Creating foaming liquid soap at home is easier than you think. The process involves mixing Liquid Soap Concentrate Base and distilled water. It’s customized with color and fragrance, then poured into Foaming Pump Bottles. It’s a fun alternative to bar soap, and it looks great next to the sink.
The supplies you need to get started are included in the Foaming Liquid Soap Kit – all you need to provide is distilled water and a few basic tools. The kit also includes printed instructions and labels. Click here to get the kit.
This soap is scented with Coastal Rain Fragrance Oil, which has notes of lemon, white tea, sea salt, and musk. The color comes from Brilliant Blue LabColor. It’s a water-based colorant that’s easy to incorporate. Add just a few drops of LabColor for a light hue, or up to 2 mL for a highly saturated color.
What You Need:
*All items (except distilled water) included in the Foaming Liquid Soap Kit
5 Foaming Pump Bottles
8 oz. Liquid Soap Concentrate Base
37 oz. Distilled Water
8 mL Coastal Rain Fragrance Oil
Spray Bottle with Isopropyl Alcohol
Up to 2 mL Brilliant Blue LabColor
0.5 oz. Optiphen ND
2 Droppers
- 5 Foaming Pump Bottles
- 8 oz. Liquid Soap Concentrate Base
- 37 oz. Distilled Water
- 8 mL Coastal Rain Fragrance Oil
- Spray Bottle with Isopropyl Alcohol
- Up to 2 mL Brilliant Blue LabColor
- 0.5 oz. Optiphen ND
- 2 Droppers
- Pour all the liquid soap concentrate base into the large heat-proof bowl and microwave on 30-second bursts it until it’s about 140F. Using a dropper, add 8 mL of fragrance oil. Stir until the base turns clear, periodically spritzing with alcohol to pop any bubbles. If the soap isn’t clear after a few minutes, microwave on 10-second bursts and stir until it is.
- Place the large bowl on a scale, weigh out 37 oz. of distilled water, and mix. Spritz with alcohol. Add all of the Optiphen ND. Using a dropper, add drops of blue colorant up to 2 mL until you get a shade you like. Stir to fully incorporate.
- Using a funnel, carefully pour the soap into the foaming pump bottles, leaving a ¼” of space at the top. Let sit for an hour without caps to cool. Screw the caps on and enjoy.
How can I tell is oz in your recipes are fluid oz or weight oz? I never know which way to measure. The 8oz of soap concentrate is that by weight? I noticed the recipe says to weigh the water. Thanks!
After hitting send I realized I hardly made any sense. My question is, how can I tell if the recipe is to be measured in weight or fluid ounces? In this recipe the soap is 8oz and the water is 37oz to be weighed. Is the 8oz by weight or fluid oz? I never know how to tell which it is. Thanks.
Hello, I just want to say first of all I LOVE everything Bramble Berry Offers! Its an awesome experience just going through your website. So I ordered this kit however I came across a step I wasn’t to sure I was doing correctly. This step was a bit confused being its my first time playing with soaps (which Im loving!).
*Stir until the base turns clear, periodically spritzing with alcohol to pop any bubbles. If the soap isn’t clear after a few minutes, microwave on 10-second bursts and stir until it is.* Now is it suppose to turn see through clear or a clear white. Which I did the 10 second bursts but it wouldn’t turn “see through clear” and I didn’t continue doing it afraid I would burn the fragrance oil. So my question is was I suppose continue doing the 10 second bursts until I did get it “see through clear”? Please help 🙂
You’ll want to stir (and heat again if necessary) until the base is fully translucent with no cloudiness to it.
Hi, is it possible to add some extracts to this soap recipe to make it even more soothing? Maybe mallow extract, seaweed extract, and/or liquid silk? Do you think things like that would blend in, and if so, when do you suggest I add it and about how much do you think would be appropriate? Thank you!
Also, could I add mica for color/sparkle rather than the LabColor? (I have some left over from another project!)
Sorry, last question! I will have some leftover Liquid Castile Soap Base from something else – is it possible to use that in this recipe rather than the concentrate? If so, do you have any guidance for what the ratio should be of that base to water, given it’s not concentrated? I’ve tried to find other foaming soap recipes on your site and have looked at the castile soap page for help, but I couldn’t find anything concrete to try to work off of. I would love any suggestions you have!
You can definitely add extracts to liquid soap if you’d like, you should be able to add it right in at room temperature. We’d recommend no more than 1tsp per pound of soap.
We don’t recommend using micas in liquid soap – they are a particle-based colorant and will sink to the bottom of the container.
We haven’t tried using castile soap base in a foamer as castile soap doesn’t naturally have much lather to it. You’ll want your mixture to be fairly thin, but not watery. Definitely do a small test batch first and see how things go.
You could try adding an extra extract to this recipe though it may change the consistency of the soap, reduce the lather, or separate out. I would recommend a small test batch to make sure you like the results. If you do try it I would recommend adding those extras to the Liquid Soap Concentrate Base when you add your fragrance at about 1% to start with.
You can safely add mica to this soap as well though it will settle to the bottom of the soap over time since it is a thinner recipe.
It would also be safe to use the Liquid Castile Soap Base in this recipe though it would not foam as much since that base is not concentrated. You would need to test for the ratio and will most likely have to use more water to help thin it out which will continue to reduce the foaminess.
instead of the water could you use goats milk?
Since this recipe uses a finished liquid soap base we would not recommend using goat milk instead of water. You are not making the soap from scratch so the milk has no chance to saponify and will go rancid in the bottles pretty quickly.
what is the shelf life on this?
We would recommend using this soap within one year.
What am I doing wrong?! The first time I tried this the fragrance oil separated so I tried a second time and now have white stuff that has sunk to the bottom.
If you’re still getting separation it sounds like the soap may not have been quite warm enough when you added the fragrance. Warming the soap to about 140F helps the fragrance blend in much easier and helps prevent separation.
Hello,Thanks so much for this tutorial but can castile soap be used in place of the liquid soap concentrate base? Thanks
You could, but you would want to use less water in the recipe if it isn’t a concentrated base!