Liquid Hand Wash

1. Grate or finely chop a bar of soap.
2. Pour water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
3. Stir it constantly until soap dissolves into the water.
4. Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes.
5. Keep it aside and let it cool for 7-8 hours.
6. Stir to check the consistency.

Sodium hydroxide, also called caustic soda or lye, is a traditional ingredient for soap-making. While potassium hydroxide is more common in liquid soap-making, it is possible to produce liquid soaps using caustic soda.

Liquid hand soap is still effective after a splash of water—phew—with one caveat. “As long as there’s surfactant, you will be able to remove [germs], although you may need more as dilution increases,” explains Tetro. In other words, the surfactant, aka the soap, will work as long as there’s enough of it in the mix.

Making soap requires several stages and one of them is to thicken the soap. Here’s how to do it. Xanthan gum is a plant-based thickening agent while guar gum is a thickener in cosmetic formulations. Add ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum to ¼ cup of room temperature distilled water.

Foam or lather is created when foaming agents in soaps, detergents and shampoos mix with air and water. The most common foaming agents used in personal care are chemicals sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), sodium lauryl sulfate (sometimes referred to as sodium dodecyl sulfate or SLS) and coco-glucoside.

Glycerin is a humectant, meaning it attracts moisture. When applied to the skin through cosmetics, glycerin can cause a barrier on the skin that locks in existing moisture from washing, as well as drawing moisture from the atmosphere.

Adding water to a soap can ruin the preservatives and contaminate the bottle. Bacteria may start to grow, and you could wind up with more germs on your hands than you had at the start, Larson said. It should be noted: Your hands are often covered in bacteria.

According to product wiz Fadi Mourad, the answer is an emphatic no. “You should never dilute a product — whether it’s soap, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, etc.

Make your own liquid hand wash. It never hurts to save money, and a good place to start is with products that you use daily in your home. Liquid hand soap is convenient and less messy than bar soaps, but it’s also expensive, even if you buy the generic brands.

If you want to make a customised soap, don’t use probiotic soap bar, use unscented one instead. If you want a liquid hand wash with antibacterial properties, use an antibacterial soap bar in the first recipe. If you have dry skin, you can opt for moisturising soap bars to make liquid hand wash.

Let’s have an ASM of about 10% for our handwash, which is pretty gentle but still sufficient cleaning power. You can make it less if you have very sensitive skin. For the sake of simplicity I’m going to just divide my surfactants down the middle and make each 5. You can also put these into percentages.

Using minimal and all-natural ingredients, this handwash is good for the hands and doesn’t wash any nasties down the drain. The surfactants used are non-toxic and biodegradable, and the end product is skin-neutral. The best thing about this recipe is you can’t really go wrong with it.