You Pinspire Me
On our way out to Prince Edward Island, my mom, sister, and I stopped in Quebec City for just about 24 hours. It was pretty much as hot there as the weather that we left behind in Ontario, so 24 hours was about enough time for us – we saw and sweated an incredible amount during that time! One of the (many) stores that we patronized was Shâmane – a store showcasing and selling soaps made from donkey milk. The soaps are wonderfully smooth & hydrating, and I love that they don’t smell quite as strongly as many other natural handsoaps. (We’re not into a lot of fragrances in this house!)
In the past 6 months, I’ve developed eczema on my fingers which causes the skin to dry up, itch, crack, flake, and develop small rash-like bumps. It’s not awesome. However, when I tried out the Shemane liquid handsoap in the store, it didn’t irritate or dry out my hands, so it impressed me right away. I could get a small bar of hard soap for around $4, or a bottle of liquid for around $12, and since A) this trip was already taxing our budget and B) I’ve always wanted to try to make liquid soap from a bar, I purchased the bar. I also picked up a puck of shaving soap for my husband, and he’s loving it so far! Score.
What you’ll need for this project:
- A bar (well, half a bar is more than enough!) of soap
- 1 Tbsp glycerin (should be available at pharmacies, grocery stores, & WalMart type stores, but I had to borrow some from my sister – PLEASE leave a comment and let me know where you get your glycerin from!)
- Water
- Essential Oils and/or citrus zests
- Soap dispenser
Anyhow, the process of actually making your own liquid soap (starting from a solid bar) could not be easier. I used Cybele from BlahBlahMagazine’s post as a guide. Start by boiling some water on the stove. For ~1/2 bar (or 60g) of soap, use about 4-5 cups of water (less if you want it a bit thicker, more if you want it thinner). I shaved a few curls of lime zest into the water – which gave the water a lovely colour and smell, but isn’t noticeable by the time the soap comes together – next time I’d just peel a lime and put the whole peel into the pot.
In the meantime, grate your soap with a cheese grater on the smaller side – it’ll allow the soap to dissolve more easily into the water.
Once the water has boiled, remove it from the heat and scoop out the zests, if you added any. Add the shredded soap to the hot water.
Stir until all of the soap has dissolved.
Add one tablespoon of glycerin to the soap mixture, and stir. If you want to, you may add some essential oils for perfume / cleaning purposes at this time as well.
That’s it. You’re done! You’ve got liquid soap! Now, in our house, we prefer to use foam soap – so I took two (now empty) foam soap dispensers that I picked up at the dollar store last year and poured 1/3 cup of the soap into each of the dispensers, and poured the rest of the soap into a large mason jar.
After 24 hours of letting the soap rest, I added 3/4 water to the dispensers, and they’re ready to go!
Jenn vanOosten
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That is awesome. You are so creative!!
Aw, thanks, Gina! But not really creative – followed the directions all the way on this one!! 🙂
That is so crazy simple! Do you need to have the lime (if the soap already has a smell?) I have glycerin from Shoppers but that was from last year… (Steve was using it for a science experiment 😉
You don’t need to have lime, or any other additive – it’s pretty much just for the fragrance. And, it gives the soap a bit of colour, if the bar that you’re working with is not coloured to start with.
Glycerin is found near first aid here in the US
Finally getting around to making this today. I’ve got the Goat’s Milk on the go, then the Donkey milk next. 🙂
I know this post is a bit older, but I get glycerin from Mountain Rose Herbs, here in Oregon, USA.They have just about everything you need for making all of your own recipes to exchange for toxic store-bought stuff. They are GREAT!
Great post. This week over on Wildcrafting Wednesdays we’re hosting a special Hygiene Edition and this post would be perfect in the carnival. I’d love it if you would pop over and share this post with our readers.
http://www.herbanmomma.com