I hate the way bar soap gets all gummy and sticky in the soapdish, and prefer liquid soap for handwashing, leaving bar soap for the shower.
Storebought liquid hand soap usually has quite an impressive (not in a good way) list of chemicals in its ingredients list. Even a brand like Ecover, which one would think would be “pure and natural” simply isn’t. One ingredient in Ecover Liquid Hand Soap is 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol which, according to its MSDS, has the following attributes:
* Toxic
* Harmful if swallowed & in contact with skin
* May cause serious damage to the eyes
* Severe eye irritant
* Very damaging in the environment
* Toxic to aquatic organisms
Well, I am so NOT going to use a product with that in it!
Fortunately, it’s really easy to make your own liquid hand soap. I found this recipe at enviromom… the only change I make is to add a few drops of essential oil. I like lavender, but using tea tree oil would make the soap naturally anti-bacterial.
I buy Dr Bronners liquid castile soap and vegetable glycerine at Summer Naturals. If you buy the bulk sizes of these ingredients, then this quantity of hand soap (310ml, or 10 ounces) costs around 60p.
Homemade liquid hand soap
| British | American | |||
| 250ml | water | 1 cup | ||
| 60ml | liquid castile soap (eg. Dr Bronners) | 1/4 cup | ||
| 1 teaspoon | vegetable glycerine | 1 teaspoon | ||
| 4 drops | essential oil | 4 drops |
1. Combine everything in a pump bottle and shake gently to mix.
Makes 310ml (10 ounces).
Nice post. Did you know that Ecover is no longer Vegan now anyway?
No, I didn’t know that, thanks for the info 🙂
A refusal to agree a cut-off date for animal testing has left green cleaning brand Ecover stripped of its Vegan Society logo, according to a recent joint statement.
The Belgian company’s biodegradable and phosphate-free products – which include washing-up liquid, washing powder and more – are tested on water fleas and rabbit blood to detect danger, respectively, to aquatic life and human skin.
While the EU definition of animal testing doesn’t include invertebrates such as water fleas, the Vegan Society’s founding criteria does.
The main sticking point between the charity and eco cleaning business was Ecover’s refusal to submit to a cut-off date for specific products to be free of animal-tested products.
Instead, the green cleaning co is continuing a ‘five year rolling rule’ that means although it pledges not to use today’s animal-tested ingredients in its products for the next five years, it could theoretically include them in 2013.
here’s a link with all the details
http://www.ecover.com/gb/en/News/Details.htm?ID=147
I just tried this recipe, very simple, and it works! The ingredients are cheap when bought in bulk, now I have all I need to make my own hand soap for the next ten years 😉 Thank you!
Liquid castle soap? where we found? how much cost?
Hi Aminul — I buy Dr Bronner’s Liquid Castile soap from iHerb. It costs US$15.75 for 32 oz and international shipping is only $4. Plus you can get $5 off your first order of under $40, or $10 off your first order of over $40, with code FUL251.
Just made this with dr bronners peppermint Castile liquid soap and Now vegetable glycerine and my hands are so soft. Thank you! FYI, trader joes sells the 32 oz bronners for only $9.99 in our NJ store. I couldn’t believe it. Pleasant surprise
wat s liquid castle brand soab
I use Dr Bronner’s liquid castile soap.