Make Lavender Liquid Hand Soap

Lavender Soap Bubbles
This season I'd like to add occasional tips about using herbs to make common household chores and activities more pleasant, eco-friendly or inexpensive. Over the years, I've tried lots of ways to incorporate herbs into my daily life. Some have worked and some . . . well, not so much. One thing I have learned is that herbs can make me feel that I lead a more graceful existence, whether I'm using them to make something time intensive, like a candle, or something easy, like adding fragrance to soap. This last is my offering today. I use liquid soap around the house via dispensers that I refill with 64 oz. bulk liquid soap from the market.

After using generic liquid hand soap for a while, I decided that it was gloppy and smelled bland. To get more value for the purchase and give it an individual stamp, I add around 30 percent distilled water to the mixture. This makes the soap less viscous and gives me more volume. When I'm adding the water, I put in about 25 drops of lavender essential oil. The oil smells wonderful and has relaxing properties too. I buy scentless soap, but on occasion I've used antibacterial varieties. Antibacterial soap typically doesn't have a fragrance, but it's a lurid orange that's hard to love. I put a few sprigs of lavender in the dispensers to liven them up too.

If you'd like to give this method a try, you can find lavender essential oil, or another herb fragrance you enjoy, like rose or geranium, at any craft supply outlet.

This is admittedly a small change, but put a few of them together and you'll be filling your life with the fragrances and textures of herbs year round. You'll also be saving money and making some eco-friendly choices that will keep your family, property and planet safer.

Special Note: A container of distilled water will last for months, and you can easily use it for other herb related projects.

Comments

  1. This caught my eye as I have dried lavender that I'm searching for uses for. Thanks for the inspiration :) You're a good writer :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mum in Bloom,

    Thanks. I appreciate that a lot.

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great entry. I'm trying to figure out one thing though. Why distilled water? Are you trying to minimize the hard water's effect of not "Sudsing" up?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Jonathan,

    I always recommend distilled water for projects because it's neutral and free of bacteria and sediment.

    Thanks for asking.

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rock on girlfriend. Your Ideas always amaze me. I look forward to your articles.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Francine.

    People like you make blogging worthwhile.

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Sara! I have a Lavender plant at home. Any tips on how to extract essential oil from the herb?

    Maybe it'll be good for potpourri too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Chris,

    I posted about making lavender oil a while back. You can find a simple recipe here: http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2009/06/make-lavender-oil.html

    It isn't essential oil because for that I'd need to be able to distill the lavender mixture, and I haven't ramped up to that yet.

    I do love to use lavender in potpourri and lavender wands though.

    Cheers,

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks for sharing this information...keep on going!!!

    Lavender Oil

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh I am so happy I found your site! I have a fledgling lavender farm here in Northern California with about 100 plants. Thank you for all your great info and ideas! Betsy @ Broken Rake Lavender Farm

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Betsy.

    Good luck growing wonderful, fragrant lavender!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Share some ideas.