Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

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Want to make your own hand soap and save money on it too? We’ve been making and using this homemade Foaming Hand Soap for many years and we love it!

Want to make your own hand soap and save money on it too? We've been making and using this homemade Foaming Hand Soap for many years and we love it! #foaminghandsoap #homemadesoap

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

You know what really excites me? Adding another item to my “I don’t ever have to buy this again” list. One of my favorite things to NOT buy is foaming hand soap. It’s been over 2 years since I’ve bought foaming hand soap, and I don’t ever plan on buying it in the future.

It is so easy to make your own homemade foaming hand soap that once you start you’ll wonder why you ever bought it!

Since I’m all about simplicity, my favorite recipe for a homemade foaming hand soap only calls for 2 ingredients: castile soap and water. This makes a perfect, basic, all-purpose soap for everyday use.

There are a few different additives you can use, depending on your needs, but the basic recipe is just 2  simple ingredients.

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

Here is what to do:

In a reusable foaming pump, add 1 part castile soap to 3 parts water. Shake well, and use immediately.

Can you believe how easy that was? And I love the convenience of never running out of hand soap — I just reach under my sink, squirt some castile soap in the dispenser, add water, and I’m good to go!

Castile Soap

I buy my Castile Soap from Azure. If you don’t have an Azure drop near you, Amazon also has some options. I’ve purchased both the Dr. Bronner’s and the Dr. Jacobs brands of castile soap and both have worked well.

Scented Foaming Hand Soap

If you want to get fancy, you can add 5-10 drops of any of these essential oils:

You can also buy a pre-scented castile soap (such as peppermint) if you want to skip adding the essential oils but you still want a nice scent.

Foaming Soap Options

For a more moisturizing soap, you can add 1-2 tbsp of melted glycerine soap to your pump. It will give the finished homemade foaming hand soap a smoother feel. This is perfect if you wash your hands constantly.

You can gift this too! One of my favorite housewarming gifts to give is a basket of homemade household cleaners. I like to include a reusable foam pump filled with my homemade hand soap along with the recipe.

You could also make regular Homemade Hand Soap if Homemade Foaming Hand Soap isn’t your thing!

Essential Oils for Foaming Soap

If you are looking for a wonderful source for oils, I highly recommend Rocky Mountain Oils. After careful consideration of all the companies selling essential oils, I’m happy to share that Rocky Mountain Oils has become my main source of oils for many different reasons. Plus I love that they are more affordable than some of the other major brands and they offer free shipping on all orders!

Looking for other DIY projects?

Find more Uses for Castile Soap here.

Have you ever made homemade foaming hand soap?

This blog post about Homemade Foaming Hand Soap was originally posted on Little House Living in May 2013. It has been updated as of June 2019.

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25 Comments

  1. Do a Google search for Empty Hand Soap Bottles, and you’ll find companies online that sell them with the foaming dispenser for less than $2 each. The upside to this is the gift giving ideas and you would never have to use manufactured soap in the first place to get the used bottle.

  2. Thanks for the glycerine tip. I was up a lot after diaper changes and it is really drying.

  3. I’m looking to add a liquid natural ingredient soap to my product line. Any suggestions on a natural preservative for this soap? Need to have one since this is water based…?

    1. Vitamin E Oil (chemically known as Tocopherol and used by many all natural companies) is a great way to preserve your homemade products.

      1. Thanks for the suggestion on vitamin E to preserve homemade products… can you recommend the amount needed for a recipe like this?

        Does anyone know how long the original recipe lasts for? How do you know if it’s gone bad?

        Then you!

  4. I haven’t ever tried foaming soap before, but it sounds like something my kids would enjoy having. I never really understood how they made the soap foam, but being mostly water and a little concentrated soap makes sense!

  5. Hello LHL! Thank you for this info!
    I just purchased some organic liquid hand soap and my hands are SO DRY I can’t bare it. I have several bottles as it was a great sale running. Now I’m wondering what can I add to these soaps to actually make them more moisturizing? When I say drying I mean even using lotion post washing is still leaving my hands PARCHED. I am thinking an oil (like olive or ?) or as I’ve read add in more glycerin, but usually glycerin soaps are harsh for me too.
    Any suggestions?
    Thanks!

  6. I have a Gojo automatic dispenser for my disabled daughter. The soap refills are $25! Would this work in there? I’ ve seen recipes for 1-to-5. That’s if I can even open the flimsy refill package. I think they purposely do that so you can’ t reuse them.

  7. This says to use immediately. Does that mean that you have to make it every time you wash your hands? If not how long does it last? Thank you!

  8. If I add glycerin will it harden at room temperature? It sounds like it does which seems like something you wouldn’t wanting for foaming hand soap.

  9. I can’t get Castile for now but my major challenge is that my homemade liquid soap I’d not foaming. what chemical can I use to boost the foaming?

    1. The foaming is really all about the container used. I paid about $10 for a nice foaming soap dispenser on Amazon that we can refill over and over.

  10. Hi! I love how simple your recipe is! What is the measurement when you say one part Castile soap and 3 parts water?