As promised, how to make your own hand soap. People who are "crunchy" lifestyle skeptics will question the effectiveness of a homemade soap, but that is quite silly when you consider it is made from an actual soap, people have been making soaps since the beginning of time...with essential oils, and "anti-bacterial" soaps are sort of mute since all soaps have some degree of antibacterial effects. Any how, if you're still on the fence, do some research (PubMed is a pretty good place to start) to find published studies done on the effectiveness of essential oils. But again, quality matters here. You won't get results from a bargain oil that does not have the beneficial parts of the plant still intact, if it comes from a plant at all. You will only get the scent from it.

You will need a foaming pump. You can easily find all kinds of options on Amazon. Find one that's pretty for you and one that's durable for the kids. You can even re-use a store-bought soap foamer bottle if you have one. 

You will need a soap base. I prefer the bath gel base from Young Living® because it has a softer feel and doesn't dry your skin. If you want to be super thrifty, get a giant bottle of "Baby Gentle" Unscented Dr. Bronners® Castile Soap.

You will need high quality essential oils. I get mine here. You should too. This is especially important if you are concerned about the effectiveness of your soap. Much of your wellness power will be coming from the action of the essential oils, so you will need an oil that is more than just a fragrance to really give your soap a good knock out punch. Young Living® essential oils are the only brand I trust to have that due to their distillation methods and strenuous quality testing done throughout the whole seed to seal® process that ensures those important constituents are still living and intact, capable of doing the work.

You will need some vegetable glycerin. You can find this at most natural health stores, Target or Walmart, and of course Amazon. 

And finally, an optional ingredient would be some Vitamin E for moisturizer. I leave this out of mine because I'm lazy. If you are prone to dry skin, I would definitely add it in...and then message me to chat about that dry skin and what we can do to support it internally. 

HOW TO MAKE IT

1. Add 2 Tablespoons of the bath gel base to your foamer bottle.

2. Add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin.

3. Add your essential oil.

4. Add 1/4 teaspoon Vitamin E (optional).

5. Fill your foamer with water, leaving enough room for the big pump top to fit without spilling over; about 2/3 full. 

What essential oils to use:

• I like to keep things simple, so my first choice would be 10 drops Thieves™ or 5 each Thieves™ and lemon.
• 10 drops Gentle Baby™ . Gentle baby contains geranium which is a great cleansing oil. The entire blend is wonderful for soft, smooth skin.
• 5 drops each Roman Chamomile and Geranium smells divine. Great for soft skin and cleansing. 
• 5 drops each Lavender, Rosemary, Lemon is fresh.
• 5 drops each Jade Lemon, Lavender, Cedarwood is relaxing.
• 10 drops each Jade Lemon and Orange is bright citrusy. Great for grease.

The combinations are endless. You can do some research on which oils have which properties to suite your needs and create your own.

The best part is once you have the ingredients bought, you have an abundant supply of refills for dirt cheap...and that is savvy. 

Be well my friends.

For more info on how to be savvy, join my education group here. We learn cool things about how to make smart choices so we can win at life and not be in a panic about washing our hands. Good times.