Whether you use bar soap, liquid soap, or foaming hand soap, you’ll need to replace your soap about once a month, or more often if your bathroom and kitchen soap gets heavy use. Soap is a significant household expense, which often gets added to the grocery bill without considering the costs and alternatives.

Even though I make my own bar soap from scratch, infused with herbs, and organic oils, I like to use foaming hand soap in the bathroom. Bar soaps can be messy, even with a draining soap dish. And guests seem to prefer liquid soap.

I wanted to try DiY foaming hand soap, but I was lacking a soap dispenser. So I thought I’d buy a couple of bottles of foaming hand soap and reuse the soap dispensers to make my own foaming hand soap. Amazon sells empty dispensers for foaming hand soap, but they cost more than buying the foaming hand soap in a dispenser and refilling the dispenser.

Commercial foaming hand soap

I like the Oregon Soap Company’s™ foaming hand soap. It has natural essential oils and plant extracts instead of chemical fragrances. I purchased my bottle from Mountain Rose Herbs™. The price there was a little less than Amazon. And since I was ordering herbs anyway, it didn’t cost me more in shipping. Amazon does carry this product, too, in 6 essential oil based scents.

At the same time, I purchased a Mrs. Meyer’s™ foaming hand soapfrom Amazon. Unfortunately, although Mrs. Meyer’s™ products claim to be 100% natural, and made with essential oils, they actually contain artificial fragrance and chemicals. Yes, the label says there are essential oils, too, but the artificial scent is so strong and lingering you can’t smell any essential oils. If you have a fragrance allergy, you won’t do well with them in your house.

My Mrs. Meyer’s™ foaming hand soap is still pretty much full. No one in my family can stand to be in the same room with the soap. It makes their nose twitch. And because it’s a chemical fragrance the scent lingers a long time, on your hands, in the air, and in the room.

On the other hand, I’ve refilled the Oregon Soap Company’s™ foaming hand soap 3 times now. It gets used a lot. My family prefers a genuine, natural, essential oils based scent.

 

The cost of foaming hand soap refills

Refilling the soap bottle with the commercial refills can get pricey. Mrs. Meyer’s recommends using their refill soap pack and using 1/2 soap refill and 1/2 water – a 1:1 ratio. Using the Mrs. Meyer’s Soap Refill, the cost of refilling their dispenser using their recipe is $1.63 per full dispenser. Mrs. Meyer’s Foaming Hand soap comes in a 10 oz. bottle.  Plus every other time you refill your bottle you’ll need to toss a plastic soap container.  You won’t want to reuse it because the fragrance permeates the plastic.  If you buy the refill in the bottle, you’ll be able to recycle it, where recycling facilities exist.  That’s still a lot of plastic.

The Oregon Soap Company recommends 1/3 soap and 2/3rd water to refill their foaming hand soap bottle. The cost of refilling their 8.3 oz. soap container with their castile soap is $1.54, based on the 32 ounce castile soap refill bottle and their recipe. $1.85 will fill a 10 ounce soap dispenser using the Oregon Soap Company’s recipe and their organic liquid castile soap. This is only slightly more than the Mrs. Meyer’s brand which is not organic.  Each Oregon Soap Company liquid castile soap bottle will give you 16 refills using the Oregon Soap recipe.  These bottles are plastic, but can be reused or recycled.  (I couldn’t confirm whether their bottles could be recycled.)

But you don’t need to follow their recipe exactly. My recipes use a little less castile soap and still deliver the moisturizing foam that you expect from foaming soap. I used Dr. Bronner’s™ liquid castile soap, but you can use the Oregon Soap Company’s liquid castile soap in this recipe. Both Dr. Bronner’s and The Oregon Soap Company’s products are certified organic.

Using my recipes below, you’ll get 21 refills out of a bottle of castile soap, giving you a little longer before you need to recycle or reuse the plastic bottle.  Dr. Bronner’s liquid soaps are made from 100% post consumer plastic, according to their website.

Note that I haven’t compared Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap with the Oregon Soap Company’s liquid castile soap.

Make your own foaming liquid soap

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap

1 1/2 cups of filtered water

1 empty 6 to 8 oz. foaming soap dispenser

 

Method:

Add the water to the foaming soap dispenser. Add the liquid soap. Use a popsicle stick to mix the soap and water. Stir gently so that you don’t make too much foam. Leave a 2 inch head space in order to be able to fit the dispenser pump into the bottle without overflowing the bottle. Add more water if needed.

Put the plunger lid back on the soap dispenser. Press the top to dispense the foaming liquid soap.

Cost per refill is $.84 using the Oregon Soap Company’s Liquid Castile Soap or $.86 using the Dr. Bronner’s product.

Use the scented or unscented castile soap according to your preference.

Relaxing Foaming Lavender Soap

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Lavender Soap

1/4 cup of lavender hydrosol

1/2 cup of water

1 empty 6 to 8 oz. foaming soap dispenser

Method:

Add the hydrosol and water to the foaming soap dispenser. Add the liquid soap. Use a popsicle stick to mix the soap and water. Stir gently so that you don’t make too much foam. Leave a 2 inch head space in order to be able to fit the dispenser pump into the bottle without overflowing the bottle. Add more water if needed.

Put the plunger lid back on the soap dispenser. Press the top to dispense the foaming liquid soap.

This refill recipe costs a little more but makes a more luxurious lather. Because you are using lavender hydrosol in place of some of the water, you’ll get some of the lovely therapeutic benefits of lavender. I found this lather to be richer and more moisturizing. It’s happiness in a bottle, if you like lavender. I know not everyone does.

Cost break down including purchasing certified organic lavender hydrosol at Mountain Rose Herbs, $4.84. I didn’t include shipping in the price break down.

M’Lady’s ensuite rose soap

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Rose Soap

1/4 cup of rose hydrosol

½ c. water

1 empty 6 to 8 oz. foaming soap dispenser

Method:

Add the hydrosol and water to the foaming soap dispenser. Add the liquid soap. Use a popsicle stick to mix the soap and water. Stir gently so that you don’t make too much foam. Leave a 2 inch head space in order to be able to fit the dispenser pump into the bottle without overflowing the bottle. Add more water if needed.

Put the plunger lid back on the soap dispenser. Press the top to dispense the foaming liquid soap.

The rose foaming hand soap is a little bit more expensive, but only slightly. Rose oil is quite a bit more expensive than lavender. Dr. Bronner’s rose castile soap is only slightly more expensive than their other kinds of soap, but that puts the price of this hand soap variation up a bit.

I bought my rose hydrosol at Mountain Rose Herbs. I use it as a facial toner, and even spritz it on my face in the summer as a cooler.

Total cost for a soap refill using this recipe is $4.97. So even though it’s completely luxurious, it costs less than buying the original bottles of foaming hand soap. I consider that a win!

How to use this recipe

Use the rose or lavender foaming hand soap refill in Momma’s bathroom, and the plain refill in the family and guest bathrooms, to save money and still receive the luxury and self-care you need.

Your Turn:

What soap do you use in the bathroom and ensuite, liquid soap, foaming liquid soap, or bar soap?