As someone who constantly thinks about what I’m putting IN my body from food and how it affects my health, I admittedly do not spend nearly as much time thinking about the things I put ON my body. I’m sure most of you have heard at least a little bit about the potentially harmful chemicals and ingredients that can be found in many beauty and body products. The ones I hear about most frequently are parabens and Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (often found in shampoos). I have done a little bit of research on some of these ingredients, but I definitely have just barely scratched the surface of alll the information that’s out there. The bottom line for me is that the closer something is to containing real, natural, and organic ingredients, the better it probably is for my body. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that if it’s made in a laboratory, then it’s bad for me, but I do think that in most cases natural is better. That’s my philosophy with food also and it just makes sense to me. Here is a little infographic that sums up some of the toxic ingredients found in beauty/body products.
That leads me to the homemade soap thing…
I was thinking about ways I could start to transition some of my beauty and body products over to better alternatives. Natural beauty and body products are EXPENSIVE, but you can save a bunch of money by making some things yourself. Hand soap seemed like an easy enough thing to make myself. I searched and came across this blog post, which described the easiest process ever for making your own hand soap. I really wasn’t expecting it to turn out very well. I figured I wouldn’t like it enough to make it again, but I was so wrong.
All you need is a grater, a bar of soap of your choice, and a container to put it in. I got this cute mason jar with a pump in it from Marshals. I love it!
Grate the bar of soap! Put 1 gallon of water in a big pot on the stove and heat just until steaming (not boiling).
Once the water is steaming, remove from heat and mix in the soap. Let it sit for 15 minutes.
After you let it sit for a while, take out your Hello Kitty mixer (or I guess a regular mixer will work also) and mix it all up really well. Put a lid on it and let it sit overnight. In the morning give it another good mix and you’re DONE!
For more detailed instructions please check out the blog I linked above.
The consistency may vary, but mine turned out gel-like, which is what I was hoping for. I was really worried that it was going to be very watery, but it wasn’t at all. In case this slipped by you, I made a GALLON of hand soap, for the cost of a bar of soap. The bar soap I bought cost me around $4.69. In the past, I was buying a 32 ounce container of Softsoap brand hand soap that ranges in price from $2.50-$3.00. If I bought a gallons worth of the Softsoap it would cost me around $10! More natural ingredients AND cheaper! I like it!
I filled up this this container and the rest of the ones I had around the house and put what was left in an old Softsoap container. I will definitely be making this again when I run out of this batch…which will probably be a long time from now. Give this a try! Even if you don’t care about the scary chemicals, I think everyone can get on board with saving a few dollars here and there. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Bows and Arrows,
Ashley
abowandarrow.wordpress.com 