Sunday, March 18, 2012

Verdict - DIY Body Wash

Should I make DIY Body Wash next? Vote on my blog: lifeispinteresting.blogspot.com
DIY Body Wash
I wish this post could be scratch and sniff - this stuff is amazing!

I was really excited about making this body wash. I started making it around 10am and my friend Michelle came over in the afternoon with her kids for a playdate, and to help me finish it.

For this recipe, I used lavender soap, and after I was finished mixing the body wash, I added a bottle (8oz) of philosophy amazing grace body spray. The funny thing about that is I didn't want to experiment with bars of philosophy because the stuff is so expensive. I had a bottle of amazing grace body spray that I haven't been using (and got for free a loooong time ago) so I thought it would be perfect for this. It was only at the very end, when I was figuring out how much money I saved by making my own philosophy body wash, that I did a search on Google and found that 8oz of philosophy body spray is $45! Oops! Guess I'm lucky this worked!! Here's what I did:

Makes 1 Gallon (seriously)
8 oz bar soap - most bars are 4 oz each, so you'll need 2 - any kind'll do!
2 T. Glycerin
16 Cups (one gallon) of water
Optional: add in's like perfume, essential oils, etc. that make the body wash smell extra good. Use whatever you like! 

Using a cheese grater, grate the bars of soap into a bowl. Pour the grated soap into a LARGE pot, then add the glycerin (more on that in tips), and 16 cups/1 gallon of water and put on the stove over medium heat, stirring occasionally until all of the grated soap has dissolved. This takes about 5 minutes.

Take the pot off the heat and let it sit. You'll notice at first the mixture is thin and a little runny, but don't fret... When you hit hour 3, the stuff starts thickening rapidly! The site I got this "recipe" from said to wait 10-12 hours, but I was happy with mine after 5.

To finish it off, stir it well (it will be thick and slimy), then grab your mixer and mix on medium speed for 2 - 3 minutes. Then, BAM! You've got a gallon (literally) of heavenly, silky body wash!

Here's my cost breakdown:
The lavender bar soap was on sale: 2 bars for $2 - score!
Glycerin - $3 for 6 oz. (2 T. is equal to 1 oz., so 1 bottle of glycerin will make 6 gallons of body wash!)
philosophy body spray - $45 for 8oz (if I had known how expensive it was, I would have just bought one bar of philosophy soap and made a half batch instead, which for a half gallon would have cost about $10.)

All said and done, 1 gallon of "Amazing Lavender Grace (thanks Rena!)" cost less than $50 for 1 gallon of body wash! That equals 10 regular sized (16 oz.) bottles of body wash for $5 each! Compare that to $22 for a 16 oz. bottle of philosophy body wash, and you'll save over $10 per bottle!

Tips:

  • Glycerin was not easy to find! We finally found it at Wal-Mart in the pharmacy - next to the band aids.
  • You can use ANY KIND of bar soap you want - how cool is that!?
  • Next time around, if using philosophy again, I will probably make a half batch. 
Looking forward to making some for my husband! Will just have to find some "manly" scented bar soap first!

Please let me know if you make this - would love to know how it turned out! Here's mine:


Enjoy!
C

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30 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Tracy- saw your comment- I hope this worked out for you! If not, let me know!!!

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  2. can i just skip the Glycerin? Will it still come out ok?

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    1. Hey, Mrs. D! You could give it a try, but I'm worried you'd just get soapy soup. The glycerin is where the magic happens! If you try the "recipe" without it, make a small batch. Please let me know how it turns out!!

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    2. Hey, Mrs. D! You could give it a try, but I'm worried you'd just get soapy soup. The glycerin is where the magic happens! If you try the "recipe" without it, make a small batch. Please let me know how it turns out!!

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    3. You can actually use corn syrup instead of glycerin! It works the same way but its easier and cheaper!

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    4. Will try that for sure! Was just thinking it's time to whip up a new batch!

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  3. Can I use my cooking pots& tools for this or will it make them "tainted" for cooking afterwards? Didn't know if the chemicals or soap would affect them.

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    1. That's an excellent question - and I never considered that before you mentioned it! I think you'll be fine- I haven't had any issues. Let me know when you make some! I'd love to know how it turns out! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  4. Replies
    1. I'm not sure what you mean -- but yes, this will make body wash!

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  5. Will this homemade shower gel lather? I read on another site that it doesn't...

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    1. Hi! It does lather, but probably not on par with the commercial body washes out there. I wondered if it was due to the alcohol based fragrance I used. I have been thinking it's time to make another batch. I'll post results!

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  6. It won't thicken with Dove beauty bar.

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    1. I wonder why that might be... Did you use glycerin? Have you tried with other types of soap?

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    2. Dove is different because it has like 1/4 moisturizer in it. I read from other comments on blogs like this one that you have to use more dove bars to match the equivalent of a gallon of shower gel using any other type of bar soap. Think it takes like 8 bars to make a gallon.

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    3. I use Dove bar soap w/o the glycerin. 2 bars + 5 cups water + 1/4 cup of Coconut Oil + 1/4 tsp Vitamin E oil. It's thick like store bought and lathers great. My hubby loves the men's Dove done this way. You can omit the Coconut oil and Vit. E if you want.

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  7. I made some last night. It sat for 10 hours and I checked it and it's totally seperated. All the soap sunk to the bottom, and the water is on top. Is this normal? How can I fix it?

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    1. BUMMER! I wonder what happened!? What kind of soap did you use? Another person commented on here that they tried it with Dove and it didn't work.

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    2. The glycerin is to keep it from separating.

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  8. I tried this using Philosophy bar soap and after 12 hours I just have soapy water.

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  9. Do add the oils and fragrance at the end?

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  10. This might be a stupid question, but if you have the soap on hand, why wouldn't you just wash with that?

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    1. that works but I think the object is to take a bar of soap which in turn can make any where from a 1/2 gallon to a gallon of body wash. Very frugal!

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    2. that works but I think the object is to take a bar of soap which in turn can make any where from a 1/2 gallon to a gallon of body wash. Very frugal!

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    3. I know this is an old question, but I HATE bar soap! even if it's antibacterial, I just picture little bacteria germs multiplying on it because someone just rubbed their dirty hands on it. Then I come to "wash" my hands, and rub their bacteria all over my hands. Just gross! Plus, the bar starts to look grimy after a while.

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    4. I can't believe it! It worked perfectly!! Love this!! Thank you!!!!

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  11. Can homemade soap be used?

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  12. You say you can use any soap I would like to try it with Olay soap because I have a favorite scent in one of their body washes and would like to make my own and never have to worry about running out again.

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  13. So if I make half a batch 1 bar of soap 8 of water and 1t Glycerin is that teaspoon. Or tablespoon,basically half of everything,??

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