It's a matter of making hand soap.

I know some of my neighbors well.  I can hear them say "why would you make this when you can pick it up at the store?"  Great question...and overall I agree.  However, if you were living off your supplies, and ran out of hand soap, wouldn't it be nice to know that you can make your own out of things you most likely have on hand?

I researched and tried a few things.  Here are 2 ways to do it that do not require goggles, gloves, or other protective equipment.  I do not disagree with those who enjoy soap making from individual ingredients, but the LRH is always in a hurry, and many of these approaches took a lot of time.  So, here are my 2 trials at it.

Little Red Hen's Handsoap method--Trial #1: 

Items needed:  A bar of soap, a 2-quart container, 1 1/2 Cups water, a rubber spatula, a hand mixer (optional), and your microwave.

Many of the recipes that I researched suggested to put in essential oils after the mixture was cooled, otherwise the oils would evaporate away.  I decided to try a bar of Caress as I like the smell, and it has moisturizers in it. These are two things I appreciate in a hand soap.

Put the soap in the container and place in the microwave.  After 2-3 minutes on high, your bar will begin to foam up.  You need the 2-quart container because it can reach the top of your bowl.

After removing the container from the microwave, put in HOT water, otherwise the soap becomes hard and doesn't dissolve in the water well.

Mix well and let the mixture cool.  The first time I did this, I used 2 cups of water, and it was too runny.  So start with 1 1/2 Cups of water and add water if you wish to achieve the desired consistency.

Little Red Hen's Handsoap method--Trial #2:

Items needed: A bar of soap (cut into chunks or grated), a 2-quart container, 1 1/2 Cups water, a rubber spatula, a hand mixer (optional), and your microwave.

Place the soap pieces/chunks into the microwave with the 1 1/2 Cups of water.  Microwave on high for about 5 minutes.  If the pieces are not melted, microwave in increments of 30 seconds until melted, or take out of the microwave and stir until pieces are melted.

Again, you can see why you need a 2 quart container as the mixture really foams up.  Remove from the microwave.  By the way, your kitchen will smell great during this part!

Use your hand blender, or mix by hand.  You will create a thick mixture. Let cool for about 10 minutes.  Add water to achieve the desired consistency you wish.

Pour warm mixture into your container via a funnel.

When I tried to dispense the liquid after a couple of hours, it was still very runny.  Here, I am dispensing the next morning and it looks great.

Lessons learned:

1.  Even though I like the fragrance of the Caress bar, the Roosters of the home think it is too feminine.

2.  Cost. 

The price of one bar of Ivory Soap would be $.50.  I made about 15 oz of hand soap from one bar.  That would work out to be $.03 per ounce when made at home.  National Brands and Store brands can cost $1.99 for 7.5 oz. That works out to be a cost of $.27 per ounce.  Making your own at home is a 111% savings. 

3.  Time:  This took in cumulative time, about 20 minutes.  You could multi-task while your mixture is in the microwave, but the total hands on time was about 10 minutes.

4.  Fragrance: If you wished to add essential oils for fragrance when the mixture was cooled, you could.

So, if you want to save money, save space on your shelf (think of the size of a bar versus bottles of liquid), or have another option should you find that you need hand soap, give this a try.

  It is really easy!