cheap trick: foaming hand soap

I wash my hands A LOT. I was my hands so frequently that no amount of lotion after washing keeps my knucks from cracking and bleeding all the time.   I'm not a germaphobe though I did shutter at the doctor Monday when my kid set his sucker down on the magazine table in the hospital lobby.  I had the impulse of dunking it in Purell but building immunities, right? I fully realize that germs and illness are part of life. Sick happens. After a rough start to the cold and flu season while pregnant I'm just over having extra germs literally on hand 24/7. So I wash my hands, people.

I actually kinda hate washing my hands.  It's annoying to me. It's an annoying but necessary habit that I love to hate.  It's like taking my makeup off before bed. I always feel refreshed and like I really just 'did something with my life' on the occasion I do strip down the old facey-face before beddy-by.  But UGHHH. The monotony. The effort. Just UGHHH.

Sometimes I need more than general hygiene standards to motivate me to wash my hands which is why I am a freak for seasonal soaps, especially of the foaming variety.  This past December, Bath and Body Works had a moment in time where I could combine my coupons with an in store promotion that allowed me to stock up on foaming hand soaps for less than $2 a bottle.  I didn't exactly walk out with a crate of soaps because how embarrassing would that have been.  But after I gifted a good portion of my hoard around the holidays and put the 'wintery scent' soaps away for next year, I realized I should have set my pride aside and just bought ALL THE SOAPS.

I wondered if there was a way I could just make foaming soap using the bottle I cashed on Saturday (RIP Fresh Balsam.)  I thought, "It'd be pretty tight if I could just reuse this bottle and figure out how to turn cheaper soap into foaming soap."  And since there is not an original idea left in the world, several people on the interwebs had already thought the same thing and did all the leg work for me.

Turns out, all you need to make your own foaming hand soap is three things:

1. Empty foaming hand soap bottle (with pump, obvi.)
2. Any non-foaming liquid hand soap
3. Water
   (I used distilled water because I had a jug on hand but tap seems to be what most people use.)

The key to making the soap "foam" has nothing to do with the formula of the soap itself but rater the mechanics of the pump so start saving your empty foaming bottles if you want to try this cheap trick out.

Directions are pretty straightforward.  Pour about a half-inch to a little over an inch of regular liquid hand soap into your empty bottle.  I used an empty Bath and Body Works bottle but most foaming soaps are the standard ounces and base width.  Next, add water until you fill the bottle.  Leave some room at the top because when you screw on the pump, your solution will get displaced and if you are doing it over your counter top and not allowing for overflow like me, this fun little project will just start to get messy and annoy you.  It doesn't have to be that way!

I gave my bottle a vigorous shake because it just felt natural.  If you use warm water, the liquid soap will dissolve quicker into a homogeneous mixture that requires less shaking.  In my experience, neither scent or richness of later is compromised by diluting liquid soap with water.  If you want a more rich lather consistency, add more liquid soap and less water.  Boom.

My exact reaction when I washed my hands for the first time with my DIY foaming hand soap: "Well, I'll be damned.  Actually works."  It required about 40 seconds of actual hands-on time to make and it's going to stretch my liquid hand soaps a lot further and put extra cash in my budget for things like coffee, makeup and beer soon enough.  I'm currently like a million weeks pregnant and I'm not going to lie, I'm getting pretty stoked for a pint.

So start hoarding your foaming soap bottles/dispensers and give this cheap trick a try!  I give it two very clean, very lovely-smelling thumbs up, babes.