Once you see how easy it is to make your own liquid hand soap from a bar of soap, you’ll wonder why you ever paid for it. Just follow these simple steps to make your first batch.

Time Required:
10 minutes of hands-on time

Here is what you’ll need:
Left over pieces of soap or a bar (any brand will do)
A knife or grater
Water
A saucepan or small pot
Empty bottle

Method:
1. Grate or finely chop your soap pieces or a bar of soap (you’ll need about 120 grams or 1 cup of soap). If you are using a knife, slice soap into small, thin pieces, making it into flakes.
2. In your pan or pot, bring three cups of water to the boil.
3. Turn off the heat and add your soap flakes.
4. Stir your flakes until the soap melts. Continue stirring until the mixture becomes a stringy liquid consistency.
5. Allow the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, stir it again. The soap should be slightly thicker now.
6. Allow the soap to cool for several hours or overnight.
7. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too runny, reheat it and add more soap flakes. If it seems too thick, reheat it and add more water. The moisture content varies from one brand of bar soap to the next, so you’ll probably have to do a bit of tweaking to get your recipe just right.
8. Once you are happy with the thickness of your liquid soap, pour into a soap bottle.

Tips:
• This soap stores well, so you can make up a big batch and refill your soap bottles as needed.
• Be sure to label your liquid soap container so that everyone in your house knows what’s inside.
• Keep track of any tweaks/changes that you make to the recipe, so you can repeat your success the next time you make a batch.
• Have sensitive skin? If you have a bar soap that works well for you, use it to make your liquid soap. It’s a great way to avoid all the harsh chemicals and fragrances that are typically found in store-bought liquid soaps.
• Purchase or collect some empty soap dispensers and give your homemade liquid soap as gifts.

Tell us: Will you be using this recipe? What will you add to tweak yours?