Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

Last Updated on December 4, 2024 by Kiersten James, BS, RN

Learn how to make your own all natural liquid hand soap to ditch the toxins and fragrance from overpriced commercial products.

Even though I (secretly) love the smell of the orange Dial antibacterial liquid hand soap, I had to move away from it when I was making the switch to low toxin, natural living.

Antibacterial soap sounds legit and does work really well in some situations, antibacterial soap kills bad bacteria right along with the good bacteria that helps keep your body’s normal flora and microbiome in check. If you mess with your microbiome, you’re messing with your immune system.

Adequate friction when hand washing for the recommended 20 second time frame is just as effective for cleansing when compared to abrasive disinfectants. Have your children sing Happy Birthday at a normal speed three times to achieve the same time limit.

All Natural Liquid Hand Soap Ingredients

Liquid Castile Soap

Castile soap is vegetable-based and is gentle enough for our littlest babies. It comes in both bar and liquid formulation and is free from synthetic ingredients or animal fats making it the perfect natural, vegan alternative. Dr. Bronner’s is the most popular brand sold across retailers but you can find other brands online.

Vitamin E Oil

Vitamin E oil is included for its ability to neutralize free radicals and repair collagen damage. It has countless benefits and aids in rehydrating the skin after cleansing.

Essential Oils

Essential oils are highly concentrated oils which occur naturally in plants. Many have excellent properties to benefit health and others are fantastic for household uses, like cleaning. Keep in mind that all essential oils are not created equal. Do your research to make sure that oils you are purchasing have purity reports, are food grade, and sold in dark glass bottles. Keep the undiluted oils away from children.

Filtered Water

Filtered water is used in some DIY products to thin out a mixture or cut down on how much ingredients are really necessary. If you don’t have access to filtered water, you can distill your own by boiling and leaving it out for 24 hours. This will help to remove contaminants and minerals so you don’t end up with mineral deposits on your counters or windows.

How to Make All Natural Liquid Hand Soap

Making an all natural liquid hand soap is ridiculously easy and only takes a minute. You will need:

Any liquid soap dispenser with a pump
1 cup unscented liquid castile soap
½ cup filtered or distilled water
1 teaspoon pure vitamin E oil
30 drops essential oils of your choice

Combine all of the ingredients in the soap dispenser and shake well.

If you don’t care for the consistency, you can omit the water and increase the liquid castile soap amount to 1 ½ cups. Making it this way will use more ingredients but it’s most important that everyone in your house likes using it.