Cleansing lavender and rosemary foaming handwash

Foaming liquid hand soap is great for quick, easy hand washing, but have you ever wondered what chemicals are contained in your soap? Ever felt like your hands are really dry or the skin is irritated? Some people can find hand soaps to be the cause of this reaction. Not only can the chemicals in hand soaps have negative reactions on our skin but they end up in our water ways and can impact our aquatic ecosystems.

Antibacterial soaps have gained a lot of popularity over the years with people becoming more afraid of germs, however the U.S Food and Drug Administration have come out to say that there isn’t enough evidence to show that these antibacterial soaps are any better at preventing illness than washing with water and plain soap. Liquid Castile soap is a natural chemical free soap that is biodegradable and not harmful to our environment. It is made completely from plant-based oils meaning no animal fats are used unlike a lot of commercial hand soaps. It is soft and gentle for use on even the most sensitive skin, including babies and children.

It is super easy to make your own chemical free liquid hand soap for everyday use in your household.

What you need:

• 1 cup of water
• 3 tablespoons of liquid castile soap
• 1/2 tablespoon of apricot oil*
• 5-10 drops of lavender essential oil
• 1 sprig of dried rosemary or a few drops of rosemary essential oil.

*Apricot oil can help to soothe rough and damaged skin and has a pleasant nutty scent.

Process:

• Pour the cup of water into a jug.
• Slowly add the liquid castile soap to the water.
• Add the apricot oil and and essential oil to the soap mixture.
• Gently swish the mixture around in the jug
• Pour the soap into the dispenser.
• Gently slide the Rosemary sprig into the mixture.

Your soap will be quite watery, but if you have a foaming pump dispenser, this soap works perfectly as a foamy hand soap. Just a note on the rosemary sprig, after a few days your soap may begin to turn a dark tea colour, this doesn’t hurt the soap, but if you are concerned about it no longer looking clear, just remove the rosemary sprig after a day or two.

It’s so easy and quick you can make up a batch of this lavender and rosemary hand soap in only a matter of minutes! Let us know what you think in the comments!