Making Homemade Body Wash from bar soap is so easy. You just need bar soap, water, coconut oil, and a little bit of patience.
For more things to make, check out all of our DIY posts.
I don’t like bar soap. When I moved out into my first apartment and started couponing, body wash was always free. So I bought that and was hooked. My skin felt so soft and never felt like it was coated in that weird residue soap leaves behind.
A few years ago, when stores were out of everything, my body wash stash was getting low. So I started making homemade body wash from a bar of soap.
I know, I know. It’s easy enough to go to the store and buy body wash. But have you looked at the prices? Body wash is $7 not on sale and that’s just ridiculous considering you can make your own body wash from really simple ingredients that you probably already have at home. Plus, the best part? You don’t have to leave home if you run out. Just whip this up in your kitchen.
Also, quick side note: Some homemade body washes use liquid castile soap. You can do that, but that stuff is super expensive and an extra cost that you might not be able to afford. So sure, that’s made from natural ingredients rather than harsh chemicals. But, if you’re reading this post, you’re doing this more to be frugal or because you’re in a pinch. So cheap bars of soap that you bought with a coupon are your best choice.
How To Make Body Wash From Bar Soap
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Homemade Body Wash From Bar Soap Supplies:
- 1.5 oz. bar soap
- Garlic grater
- Medium sauce pan
- 1.5 cups of water
- Bamboo spoon
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Funnel
- Empty 12 oz. plastic body wash bottle
How To Make Body Wash From Bar Soap:
Use the garlic grater to grate the bar soap into the sauce pan.
Grate 1 ounce of soap for every 1 cup of water.
In this recipe, we’re refiling a 12 ounce bottle. That’s 1.5 cups of water, so grate 1.5 oz. of soap. Different body washes come in different sized bottles, though. So, if you have a smaller container, you’ll use less water and soap. And if you have a larger container, you’ll use more water and soap.
If you don’t have a garlic grater (which is the finest grate), you can use a cheese grater.
The smaller the flakes, the easier this whole process is, so that’s why I suggest a garlic grater. But honestly, if you only have a cheese grater, that’s fine.
Add your water to the pot with the grated soap.
Heat the pot on medium-high heat until the soap is completely melted, stirring constantly with the bamboo spoon. The water will look milky and frothy.
Remove the hot water/soap mixture from the heat add a scoop of coconut oil. One teaspoon of coconut oil works best. Too much and this mixture will get really thick and won’t liquify. Mix until the coconut oil melts down completely.
Let the homemade body wash sit and cool at least two hours (I leave it for five hours).
We reuse a body wash bottle because it’s easy to get the body wash out of. You could use a pump bottle (pro tip: save your old soap dispensers for this, if you don’t usually). We wouldn’t suggest a glass bottle, like a mason jar, because that could slip out of your hands in the shower and be really unsafe.
Stick a funnel in the top of your empty container. Carefully pour the liquid into the container.
The homemade body wash will last quite a while, so you can make it ahead of time and then use it when you need body wash. Homemade body wash is just soap, water, and coconut oil, so it has a long shelf life.
Tips For Making Homemade Body Wash Out Of Bar Soap
Just a couple tips to make your first time a little easier:
One: It really helps to put your homemade body wash into an old body wash container. That way, you’ll know how many ounces of body wash the container held to begin with, so you’ll know how many ounces of water you need to fill it.
Plus, you’ll also be recycling, which is one of my favorite pastimes.
Two: The ratio I use is 1 ounce of bar soap to 1 cup (8 ounces) of water. So if you’re reusing a 12 oz. body wash container, that’s 1.5 ounces of bar soap.
I read so many blog posts that were so willy-nilly on the measurements, and that was driving me crazy. So this 1 ounce of body was per 1 cup of water is what I came up with and it has worked well for us every time.
Homemade Body Wash From Bar Soap: Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s talk about the coconut oil for a minute. When I originally made this, I used just soap and water. Which was fine. We used the entire bottle of body wash without complains. But it did make me feel like I was washing with a thin, liquid soap, not a moisturizing body wash.
So the next time I made it, I added coconut oil. And wouldn’t you know, it made a world of difference. The body wash lathered up more, it was thicker, and my skin felt insanely soft after using it.
So honestly, the coconut oil is optional. You can opt out of it and your homemade body wash would be just fine.
But if you choose to use coconut oil, you’ll probably swear by this Homemade Body Wash and never buy store-bought body wash again. The coconut oil really sold me on this at-home concoction.
Yes, you can absolutely add your favorite essential oils to Homemade Body Wash. You can add either a single essential oil or a blend.
After you pour the homemade body wash into the container with the funnel, add 20 drops of essential oil per 4 oz. of homemade body wash. Shake the body wash to mix the oils in and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Check the scent after it sits and add more essential oils if you prefer.
We don’t do much with essential oils besides adding lavender essential oil to coconut oil for a soothing lotion, so you’ll have to come up with your own blends.
If your body wash comes out too thick, it could be because of the kind of soap you used. Different brands have different formulas, so you’re better off going with a good quality soap. In the photos in this post, we’re using a bar of Dove soap. So, if you’re having trouble, maybe try that brand.
If your homemade body wash is thick, add more water and melt it again on the stove.
Another reason that you could end up with thick body wash is adding the coconut oil too early. You don’t want to add the coconut oil when the sauce pan is on the stove. If the coconut oil gets too hot, it will make your body wash thick and solid.
DIY body wash is a creamy body wash that does lather up like store-bought. You still get all the great bubbles that you usually get with body wash, which is nice.
Soap usually takes a bit of effort to make any sort of lather. And if you do like that lather, you need to use a ton of traditional bar soap to attain that. So you would think the same would happen with this concoction, but you’d be wrong.
We never make our own soap, so I’m not sure if you can use homemade soap to make body wash. If you try that, be sure to let us know in the comments.
More homemade bath products:
If you want to make more bath products from scratch, check out our Homemade Bubble Bath and our Mint Sugar Scrub recipes.
Homemade Body Wash (from bar soap)
Making Homemade Body Wash from bar soap is so easy. You just need bar soap, water, coconut oil, and a little bit of patience.
Materials
- 1 oz. bar soap
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Tools
- Garlic grater
- Medium sauce pan
- Bamboo spoon
- Empty plastic container
- Funnel
Instructions
- Use the garlic grater to grate the bar soap into the sauce pan. Grate 1 ounce of soap for every 1 cup of water.
- Add your water to the pot.
- Heat it on medium-high heat until the soap is completely melted, stirring constantly with the bamboo spoon. The water will look milky and frothy.
Remove the homemade body wash from the heat add a scoop of coconut oil. Let the homemade body wash sit to cool at least two hours (I leave it for five hours).- Stick a funnel in the top of your empty container. Carefully pour the liquid into the container.
Have you tried this DIY Body Wash recipe? Be sure to let us know how it went in the comments.
Betty
Saturday 20th of August 2022
I like Kirk’s Castile bar soap to make my liquid soap.
mark bill
Thursday 23rd of December 2021
This is so awesome and so helpful, especially for those who love DIYs and knowing what ingredients are in their beauty and skincare. Keep up the great work.
Evelyn Bundrage
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Ivory soap bars do not make good body wash. No matter how much water is added. It is thick after cooling. Tried the mixer. It is not working.
drugstore diva lisa
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
That's good to know. I've never actually tried Ivory. This is Dove in the images and you can see that worked great. I've used some others too, but never Ivory. Did you add coconut oil to it?