I love to make homemade soaps. It’s been a hobby of mine for almost 10 years. I prefer to make homemade bar soaps, but liquids and others are just as fun to make. For the most part, they’re also incredibly budget friendly to make too. SoftSoap is already pretty cheap, but if you’re looking to save money, this copycat SoftSoap recipe is even cheaper. Not only that, but if you learn how to make homemade hand soap, you’ll never be stuck running out if the store doesn’t have any on the shelves.
When you make this homemade hand soap, you start with a bar of soap. You can use any bar soap you like although if you are looking for a true copycat SoftSoap as your finished product, you’ll want to use Ivory bar soap.
I love Ivory because of how pure it is and I use it in everything from this hand soap recipe to my homemade powdered laundry detergent recipe.
How to Make Homemade Hand Soap
Because this homemade hand soap recipe uses Ivory as it’s base, your final product has a soft scent that cleans without drying your hands out. It also leaves them super soft.
If you would like to change the scent, you can do so by adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the final product. I will give you the instructions for that in just a few moments.
Copycat SoftSoap Recipe
This copycat SoftSoap recipe is not antibacterial. However, just like with the scent, you can help make it antibacterial by adding a couple of essential oils to the mixture.
Tea Tree Essential Oil is known to have both ant-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Adding it to the final product will help to make your homemade hand soap kill germs a bit better.
However, with that said, I would not rely on it solely as you will have no way of testing the final product for potency.
For scent, you can use whatever you fancy. Lavender essential oil would be a great option, as would Geranium essential oil, Peppermint essential oil or even Sweet Orange essential oil.
The final product is yours, so feel free to use whichever scent currently floats your fancy.
You Will Need:
- Bar Soap of Your Choice – Again, I use Ivory
- Water
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Essential Oils for Fragrance
- High Speed Mixer
- Box Grater – or mixer attachment
- Extra large mixing bowl (8-10 cup minimum)
- Whisk or blender
- Small Saucepan
- Large measuring cup
Start by grating the bar of soap. This can be done easily if you have a stand mixer with a grating attachment. However, if you don’t, a simple box grater will do the job just as well.
Once the soap is grated into flakes, boil one cup water in a small saucepan.
After boiling, pour the water, soap flakes, vegetable glycerin and 3-5 drops tea tree essential oil – of using – into an extra large mixing bowl.
If you don’t have an extra large mixing bowl, just make sure your container is deep enough to handle the soap mixture. It does foam up quite a bit.
Blend the mixture on high speed until everything is dissolved and blended well together.
Set the entire mixture aside for a few minutes to allow the bubbles to settle down. Once they have, stir in another 4 cups water. and use a whisk to blend it well with the soap mixture.
Your soap mixture will appear very, very watery.
This is normal and okay because we are not quite done making it yet.
Allow the soap to sit at room temperature. As it sits, it will thicken into a gel consistency. This is what you want it to do.
After the soap has solidified, stir in up to 4 more cups of water and use the whisk or a blender to mix it well.
I would suggest starting with 1 cup and adding it 1/2 cup at a time until you get the consistency you desire.
Add any essential oils you’re adding for fragrance and 5-8 more drops tea tree oil to the final product. Use the whisk to stir well.
Divide the finished hand soap into containers and store with a lid in a dry place. Over time, your soap will separate. This is normal and nothing to be concerned about.
Simply give it a good shake before using to mix it back together.
Looking for more homemade soap recipes? Try these:
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Making your own homemade hand soap is so easy! This DIY hand soap has a cypress and white fir scent that is just amazing!
If you’re looking for a good homemade soap recipe, THIS homemade lavender soap is great for beginners and experienced alike! Calming, soothing and perfect for anyone
Skip the store and make this homemade dishwasher detergent instead! This DIY dishwasher detergent will have your dishes sanitized and clean just like the expensive stuff. All for pennies per batch!
How to Make Homemade Hand Soap {Copycat SoftSoap Recipe}
Equipment
- High Speed Mixer
- Box Grater or Mixer Attachment
- Extra Large Mixing Bowl (8-10 cups minimum)
- Whisk or Blender
- Small Saucepan
- Large Measuring Cup
Ingredients
- 1 bar soap Ivory is what was used in this blog post.
- 8 c. water
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable glycerin
- 5-15 drops tea tree oil
- Essential Oils for fragrance
Instructions
- Grate the bar soap. While you're grating the soap, boil 1 cup water in a small saucepan.
- Add the water to an extra large mixing bowl then add the soap flakes, vegetable glycerin, and 4-5 drops tea tree oil.
- Blend using a high speed mixer until soap is fully integrated. Be mindful that it will bubble quite a bit. Allow it to sit at room temperature until bubbles subside a bit.
- Stir in 4 cups water very well. Allow it to sit undisturbed until it becomes a thick gel.
- When the soap has gelled, stir in up to 4 more cups water 1/2 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Stir in any oils you're using for fragrance and the rest of the tea tree oil. Pour into jars or soap bottles.
Hi, Stacy, my name is Annabelle.
I am a blind woman who absolutely loooooooooooooooooooves to experiment with making stuff at home! That being said, I wonder, would I be able to boil the water in my electric kettle instead of on the stove? Also, does Kitchenaid make a grater attachment for the Kitchenaid Classic 4.5 quart stand mixer? If so, where can I find it, and how much does it cost?
Hi Annabelle, I don’t see why it would be an issue to boil the water in a kettle. Just be sure that you use a bowl big enough to hold the mixture once the water is boiled. There are grater attachments for the Kitchenaid. They tend to cost around $40.00. This link here is from Amazon to one that has 3 different grating or slicing blades and currently has a 20% off coupon available on the page.