to pour your soap into dispensers.  You can reuse an existing liquid soap dispenser or I got the dispenser shown above at the Dollar Store for (you guessed it) a dollar!  Store the rest in a jar to use as a refill.  This keeps indefinitely.

It's not only WAY cheaper than buying your own liquid hand soap, but you get to control what you expose your skin to by what you put in it.  Plus it's fun to experiment with your own blends (e.g. add some aloe vera get etc.).