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25 of the best essential oil blends for amazing hand soap

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Homemade foaming hand soap

In the past, I have admitted to being a hand soap snob.

Working for years for the health department will turn you into one.

Or just being a mom to two messy kids. Who love to get sticky stuff all over you. It will drive you to want a hand soap that works to get all the yuck off.

And there might be a tad of a germaphobe in me too.

But Y’all, I seriously wash my hands ALL THE TIME.

My love of the three hand soaps I would buy from the Williams Sonoma store inspired me to create these three easy foaming hand soap recipes with essential oils when I first started oils.

I’m not sure if you have seen how expensive buying wonderful smelling soaps can be but being frugal has lead me to be crafty. Lately, I’ve been venturing out and trying a few more fun smelling, hard-working foaming soap recipes.

In this post, I’m going to cover the basics of how to create your own homemade liquid hand soap with Castile soap and creating scented soaps using essential oils. I even give you a list to download for free of the 25 best essential oils to use for hand soap recipes.

For those of you new to oils, I bet you are wondering…

Is it safe to add essential oils to liquid soap? I answer this great newbie question in my post- Can you add Essential oils to liquid soap?

*This post contains affiliate links to the essential oils and other products I talk about in the post.

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What are the best essential oils for hand soap?

The best essential oils for hand soap is really based on what smells you like. The best part of making this DIY essential oil project is having fun mixing and blending oils for your own unique blend. 

The most important part is choosing high-quality pure essential oils so you know you are getting a pure product.

I like to make small batches so I can change blends depending on the time of year, who is going to be using the soap and the essential oils I have on hand.

Here is my list of the best essential oils for hand soap-

Florals– Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Geranium, Melissa, Jasmine, Cistus

Citrus *– Lemon, Lime, Orange, Tangerine, Grapefruit, Citrus Fresh, Lemon Myrtle, Jade Lemon, Bergamot

Mint- Peppermint, Spearmint

Herbs- Rosemary, Marjoram, Basil, Thyme, Dill, Ginger, Sage, Tea Tree, Thieves

Woody and Earthy- Cypress, Pine, Fir, Spruce, Patchouli

Fresh and CleanEucalyptus, Lemongrass, Purification, Raven, Melrose

* Use caution when using citrus oils and going out into the sun. For a great lemon smell without the essential oil photosensitivity try Lemon Myrtle essential oil.  read my post on how to use essential oils in the sun for more information on safely using oils.

foaming hand soap dispenser

How do I make homemade liquid hand soap with Castile and essential oils foam?

Foaming soap is made by using regular soap that has air added to it by the type of foaming dispenser you use.

The key to really good foaming soap is to cut your soap to a ¼ soap to ¾ distilled water ratio. My basic recipe below should have you really close to the right ratio if you use an 8oz dispenser. I’ve learned the hard way that to much soap will clog the pump.

How do I make my own foaming hand soap with Essential Oils?

  • use my basic recipe to make your own blend
  • using one of the suggested blends I’ve created below for you.
foaming handsoap dispenser with essential oil bottles

foaming hand soap

Yield: 8 ozs
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 7 minutes
Difficulty: easy

Homemade foaming hand soap recipe using essential oils and castile soap.

Instructions

7 Easy steps to making your homemade essential oil hand soap

  1. Put 2 tablespoons of liquid castile soap into your empty 8 oz soap dispenser. You can use more soap if you have a very large dispenser, or cut the recipe in ½  if you have a smaller container.
  2. Add essential oils
  3. Add your fractionated coconut oil and vitamin E oil if you choose. These will help leave your hands feeling silky smooth. (You can substitute sweet almond oil or other favorite carrier oil)
  4. Fill the dispenser with filtered or distilled water making sure you save room for the pump parts.
  5. Secure the pump to the bottle.
  6. Gently shake to mix everything together.
  7. Use 1 or 2 pumps to wash your hands.

Notes

(the foaming pump is how you will get it to foam, they are super affordable and so worth it!)

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25 essential oil hand soap blends

As always feel free to adjust these to your liking. I've kept the drop amount to 10 per recipe so that the dilution is safe for family use.

Combine one of the blends below with the above Basic Hand soap recipe to create an amazing essential oil scented handsoap.

For an easy to print pdf of the essential oil Homemade Foaming hand soap recipes, click on the image below and download the essential oil inspired Hand soap recipes, PDF document and print it out on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

1. Citrus Tea

5 drops Bergamot + 5 drops Tangerine

2. Lemon Bliss

5 drops Lemon Myrtle + 3 drops Lemongrass + 2 drops Citrus Fresh

3. Herb Garden

3 drops Basil + 3 drops Lemongrass + 5 drops Spearmint

4. High Tea

5 drops Bergamot + 2 drops Lavender + 3 drops Lemon

5. Minty Lemon

5 drops Jade Lemon + 5 drops Peppermint

6. Passion Fruit

5 drops Grapefruit + 5 drops Geranium

7. Summer Fun

5 drops Lime + 5 drops Basil

8. Mr Clean

5 drops Purification + 5 drops Lemon

9. Eucalyptus fresh

5 drops Eucalyptus + 3 drops Lemon + 2 drops Spearmint

10. Tea Tree Fresh

5 drops Tea Tree + 5 drops Citrus Fresh

11. Peppermint Grove

5 drops Peppermint + 5 drops Tea Tree

12. Rosemary Lemon 

5 drops Rosemary + 2 drops Lavender + 3 drops Lemon

13. Garden Time

3 drops Rosemary + 3 drops Marjoram + 3 drops Basil

14. Kid Fun

5 drops Lavender + 5 drops Citrus Fresh

15. Happy Day

5 drops Eucalyptus + 3 drops Tea Tree + 2 drops Spearmint  

16. Floral Dream

3 drops Lavender + 3 Geranium + 4 drops Lime

17. Florida Sunset

4 drops Ylang Ylang + 6 drops Citrus Fresh

18. Daytime Boost

3 drops Rosemary + 7 drops Peppermint

19. Forest Walk

3 drops Patchouli + 2 drops Grapefruit + 2 drops Lavender

20. Minty Floral

3 drops Cistus + 7 drops Spearmint

21. Calming Wash

3 drops Cedarwood + 3 drops Lavender + 4 drops Bergamot

22. Hey Melissa

2 drops Melissa + 2 lavender + 6 drops Orange

23. Fruity Mint

4 drops Tangerine + 6 drops Spearmint

24. Grassy Stroll

3 drops Lemongrass + 4 drops Cypress + 3 drops Lemon

25. Sunny Fresh

3 drops Eucalyptus + 3 drops Lemongrass + 4 drops Tangerine

My Top 25 essential oil homemade foaming hand soap blends you can print

For an easy to print pdf of the essential oil Homemade Foaming hand soap recipes, click on the image below and download the essential oil inspired Hand soap recipes, PDF document and print it out on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

Before you download this Homemade Foaming Hand Soap essential oil blend recipe pageI was wondering if you could do me a favor? Would you share this post on Facebook using the blue Facebook button below? I’d love as many people as possible to see these great foaming hand soap with essential oil recipes!

list of 25 essential oil blends to use in handsoap

2 essential oil bottles with castile soap, vitamin E oil and soap dispenser

And to recap- The Ingredients you need to make a foaming homemade essential oil hand soap-

7 Easy steps to making your homemade essential oil hand soap

First, Put 2 tablespoons of liquid castile soap into your empty 8 oz soap dispenser. You can use more soap if you have a very large dispenser, or cut the recipe in ½  if you have a smaller container.

Next, selected one of the essential oil blends listed above and add the essential oils to the dispenser.

This step is optional but I like to added for the moisturizing effect it gives. Add your fractionated coconut oil and vitamin E oil if you choose. These will help leave your hands feeling silky smooth. (You can substitute sweet almond oil or other favorite carrier oil)

Fill the soap dispenser with filtered or distilled water making sure you save room for the pump parts. I prefer distilled so I know that I'm not adding bacteria and mold to my hand soap.

Secure the pump to the bottle.

Gently shake to mix everything together.

Use 1 or 2 pumps to wash your hands. Wash hands for at least 20 seconds.

That’s all it takes to make your own homemade liquid hand soap with Castile and essential oils.

I really like the instant gratification of being able to use this right as you make it. Plus being able to use whatever essential oils I have on hand is nice too.

Looking for the best smelling essential oil blends to use for your DIY hand soap? Look no further I have a list of some great blends you will love to try.

foaming soap dispenser

I hope you have a fun time making these essential oil hand soap recipes. I’d love to hear what your favorite essential oil blends are so comment below and let me know!

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DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is based upon my research and personal use of Young Living essential oils. The statements made and the products mentioned on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please read the full disclaimer here

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Claudia

Sunday 15th of November 2020

I’d love to know why you don’t use a preservative as your soap contains water?

Ruth

Friday 20th of November 2020

Great question. Thank you for asking. As a rule of thumb, soap does not require a preservative because the pH level does not allow for bacteria or mold growth. Also, as an extra step of caution, I recommend a brand of Castile soap for my recipes that does contain some preservative already in it. I also recommend in all my recipes to use distilled water to help control the introduction of bacteria. - Ruth

Cecilia

Tuesday 2nd of April 2019

Does the peppermint make your hands cold? Also, would these be safe for littles because of the essential oils? My daughter is 16 months. Thanks! :)

Ruth

Thursday 4th of April 2019

hi Cecilia, I've never personally felt like the peppermint made my hands cold. The dilution amount for the oil versus the amount of soap and the water is less than 2%. so I'm not sure you would get a cooling effect like you do when the dilution is higher. If you want to use an essential oil hand soap for your little you may want to look at Young Living's Thieves hand soap or make your own using their Kid scents body wash. I personally use the kid scent body wash for my girl's hand soap mainly because they have super sensitive skin and I'm not always there to monitor the amount of soap they use. Hope this helps. thanks for you great question.

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