Homemade Liquid AND Foaming Dish/Hand Soaps

First of all, let me share w/you a section about "Soap vs. Detergent" from the book, "The Naturally Clean Home" by Karyn Siegel-Maier. This information helped solidify my conviction to make my own house cleaning products. FYI...my own comments will in brackets [ ].

"Before the dawn of large-scale manufacturing, liquid soaps were made from saponins, foaming, sudsy substances found in the roots of soapwort, soapberry, & yucca. The typical liquid dishwashing soap bought from the grocery store is made from a petroleum distillate, a toxic pollutant & nonrenewable source. [Dish detergents are a leading cause of FATAL poisonings in small children!!] This product is actually a detergent, not soap. The safe & natural alternative is a vegetable-based soap called castile, a pure soap made from coconut or olive oil. It is readily biodegradable...Castile soap can be found in liquid or solid form in health food stores &, thankfully, some supermarkets [I get mine in the health food section of Kroger]."

Here's my favorite formula:

Liquid Castile soap

10 drops lavender essential oil

10 drops rosemary essential oil **Other great essential oils are grapefruit, orange, citrus, eucalyptus, or bergamot, Tea Tree. Experiment w/your own favorites.

~Fill a clean, old dish soap bottle, or same size squirt bottle, w/liquid Castile soap.

~Add oils. **When using this formula as a hand soap, add about 10-15 drops of Tea Tree essential oil to make it more anti-bacterial.

~Shake bottle before each use.

~Squirt in dish water & wash. **This is a relatively low-lather soap so don't over-use. 1-2 TB per sink full will do.

Foaming dish OR hand soap:

This is almost embarrassingly easy. You can do this for BOTH foaming hand soap AND dish soap.

Ready...?

~Have on-hand an empty foaming soap pump bottle.
~Pour in 1TB to 1" high (depending on the size of your bottle) of liquid hand soap OR liquid Castile soap.
~Add 10 drops of Tea Tree essential oil OR lavender OR some sort of citrus oil for anti-bacterial benefits.
~Fill bottle to about 1/4" from the top.
~Shake gently to blend.
~Pump & enjoy!