Washing hands regularly is so important to health and especially in preventing the spread of illness. But antibacterial soap chemicals not only kill bad germs, but also the beneficial bacteria that make up a good part of our immune system. Fortunately, scrubbing hands thoroughly for a full 30 seconds using a soap without chemicals gets rid of exactly the same amount of germs as using a chemical-based soap. Here’s my favorite recipe for a foaming hand soap. I prefer foaming soap recipes, because I have kids and they tend to use way too much soap otherwise. Foaming soap dispensers make them feel like they’re getting a big handful of soap. This recipe costs just pennies to make, and you can customize the fragrance naturally to your liking. I love it as an alternative to expensive hand soaps at the grocery store that cost $3.49 a bottle.

Ingredients

• 10-12 ounces of distilled water
• 2 Tablespoons Liquid Castile Soap (Click here for the one I get on Amazon)
• 1/2 tsp olive oil, avocado oil or almond oil
• 10 drops essential oils of your choice (I love using lavender, tea tree, ylang ylang, bergamot, or lemongrass. Many of these have antimicrobial and antifungal properties, too.)

Instructions

1. Add water to the soap dispenser first (I love this one on Amazon) If you have trouble finding a 12 ounce dispenser, decrease the water in this recipe as needed. Be sure to leave room for the pump lid to be screwed on later.
2. Add liquid castile soap to the water mixture
3. Add olive oil/almond oil
4. Add essential oils
5. Put the lid on and give it a few swirls to mix

Here are a few more bottles I love from Amazon: