Foaming Hand Soap Refill DIY
Creating your own DIY foaming hand soap refill might be one of the easiest ways to save money (and prevent excess waste!) in your home. Considering the health concerns surrounding over-use of antibacterial hand soaps, we have started refilling foaming hand soap dispensers with non toxic ingredients easily bought in bulk.
DIY Foaming Hand Soap Refill Ingredients
- Water
- Liquid Castile Soap
- Vegetable Glycerin (although I have used avocado oil from our pantry and it worked fine)
- Essential Oil (I used eucalyptus because of its antibacterial properties – lemon or lavender would also be nice)
- Foaming hand soap dispenser (I recycled an empty one I had originally purchased from Trader Joe’s)
This DIY foaming hand soap recipe is so simple. It’s especially easy if you keep all of your ingredients corralled in one place like I try to do with my cleaning kit caddies.
Additionally, this DIY foaming soap recipe is a huge money saver. My husband washes his hands 1493284 times a day, so we go through hand soaps very quickly! I hate constantly buying new plastic and glass soap dispensers from the grocery store, so this DIY has been an awesome alternative for us.
How to Refill Foaming Hand Soap Dispenser
- Start by filling your foaming hand soap dispenser 4/5’s of the way full with water.
- Next, fill the rest of the dispenser ALMOST to the top with liquid Castile soap, leaving room for a small amount of vegetable glycerin.
- The addition of vegetable glycerin will ensure that your foaming hand soap isn’t too drying, but if you don’t have any on hand you can try substituting with other household kitchen oils. I sometimes use avocado oil which is doesn’t work as well as vegetable glycerin but it still gets the job done.
- Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for scent.
- Lastly, shake and set by the sink for your family and guests to enjoy!
The Best Foaming Soap Dispensers
You can refill just about any foaming hand soap dispenser that you have purchased in the past. Yes, you can even refill the Bath and Body Works foaming hand soap dispensers. If you don’t have a foaming soap dispenser in your house already, then see below for some great options.
Is Foaming Soap Better than Liquid Soap?
Foaming soap vs liquid soap, which is better? There are pros and cons to each hand soap option so let’s discuss.
Price
DIY foaming hand soap is the least expensive hand soap option I have found. Because the ingredients (aside from water) are used sparingly, you can continue to refill your foaming hand soap multiple times before stocking up on more. This is an easy money-saver.
Efficacy
According to a report in the American Journal of Infection Control, liquid hand soap is more effective at killing bacteria than foaming hand soap (source: Today). There are likely 2 reasons for this.
First, people washing hands with liquid soap build a lather in the process of rubbing their hands together. Foaming soap is dispensed in a lather so that foaming reaction is lesser when washing with foaming hand soap.
Second, there is simply much less soap in foaming soap recipes than there is in straight liquid soap. So if you’re a true germaphobe then this might be something to consider!
Sustainability
DIY foaming hand soap wins this category. Ingredients like soap and vegetable glycerine can be purchased in bulk. Because they are used sparingly in foaming hand soap, these bulk ingredients will last a much longer time than liquid soap would in a hand soap dispenser.
