This homemade foaming hand wash was formulated to be super easy to make. For me, I tend to find everything a bit intimating until I have made it a few times. I like to start by making a super easy recipe, then slowly start expanding it until it suits my needs.

Table of Contents

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Hand wash vs soap

You might be wondering why this is called a hand wash instead of a hand soap. Technically it’s not a ‘soap’, because soap is made from fats that are saponified and we are using surfactants.

What is a surfactant?

The quick answer is the surfactant is what makes this hand wash clean your hands. Surfactants are what create the bubbles in hand wash.

To learn more in depth about surfactants check out my Surfactants Explained post.

Ph

Our skin has a ph between 4-7. I have formulated this foaming hand wash to have a pH right below 7.

If you want to learn more in-depth about pH and how to raise or lower it, check out my How To Make Products With A Balanced PH Level post.

Surfactants

There are many surfactants that you can choose from. Here are a few things to look for when selecting your surfactants.

Liquid : Since we are making a hand wash, I tend to prefer using liquid surfactants so there is no need to heat anything up.

Bubbles: This is something that most people don’t think about when they are washing their hands, but it makes a world of difference in hand wash. What type of bubble are you going for?

PH level: You want to have the end product have a pH of between 4-7, I like to formulate my hand soap so their is no need to raise or lower the pH. It’s not really difficult to raise or lower, I just try to make the hand wash in as few steps as I can.

Active Matter: Different surfactants are going to have varying levels of active matter in them. I love this calculator for checking the active matter in the surfactant. For a hand wash, I like to be below 15% active matter.

To check the active matter, you will need to look at the active matter in each surfactant, which is provided through the manufacturer and know at what percent you will be using it.

The final hand wash has an active matter of 7.2 for this formula.

Type of surfactant: Check out my Surfactants Explained post to learn more about each of the four categories for surfactants. It is important to know what category each surfactant falls into and it they are compatible with one another.

Foaming Hand Wash Ingredients

Distilled Water

You always want to be sure that you use distilled water and not your tap water. Remember, not all water is created equal. I always use distilled water in my formulas because it takes that out as a variable if it doesn’t turn out how I had hoped.

Vegetable Glycerin

Vegetable glycerin is a humectant, meaning it draws moisture to your skin.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine

Cocamidopropyl betaine is a mild amphoteric surfactant. I chose it because it is mild and has great foaming abilities.

Coco Glucoside

Coco glucoside is a non-ionic surfactant that is compatible with our cocamidopropyl betaine. The cool thing is that this surfactant is gentle and nourishing for our skin.

Preservative

You will definitely need a preservative in your hand wash because you have water in it. Anytime you add water to a formula, it requires a preservative. Otherwise, you are going to grow some pretty nasty stuff in it really quick that is not safe.

Fragrance Oil

I decided to stay in this holiday spirit and went with Berry Merry Christmas fragrance oil.

Color

In the hand wash coloring it is completely optional. Since the bottles that I am using are clear, I added a bit of color to it otherwise it is an off white color. You are going to want to use a lake dye to color, so it wont settle on you.

Foaming Bottles

Since this is formulated to be a foaming hand wash, you will need to be sure to get the foaming top for this.