Above: Most of the ingredients for making dish soap are readily available at your local grocery and health food store. The key to reducing cost is to buy in bulk. The products listed below cost about $57, which seems like a lot until you consider how long they last. And most can be used for making other homemade cleaning products as well, such as dishwasher and laundry powder.
Ingredients and recipe adapted from Hello Natural.
- 3.75 cup distilled, filtered, or boiled water
- 2 cups unscented castile soap. Dr. Bronner’s Unscented Baby-Mild Castile Liquid Soap is $17.99 for 32 oz.
- 3 Tbsp. aloe gel (optional, for sensitive hands). Lily of the Desert Aloe Vera Gel is $9.14 for 32 oz. on Amazon.
- 4 1/2 tsp. washing soda for extra grease-fighting power. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is $9.89 for 55 oz. on Amazon.
- 3 tsp. vegetable glycerin. Now Solutions Vegetable Glycerine is $6.06 for 16 oz. on Amazon.
- Essential oil. I used pink grapefruit from Cambridge Naturals, my local store. Now also makes Grapefruit Oil; $7.08 for 1 oz. at Whole Health.
N.B.: Many dish soap recipes call for vinegar, but vinegar shouldn’t be combined with castile soap. Because soap is a base, it reacts against acids such as lemon or vinegar, effectively canceling out the benefits of both and leaving you with a lumpy mess. (Read more here.)
Instructions
Above: Start with distilled water
Step 1: Heat water until it’s warm and add washing soda (sodium carbonate). Stir to dissolve.
Step 2: Add castile soap (a natural cleaning agent made from coconut or olive oil that is both renewable and biodegradable).
Step 3: Add glycerin (a natural solvent and softening agent) and essential oil. In addition to adding a nice scent to your dish soap, some essential oils have antibacterial properties. Here’s a list of the Top 5 Green Cleaning Oils.
I could go on for a while about essential oils. (If you’re curious, Crunchy Betty provides a comprehensive tutorial.) But I’ll just stick to the basics. First, make sure you use pure essential oils, not aromatherapy oils, which have been diluted with a carrier oil. Second, a word of caution: Essential oils are highly concentrated and can irritate your skin if you use too much, so stick to the recipe. Finally, because they smell “yummy,” it’s recommended that you keep them out of reach of children.
Step 4: Place in the container of your choice (I recycled a water bottle) and you’re done.
Results
Above: My homemade dish soap in action. I love the grapefruit scent, and my dishes come out clean.
Want more eco-cleaning solutions?
- Erin whips up her own Windex substitute in Shine Bright like a Diamond: Window-Cleaning Edition.
- Alexa shares her favorite 12 Natural Garment Washes and Detergents.
