How to make liquid soap out of bar soap without using heat.

One step on my less-waste journey has been figuring out to how keep my soap dispensers filled without buying more plastic. I used to use liquid soap in the kitchen and bathrooms, but after some phasing out and this handy technique, the whole process has crazy simplified.

I adapted my method from Beth at MyPlasticFreeLife’s method, which involves boiling the water. I’ve been hyper-conscious of my energy usage lately: gas and electricity are generated from fracking/burning fossil fuels. So, I wanted to make liquid soap this time without using anything but human energy!

Come to think, boiling the water sanitizes it, too. Since I’m sick with a cold right now, I’ll be sure to tell guests about my bacterial soap. Not anti-bacterial, just…bacterial. Builds up the immune system! And I wonder why no one visits me.

-Note: I realize that bar soap is perfectly adequate for all washing purposes, but I feel like a lot of waste happens when the bar washes down to a sliver under running water, so I don’t use it for dishes, just handwashing. One batch of liquid soap lasts for months!

YOU WILL NEED:

A bar of soap (I used a 5oz bar of Dr. Bronner’s);

A grater;
A bowl or pot big enough to hold a gallon of water;
A whisk, or a spoon and a lot of patience;
Something to put your soap in. I used several jars and an old liquid soap container.

INSTRUCTIONS:

First, grate your soap. This takes me about 3 minutes to do, if I grate from the edges.

Next, put the soap in the bowl or pot, fill with one gallon of water, and stir. Let it sit overnight.

The next day, stir the soap again, and then, using the whisk, attempt to break up the rest of the little soap shavings. Eventually it will get so frothy you won’t be able to tell if you’ve succeeded or not. Decide you don’t care and blow soap bubbles with your whisk.

At this point you can either let it sit another day, to further dissolve, or you can give up and decide it’s done. Which is what I did.

Pour into receptacles, and you’re done. I added a few drops of tea tree oil to mine, because sadly, whichever nice smell it had before you grated it up is all gone. But fragrance is overrated.

Check out the plum wine bottle-turned-soap dispenser. It was Justin’s idea. The dispenser, not the plum wine. That was a gift from my friend Tim, and it kind of tasted like cough medicine. I still drank it though. Lolz. Sigh.

Good health, hygiene, and pura vida!

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