Dish Soap

We ran out of dish soap a couple of weeks ago and, since we are trying our hardest not to buy plastics (even recyclable ones!), I made a new batch of dish soap. Other good reasons not to use commercially produced dish soap: Most contain toxic chemicals, fragrances, preservatives, and even pesticides that are potential or known carcinogens. The toxic ingredients can leave a film on your plate, which touches your food, but you also absorb them through your skins whenever you wash dishes by hand. So for health and eco reasons, we've decided to go natural and homemade. 

This DIY uses few ingredients and only takes about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup bar soap, grated (Ivory, castille, goat milk soap, etc. - any kind of soap will do. Natural grocery stores sell homemade soaps without the wrapping. Many farmer's markets do as well). We use lavender goat's milk soap and it smells amazing!
2 cups water
1 tsp. vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp. Dr Bronner's liquid castille soap (optional but I find this increases potency)
10-20 drops essential oil (optional)

Heat the grated soap and water in a saucepan over low or medium heat until it is all melted. Remove from heat and let cool. Add essential oil and vinegar. Pour into an old soap dispenser (this is great for foaming!). 

Make sure that the soap is completely cool before transferring to a container, especially if you are using a plastic soap dispenser. We all know that plastic seeps into liquid when heated and you don't want any petrochemical toxins in your dish soap (that's why you've gone to this trouble in the first place!). Also, there is some evidence that essential oils erode plastic. While this is usually with undiluted oils, it's always safer to skip the plastic if possible. If you're looking for glass soap dispensers, try this one or these. 

This soap smells AMAZING and gets dishes clean without any trouble. It's also so gentle on your hands that you can use it as a regular hand soap. 2 in 1 space saver, money saver, and health saver! Badabing, Badaboom.