On my quest to transition to natural skin care, hair care, and home care I have had a hate-hate relationship with all natural dish soap! I've been trying to perfect it for about 2 months now...UGH! I searched and searched and just kept coming across the same basic recipe: boiling water, grated soap, wait 24 hours, etc...I thought I was going to go crazy because each time I made a batch, it didn't work! I had to keep adding more of this and that and reheating.
Anyways, enough of my rant...I'm sure those recipes I tried can work great for others but they just didn't seem to work for me; or maybe I'm simply not doing it right. But with the amount of dishes we do in my house (no dishwasher), I was spending like 30 minutes once a week just making dish soap- no thanks. So, in my unnecessary "anger" last week when the dish soap got all chunky and was barely sudsy (again), I started dumping stuff into my soap container, and to be honest it was the best batch I've made so far! I got so excited, I made my husband come see! He was excited too, since he usually does the dishes after dinner, and hadn't been too thrilled with my concoctions.
So I figured I should share my findings (thankfully I remember what I did) with other "dish-traught" dish washers, that are trying to be more sustainable and careful with chemical cleansers. As I said, I'm sure a lot of people have their own way that works great- but this is what works for me and it's so quick and easy (once you have the ingredients)!!
Without further adieu, 5 Minute DIY Dish Soap
All these ingredients are things I would recommend having around your home if you're transitioning to natural cleaners, laundry detergent, beauty, hair care, etc- they all have unlimited uses!
|| I N G R E D I E N T S |
- Pure Liquid Castille Soap | 1 cup + | - I use Dr. Bronners - there's all different scents you can choose from!
- Super Washing Soda | 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp| - you can find this in the laundry/cleaners aisle of most any store.
- Essential oils of Tea Tree, Lemongrass, Sweet Orange - these aren't necessary but aid in the antimicrobial & astringent properties of the soap (cleaner dishes/cleaner hands). They also give it a clean, citrusy scent! You can use one or all, or other essential oils of your choice, but I'd recommend using oils that have similar properties.
- Vitamin E Oil | 1 tsp | (optional) - helps preserve the soap (even though you'll most likely use it before it goes bad), it also helps to soften the soap & keeps it from drying out your hands so much because of the washing soda.
- Vegetable Glycerin | 2 tsp | (optional) - helps with suds & residue buildup, and also softens the soap.
- Hot water (you can also use distilled or bottled water if you think your tap water is too dirty to use for the soap).
- An old dish soap container or a cute one like this- I like mine because I can mix the soap right there in the jar (yes- impatience again).
|| D I R E C T I O N S |
- Fill your soap container half way with hot water (needs to be very warm so it can dissolve the washing soda).
- Add 1 tbsp super washing soda (this works in my 16 oz soap container). If your container is bigger, I'd suggest adding another 1/2 tbsp.
- Stir, shake, mix- whatever you want to do to get that soda dissolved!
- Now fill up almost the whole rest of the soap container with your liquid castille soap- leave a little bit of room for the remaining ingredients if you're adding them.
- Add in the Vitamin E oil & vegetable glycerin if you are using it, if not go on to the next step.
- Add in 10-20 drops total of your essential oils. I do this:
- 8-10 drops tea tree
- 5 drops lemongrass
- 5 drops sweet orange
- Stir, shake, mix- get it all together! You're done-zo!!
At first it will be pretty liquidy, but you can still use it! The consistency doesn't change the properties or effects of the soap. It will thicken over time, so be ready to add a little warm water and shake it up again in a day or so if it gets too thick for you. I have found that this combination suds up very well, doesn't leave any residue on my glasses, and smells wonderful! This stuff fights grease and grime as good as Dawn or Ajax in my opinion! Let me know what you think and I hope this works great for you!
Until next time. xoxo
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