DIY Liquid Soap – Pinterest Inspired Project {P.I.P.}

Welcome to a new feature I like to call PIP {or Pinterest Inspired Project}.

 We all love finding helpful hints, techniques, creative ideas on Pinterest, but sometimes don’t you wonder if they really work? I love it when someone shares their personal experience…which makes me a little braver about trying something new.  The picture below is linked to my inspiration.  I am interested in this not just because of the cost savings involved, but because I am sensitive {so I like to use products that are as natural as possible} AND I am allergic to aloe {which is in most natural/sensitive skin care products}…you see my conundrum.  I wanted to try it as both a hand soap and a body wash.  I’ll let you follow the link to the source.  Really, you should read the blog post and it’s assorted comments, it’s entertaining & informative 🙂

 

Here’s my experience:

Grate an 8oz bar of good soap.  I would have LOVED to use Mrs. Meyer’s…but since it’s a 30 minute drive one way for me to get it, I visited my local market and bought a bar of this…

You can grate it by hand, but I’m too lazy impatient for that, so I use the shredding attachment on my KitchenAid stand mixer because I never use it to grate food.

Heat a gallon of water in a pot.  I used a bottle of distilled water and let it boil for a couple of minutes before proceeding.

Stir in your grated soap and 2 Tbs. of glycerine {believe it or not, I had this on hand!} and your favorite essential oil if you like. I used about 30 drops of Lavender, because that “unscented” Kiss My Face Original is pretty stinky stuff!

Stir and heat until the soap is completely dissolved.

Now you have to be patient and let the stuff sit for like 18-24 hours.  I did.  It still looked like this.

I went back and read through the instructions & comments and decided I must have used the wrong kind of soap.  Just when I was planning a trip back to the store to get another large bar of soap I remembered I had these in my linen closet {3 for $1 at Dollar Tree – I used to use them to make laundry detergent before I switched to Fels Naptha for better cleaning}.

So, I asked my husband to grate it for me.  I know it looks like a powder, that’s because when we grate soap for laundry detergent we then chop it in an electric food chopper that has been designated for soap and he just assumed I wanted him to do that, too.  I know, extra effort…back off ladies, he’s all mine! Back on the stove top went the mixture and the new soap was dissolved.

This time after 24 hours and some time with my immersion blender {you could use a hand mixer} it looked like this! {Ooooh…ahhhhh}

Even with my extra $1 addition it was still $5-6 for a gallon of liquid soap/body wash.

My conclusions:

• It eventually worked…though with my addition of another 9.6 ounces of soap it is somewhere between solid and liquid.  If you haven’t already you should read the comments in the original blog post.  Let’s just say that “the consistency of snot” is mentioned…more than once.  In our case it’s more like the slime that kids play with.
• Because of the “slime” consistency of mine it’s a little difficult to pour.  You have to bang the funnel a lot and kind of “break” it off from the original bottle.
• There is a definite “string-thing” happening because of the consistency mentioned above.  It’s no big deal.  We are using it in the shower, so you just break the “string” and rinse away the slight excess.
• My husband and I are both using this in the shower.  It is quite moisturizing {all that Olive Oil!}
• I WILL DO THIS AGAIN…but next I am going to use Mrs. Meyer’s. I know, I shouldn’t need to do it again soon, but I will let my husband continue to use this and I am going to use Mrs. Meyer’s {preferably Geranium, since this is the room spray I like to use in the bathroom} and use it for hand soap and body wash for myself.
• I am getting ready to order a couple of 16oz pump bottles for the shower. We are currently using a squeeze bottle we refilled. I’m not sure if the first batch will be too thick, but it should work great with the Mrs. Meyer’s.

There you have it! Really not that much work…though I think for the best success you should stick with the Mrs. Meyer’s or a brand mentioned in the original post’s comments that others had success with.

Have a beautiful {and clean!} day!!