homemade dishwashing liquid/hand soap

 Ok - here it is.... After experimenting with texture and the right amount of each ingredient, I have the right mix for a lovely hand wash, body wash or dish washing liquid. 

You will need these ingredients: 

* One bar of soap - grated
preferably something with no nasties - so a goats milk, olive oil based soap and it is probably better not to use anything with fragrances or colors - simple = better. As you can see I have used both the olive oil and goats milk soap, I got these from Coles. Also remember to buy one that is packaging sensibly - no plastic! It would be even better if you could find a simple soap at a local market but these supermarket ones are fine too....

* Glycerine - 1 tablespoon

as pictured, in the aisle at the supermarket that has bandaids, panadol, etc. It is sitting alongside its super cool buddies - tea tree oils and eucalyptus cleaning product. It may set you back about $9 but you only need to use one tablespoon, so the bottle will last for ages.

* Water - 1.5 litres

* your choice of essential oils - grapefruit, eucalyptus, lemon, lime, may chang, sweet orange...... the choices are endless - make sure it is 100% pure essential oil, so you will not be benefiting from a natural hand made soap but also from the benefits of aromatherapy! If you want a destress blend for washing dishes try - geranium, lavender and bergamont. Or you may want to slip some calming oils into the bathroom soap for the kids - calming influences as they are washing their hands - LOVE!! You may want to use Chamomile, orange, marjoram and lavender....  You can shop for oils in chemists these days or order online from someone like Amazing scents......

You will need these tools:

* saucepan
* cup measure
* spoon measure
* bamix style blender
* Recycled clean hand pump container

 It is soooo easy to make and this recipe with make you litres, so make sure you have not only the recycled pump pack you want to use ready but also another large container to keep the rest - ready for refills!

1. Grate your bar of soap with an ordinary grater, this should make one cup of soap flakes. Pop this into a saucepan

2. Add one tablespoon of Glycerin

3. Add 1.5 litres of water

4. Mix ingredients together and place over medium heat and until it melts and looks like milky water

5. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then add your choice of essential oil. If you are making dishwashing liquid, you may want to use something fresh and clean smelling - I used Eucalyptus. If you are making a body wash, you may want to use lavender, citrus, etc. Or something anti bacterial for the bathroom - tea tree.....

6. Then leave to sit for hours or overnight. 

 It will "set" something like this and feel a little like a white springy trampoline when you press on the top..

Whizz away!! At this stage it is ok to add more water if you want the texture to be a little more runny...

Then use a funnel to pour into your recycled hand pump pack.

It not only smells delicious but makes your hands feel super super soft afterwards....

It is fabulous for the bathroom and kitchen sinks and if you do want to use it to wash your dishes you can - it just takes a while to get your head around there not being any bubbles - but just keep chanting to yourself - no bubbles = no chemicals and you will be fine!

If you are time poor - you can always double the recipe and make a truck load to store....

Have fun - I would love to hear how you go making this and what fragrance combinations you come up with!

Thanks for reading , Melissa xxxx