Natural Liquid Homemade Dish Soap Recipes

by allysonrosenbloom

A natural, liquid homemade dish soap is easy to make with simple household ingredients!

Why make your own? Cheaper, less packaging waste and you’ll know exactly what it is made from. After all, you eat from your dishes!

Natural Dish Soap Recipe #1:
liquid Castile soap
water
2-5 drops essential oil of choice*

*Some essential oils options are lavender, lemon, cinnamon, clove, peppermint, tea tree, etc. This is optional and purely for scent – though all of these essential oils do also have anti-septic properties. Purchase a concentrated liquid castile soap which will be dilluted with water in equal parts.

Natural Dish Soap Recipe #2:
1/2 cup grated soap
3 cups hot water
2-5 drops essential oil of choice (optional)

Grate a bar of natural castile soap with a vegetable peeler and add to hot water (boil on stove if necessary) to dissolve.

Tough, Grease Cutting Dish Washing Recipe
1/2 bar shaved castile soap
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon washing soda
1 quart of hot water

The washing soda (sodium carbonate) makes this solution more caustic and helps to cut grease.

What, no suds?

None of these basic natural recipes will yield a sudsy soap. Why? Because suds aren’t necessary to clean anything. In fact, they actually make soap less effective because it becomes harder to rinse off from a surface. Suds in commercial soaps are from the surfectants that are added because consumers like suds. People think that suds = soap that works. Not true, don’t be duped by this! Not only are surfectants not necessary to clean, they are often nasty chemicals…sodium lauryl sulfate to name a common one.
And you? How do you wash your dishes? Share here!

Please Note: – These dish washing soaps have not been tested on your hands or dishes…only mine so please use at your own risk.

What Are Your Thoughts?

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Anita October 22, 2012 at 6:51 pm

Hi,
I was wondering what the amount of Castile liquid soap to the amount of water or did you mean to just use the liquid soap with essential oil added?

Thanks,
Anita

Shannon November 14, 2012 at 2:58 pm: Anita, the liquid Castile soap recipe says equal parts of soap and water. I use the tough grease cutting dishwashing recipe in my kitchen. I also have a dishwasher and I use one tablespoon each of washing soda and borax in the machine after rinsing the dishes.

Reply

Melissa January 26, 2013 at 2:58 pm

Hi! Do you find that the grease cutting recipe really does a good job cleaning any oils or butters or grease off of the dishes? And do you find you wind up with the water separating from the other ingredients leaving a big blob of washing soda and soap?

I had that happen with another recipe that called for washing soda…so then I tried one with just soap and vinegar and glycerin (i think thats all!) and i think it works pretty good but my mother in law (who is obsessed with suds) thinks its crap because she says it doesnt fight grease. I make a lot of homemade products (Like lip balm) that use lots of oils and butters and she says she has the worst time with that…though I just think any soap would have a tough time with that combination…

kayla sevcech March 9, 2013 at 3:05 am

for your Tough, Grease Cutting Dish Washing Recipe could you subsitute the 1/2 bar shaved castile soap with the liquid Castile soap?

Anastasia October 24, 2013 at 4:46 pm

I try many ways to make dish soap and I hate it. Once i was trying to wash a plastic container over and over and it was still greasy. So i use seventh generation with lots of suds and it came out clean no sticky grease. I like to make one like store bought without the chemicals is that ever possible? can I put lye in my dish soap?

Susie June 20, 2014 at 6:20 pm

Hi Allyson,
I made the tough, grease cutting dish washing liquid recipe last night and let it sit in the pot all night to cool. Since it cooled and somewhat solidified, I heated it to dissolve and poured what I could, into my plastic container. The remaining went into glass jars. Now that they have all sat and cooled, the solids have risen to the top and liquid on the bottom. Is this normal and am I just suppose to shake the plastic container before squirting? Can I prevent this from happening the next time I make?
Thanks, Susie

Natural Liquid Homemade Dish Soap Recipes

What, no suds?

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