Homemade Hand Soap and Soap Dispenser

Some folks spied my home-made soap dispenser in the background of the dish cloth article, and wanted more information on it! Happy to oblige!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

These "mason jar soap dispensers" are the "new" thing, the internet is lousy with how-to articles, and you can find them all over Etsy. But they're so easy to make, it's almost shameful!!

1. Take a pint-sized canning jar, lid and ring. You'll also need the pump from an old bottle of liquid soap or similar product (or buy a new one at a craft store if you like, but that'll cost money). 
2. With a Philips screwdriver, nail, ice pick, or other sharp scary object, punch a hole in the middle of the lid. Widen the hole to fit the pump. This is easy to do with a pair of pliers, the metal is very thin and soft. Bend the pointy bits back on the underside so you don't cut yourself.
3. Insert the pump through the hole in the lid. Using a strong household glue, glue the pump to the lid, let dry.
4. Fill jar with favorite liquid soap (hopefully home-made), put on lid, screw on ring, enjoy!

Home-made Liquid Soap

Granted, liquid soap isn't THAT expensive to buy. But year after year, it can add up. Plus there's all those containers heading to the landfill. I've found making my own is easy, inexpensive, it's nice to have control over the ingredients, I'm not sending more stuff to the landfill.

You can start with pretty much any bar of soap. It can be hand-made soap from the farmer's market (or if you make it yourself), it can be scrounged-up soaps from hotel rooms, it can be a bag of soaps from a yard sale or thrift store, or just a nice bar of soap you had sitting around the house. Don't use soap that has un-soap like bits embedded in it (oatmeal, lavender flowers, poppy seeds, etc), that'll just clog your pump.

1. Grate the bar of soap, or cut it into slivers or shavings. The smaller the better. 
2. Add 3 cups of water and heat on stove, stirring occasionally until the soap has melted. If it looks too thick, add more water. 
3. Transfer to a bigger pot, and add 3 more cups of water. Stir until blended. I usually let it sit overnight to cool, and if it's solidified in the morning, I add more boiling water and stir it until the soap has dissolved again. For a quick test, pour a little bit of the liquid into a cool saucer and let it cool. That'll give you the final thickness of your soap. Add more water as needed. You'll be surprised how much water you'll need to get a creamy liquid soap.
4. Once it's at the right consistency, you have the option of adding essential oils (if it won't conflict with whatever the soap smells like already) and/or safe soap colorings (available online and at craft stores). The soap in my picture was made from a bar of Tea Tree Oil soap, with added lavender oil, and some natural purple coloring. Pretty!
5. To add more moisturizing to your soap, you can add a tablespoon of glycerine (available in any drug store/pharmacy in the skin care aisle) and mix well.
6. Don't expect your home-made soap to have the lathering ability of the commercial stuff. They add chemicals to liquid soap to get the lather. Better to not have chemicals just for appearance's sake. 
7. You're probably end up with a couple of quarts of liquid soap from one bar of soap, but it stores just fine, you may have to add more water as time goes by, but water is cheap. 

There's plenty of other recipes online for home-made hand-soap. A quick Google/Bing search will offer you plenty of variations! Enjoy!