I’ve been making my own cleaning solutions and laundry products for years. While the stores boast that a lot of products are more “natural” now, I still don’t feel really good about using them. I want to clean my home with safe, non-toxic cleaners, and that includes my dish soap. That’s why I prefer making my own cleaning products…at least I know exactly what’s in them! So, let’s get to the homemade dish soap recipe, shall we?
Optional Use of Essential Oils
You can use tea tree oil or essential oils for their natural antibacterial properties, such as cinnamon oil, oregano oil, and rosemary oil. Lemon oil, lime oil and orange oil are good grease cutters. If you don’t have lemon, lime or orange essential oils, you can use lemon and/or lime juice.
Ingredients
½ cup finely grated bar of soap
½ cup liquid soap, castile, or hand soap
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 ½ cups water, boiling
10 to 20 drops essential oil, lemon, lavender, orange, or tea tree (optional)
Instructions
Use a grater to create soap flakes from a bar of soap.
Bring the water to a boil and add the grated bar soap.
Stir the mixture until the soap is thoroughly melted.
Continue stirring as you add the remaining ingredients.
Add liquid soap.
Add baking soda.
Stir until all ingredients are blended together.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for five minutes.
Add your favorite essential oil(s), stirring until well blended.
Storing Your Homemade Liquid Dish Soap
You can pour your soap into a pump dispenser or an old dishwashing soap bottle. Since this isn’t a sudsy solution, you will want to pour the dishwashing soap onto a sponge or dishcloth. The baking soda acts as a thickener for your soap. If your soap is too thick, just was some warm water and shake the bottle or dispenser to remix and reconstitute.
White Vinegar and Bar Soap Recipe for Dish Soap
You can cut through the grease with a combination of a grated bar soap and distilled white vinegar. You can use almost any bar of soap for a very effective dishwashing soap.
Ingredients
½ cup Ivory soap (or soap substitute), grated
¼ cup distilled white vinegar
4 cups water, boiling
6 to 12 drops lemon or lime essential oil
Instructions
Bring water to a boil and slowly stir in grated Ivory soap flakes.
Continue to stir until the flakes have melted and blended with the water.
Add the distilled white vinegar.
Remove from heat, and allow liquid to cool.
Stir in the lemon or lime essential oil.
Continue to stir until all ingredients are well blended.
Pour into a soap dispenser.
To use, pour desired amount onto a sponge or dishcloth.
How to Make Foaming Dish Soap
Foaming soap isn’t a mysterious chemical creation. It’s very simply about pumping air into the soap.
Foaming dish soap
In order to make a foaming dish soap, you must have a foaming soap dispenser. This dispenser has a special pump that injects air into the soap as it is pumped from the dispenser. This action creates the foaming soap. So, if you have an empty foaming soap dispenser lying around, you can reuse it to make any soap transform into a foaming soap.
Balance Is Key
The key component to making foaming soap is to create the right ratio between soap and water. You can use liquid laundry soap for dishwashing at the sink. You will use a 4:1 ratio of water:liquid soap. Below is a recipe for a foaming soap dispenser that is over 9 ounces. This means you need 4 parts water and 1 part liquid soap for this foaming soap dispenser. Be sure to check how many ounces your dispenser holds and adjust accordingly.
Ingredients
1 cup water
¼ cup liquid soap (can use instructions below if you don’t have any on hand)
Instructions
Add the water to the soap dispenser.
Add the liquid soap.
Screw on the pump.
Gently agitate the mixture by slowly turning the dispenser up and down in a rocking motion.
Be careful to shake since this will cause the soap to create bubbles.
Once mixed, you’re ready to pump that wonderful foaming soap onto your sponge or dishcloth.
How to Make Liquid Soap for Foaming Soap
You can use any liquid soap or make liquid soap by grating bar soap and melting in a double boiler. Be careful not to burn yourself when you measure the melted soap.
Pour ¼ cup of melted soap to a cold shallow cooking pan or large bowl.
Add 1 cup of water and stir to mix.
Allow to cool.
Add 4 to 6 drops of citrus essential oil, such as lemon or orange (optional).
Gently pour your melted soap/water mixture into the soap dispenser, leaving a minimum of one-inch headroom between liquid and pump.
Slowly turn the dispenser up and down to make sure it’s mixed.
Easy Ways to Make Homemade Dish Soap
There are easy ways to make an effective homemade dish soap that will clean your dishes. You can be assured your soap will kill germs when you opt for an antibacterial bar soap or essential oil with natural antibacterial properties.
