How to Make Creamy Body Wash and Save Money
I’ve been on a search for how to make my own body wash for a while now. A few years ago I made my own hand soap using bar soap and we really liked it. It’s easy to do and makes a lot but the consistency just wasn’t what I wanted for body wash. I finally came up with this easy to make diy body wash recipe and we love it. I hope you do too.
After searching Pinterest for diy body wash ideas, I found with quite a few. But I didn’t want to make a body wash you had to remember to shake each time before use. The recipes I found started out with liquid soap all needed to be shaken before use.
I know my kids and they might forget to shake it. I needed a body wash you can just squirt and use, nothing else needs to be done.
After all, that searching I decided why not try my hand soap recipe with a more moisturizing soap. I usually use castile soap or a french milled soap for my hand soap and it’s great for hand washing but I thought a more moisturizing soap would be the ticket for a great body wash.
My husband and kids really like Dove soap. It’s one that works well for their sensitive skin and when I found a four bar pack of the shea butter Dove bar soap, I knew that would be the perfect soap to try in my diy body wash.
I also wanted the body wash thicker so I cut the water down a bit from the hand soap recipe and increased the amount of soap. This combination made a wonderfully creamy body wash.
Here’s the printable recipe so you can give it a try yourself.
How to Make Creamy Body Wash and Save Money
Ingredients
- 2 4 ounce Bars of Dove Soap
- 6 cups of Water
Instructions
- Heat the water in a container on the stove.
- Grate the two bars of soap and add it to the water.
- Stir until all the grated pieces of soap are dissolved.
- Let sit for 12-24 hours to cool, covered.
- Once the body wash is set and thickened transfer to a squeeze or pump bottle.
Here’s the step by step video
Tips for Making the DIY Body Wash
You don’t have to grate the soap, I’ve read you can microwave it and then add it to the hot water on the stove. This only works if the water is hot. So be sure to heat the water first before microwaving the soap. I find it only take me a few minutes to grate the soap, but microwaving it until it expands is another option if you hate to grate the soap.
Use a moisturizing soap in this recipe. We are partial to Dove but I think other soap would work too, maybe Tone. You’ll just have to experiment and see what kind of soap you like best.
For a more manly body wash, you might try the Dove for men bar soap in this recipe. I know my hubby is alright with just the regular Dove but if your man is a little more picky about scents you might give the Dove for me a try. Or maybe even Irish Spring, although I’m not sure it has enough moisturizer in it to make a nice creamy body wash. You would have to experiment and see.
Storing the Body Wash
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To store the body wash I usually store it in a quart size canning jars with plastic lids. I also purchased a plastic pump bottle for the soap.
The Cost Breakdown
Dove Soap $1.17
Water $0
Total cost $1.17 for 49 ounces of Body Wash or about $.39 for 16 ounces
Body wash from the store costs around $3-4 for 16 ounces. By making your own body wash at home you can save $2.61 to $3.61 for each 16 ounces you make at home. That is quite a bit of savings!
That’s my recipe and price breakdown for diy body wash. What do you think? Is this diy project something you might give a try? Or do you have your own favorite diy body wash recipe? I would love to have you share your thoughts in the comments below. Also, be sure to pin this recipe for later and share it with your friends!
More DIY Beauty Recipe to Try
Honey Lip Balm
Raspberry Lip Balm
Coffee Sugar Scrub
DIY Hand Soap
I love how easy this recipe is and it’s a body wash I think my family would enjoy. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Shelly! 🙂
I can’t wait to give this a try! I have been wanting to make my own body wash for some time and just have not found a recipe. Thank you!
Your Welcome Tina. We really like this recipe and it works great.
Yes I would recommend using spring distilled or purified water basically filter water bcuz the hard water or chemically filled impact the quality of the body wash u recommend using unscented bar soap if ur adding any fragrance if not u can use a fragrance dove beauty bar like white beauty bar. Some dove bars r much smaller in size so keep that in mind when u add water if the bar is smaller in recommend cutting back on water maybe half cup or so or increase the number of bars.
Wow, this was a super easy recipe! I need to give this a try.
I tried it with Dr.Bronners Castile soap and it doesn’t come out creamy like yours. It’s really chunky and grainy. Anyway you would recommend to fix that? Looking to use for organic and natural soap with this recipe since it’s so simple. Thanks for your video!
Amy, I’m sorry the castile soap didn’t work well. I think it doesn’t have enough oils or fat in it to make it creamy. What you might try doing, which I’m not sure will work, is to heat up the soap mixture a little and add a little coconut oil to it. It might be enough fat to thicken it up and improve the texture. If you have a hand blender you might try using it first to mix it well and see if that doesn’t help with the texture a little.
You might look for a natural shea butter soap, it might work better in the recipe. But I’ve only tried this recipe with Dove soap so far.
This easy recipe is great.
1st batch i did with dove as shown in your video. Results was great . Gifted to my friends.
2nd batch used simple soap.
Didnt work wouldnt thicken. What did i do wrong?
Julie, I think it was probably the soap you used. I’ve only use dove to make this. But I’ve heard from other readers that other soap won’t produce the same consistency as the dove.
make sure to grate your soap really fine, also maybe using less water like 1 cup of water for 2 bars of soap will help and let sit for 8 to 24 hours then use a stick blender if it turns a bit hard to make it creamy will help.
Hi!
I tried this yesterday.. but I messed up with water measurement.. I stay in India we get 100gm of Dove soap.. I put more than 3 cups of water for 1 bar.. After melting the grated soap and allowing the mixture to rest for 24hrs mine didn’t come out thick and creamy. Its very runny. Can you plz suggest something..
Thank you!
Lynda
Lynda, I’m not sure what to do to correct it. Maybe grate more soap and melt it in a little water, then add it to the runny soap and see if it sets up better? That’s all I can think of and I’m not sure that would work. 🙁 Sorry I don’t have a better solution for you.
it is good nice and easy to make it but how can i get those molds and those pumps?
I’m not sure what you mean by molds? But you can reuse an old body wash container or an old soap pump bottle. I purchased my pump bottle at my local store but you can find them locally you can order them from Amazon.
Hi,i mean silicone loaf mold,am living in Tanzania Eastern Africa so will you give the link of amazon?
This sounds great! Can you mix in some lavender essential oils to give it smell other than the soap smell? Does Ivory have enough to make it creamy also? How does this set up later, does it stay creamy like this for a while? How long will it last and does it go bad? Sorry for all the questions! Can’t wait to try this though! 🙂
Sandy, I’ve only tired this with Dove. But I have made handsoap with other bar soap and it comes out more like snot like consistency. So I’m not sure it would turn out creamy.
When I make the body wash it does stay creamy for a while. When we get towards the bottom of the bottle it is more runny but I’m not sure if that’s because water has leaked into the bottle or the heat of the shower or if it thins out over time.
I’ve not had it go bad before and we use one batch in about a month for the 4 of us in our family. If you are concerned about not using it fast enough, you could make a half batch at a time.
As far as adding esential oils, I’m sure you could add them after cooking or after it’s cooled before adding it to the jar. We haven’t tried this though becasue our kids have sensitive skin.
I hope it turns out well for you. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Very interesting. How would you add smells to it? I would rather make my own than give the cheap stuff to my kids, I’ll still use my Molton Brown body wash though.
I’ve never made mine with any added scent other than the actual Dove soap smell. You might be able to add a few drops of essential oil that you like. I’ve not tried it because my kids have sensitive skin so we don’t add any scents.
Thx u Shelly for this recipe. Is it possible I can add some shea butter for my dry skin?
Monique, I’m sorry but I haven’t tried that before so I’m not sure. If you do give it a try, let me know how it works for you. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
hi i’m banin from indonesia, in my country there no shea butter dove soap. but i’m using the regular dove soap bar and it didn’t end up creamy like yours. mine are very very Thick and it needs to scoop from the jar to take it. Can you explain to me what happend to my soap??
Banin, You might try adding a little more water the next time you make a batch or to thin out the batch you already made. Depending on the soap I’ve had to use more water and less water for the creamy body wash. It sounds like yours needs more water added.
I’ve made this product twice and it never gets thick. The last patch I made with three bars of dove soap. Could you tell me what I am doing wrong?
Juanita, I’m not sure. I’ve made this at least 5 times and it has turned out each time. It doesn’t get super thick but pourable thick. A little thicker than syrup. You might try using less water. Also, I usually cook mine for at least 10-15 minutes to get all the soap to dissolve. It’s important to make sure the soap flakes all dissolve.
Thanks for this recipe it’s a lifesaver when you just don’t have enough money to buy the kind of soap you’ll like. The reason our homemade soap doesn’t come out the same as a dove soap bar is that Dove has a couple of other ingredients to preserve and stabilize the soap.
Shelly what size bar of soap did you use to make it with 6 cups of water?
Tammy, I use two 4 ounce bars of Dove soap for this recipe.
Thank you for the wonderful, and easy to follow directions!! You mentioned that this recipe may be tried with other soaps. I tried Irish Spring. It took a lot longer to melt down, then it congealed on the top. I used an immersion blender to bring it all together. Once I got to the point where I was going to scoop it into my containers, I noticed it was more like slime than anything else. I tried to run it through a siev, but all the slime fell through. I added more water, mixed it, and now my soap was watery. I bottled it anyway, and decided to try it out. It didn’t produce as much lather and suds as my Dove mixture.
I’m going to stick with Dove soap. I used the Dove Winter soap, and will try it with the Men’s Dove soap next.
Ron, Thanks for sharing your experience with the Irish Spring. I know it will be helpful to others. I hope you’ll have better results with the Men’s Dove soap.
what is the shelf life? Why didn’t you use a preservative being that you used water?
Our batches last about a month and we haven’t had any problems with it going bad in that time. But we do live in a mild climate. You could add preservative if you want to.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. How long can you store it for?
A batch lasts about a month at our house. I haven’t stored it longer than a month so I’m not sure how long beyond a month it would stay good.
So, yesterday I made a second batch of liquid hand soap/body wash. I went to WalMart and was going to purchase regular Dove 4 oz bars of soap. I came across the Equate version of Dove soap for a few dollars less. Six bars of the original Dove was $6.97. Six bars of the Equate version was $3.97. I compared ingredients, and they were exactly the same, and in the same order as Dove, so I bought it. When I got home, I opened the boxes, and noticed the scent is exactly the same, but the bars are shaped a little differently than the original Dove bars.
I used the same ration of ingredients, One 4 oz bar of soap, to 2 cups of Distilled Water. I proceeded to shred the soap using a large butcher knife. Shredding the soap is very easy using a large knife. I proceeded to melt all of the small pieces of soap until it was completely dissolved.
I stirred the mixture every few hours, and noticed that as it cooled, it had started to thicken. When I woke up this morning, I checked on the mixture. It was the perfect consistency to go ahead and fill my bottles.
So, I’d highly recommend using the Equate version of Dove. It not only saves money, but works exactly the same as Dove.
Ron, thanks for sharing that the Equate version works well too. I appreciate you letting everyone know. I’ll have to pick a few bars up the next time I shop at WalMart.
As a follow up, I’m going to buy some Dove Men bar soap to see if it comes out as good as the regular Dove. Six bars of Dove Men is right around $6.99. One 13.5 ounce bottle of Dove Men Shower Gel is $5.99. That’s a lot of money for a small bottle of shower gel!!
As a follow up, I went to Sam’s Club and purchased 14 4 ounce bars of Dove Men+ Extra Fresh bar soap for $12.98. I went to Wal Mart and purchased a gallon of distilled water for .82. I used the same ratio formula, 1 4 oz bar of soap to 2 cups of water. I decided to use 7 bars and 14 cups of water. First, let me say that the texture of the Dove Men+ bar soap is softer than a regular Dove bar, probably because of the extra lotion an moisturizer they put in. The bar is also a light green in color, compared to white.
I don’t put my bar soap in the microwave, nor do I use a grater, nor a food processor. Rather, I use a serrated chef knife and a cutting board. I slice up the bar soap just as thin as a slice of cheese or lunchmeat. Once the bar is cut up, I use the knife to finely dice up the soap, using a rocking motion with my knife going back and forth. I then placed the diced up soap into my pot where I have already started my portable electric burner. The soap melts much faster than a regular bar of Dove soap. Once all of the finely chopped pieces were melted, I removed the pot from the burner, and added 1 1/2 ounces of glycering, and stirred it in really good. I let it cool for 24 hours, stirring it occasionally. After 24 hours, I checked the mixture, and it was too soupy, so I pulled out the electric burner, and reheated the mixture. I finely diced up two more bars of soap, melted it in, and let it cool overnight. Note: I did not add anymore distilled water to the mixture, just the bar soap. I checked it in the morning, and found it was much thicker than the first time around. I feel that the soap is the right consistency to go ahead and fill my bottles with.
As a side note, I did scoop some of the soupy mixture the first time around and took a shower. It didn’t take much soap on the washcloth to make a lot of lather.
So, for a price comparison to the Dove Men+ Shower Gel, the cost is much less by melting down the bar soap compared to buying a 13.5 ounce bottle. I figured out my cost of how many bars of coap I used, and added the cost of the water. My price came out to less than 9 cents per ounce. The Dove Men+ gel came out to 26.7 cents per ounce. So, for a little bit of inconvenience and work of shaving down the soap and melting it, you’re saving quite a bit of money!!
So remember, you’ll need 9 bars of Dove Men Care+ bars of soap, to 14 cups of water.
Ron, thanks so much for sharing your experience with the Dove Men Care+ bars. I appreciate it and I’m sure others will be happy to hear that it works with that bar too. Thanks!
I want to add Aloe from my houseplant. If I do so, what would I use for a preservative?
Gail, I’ve never tried that so I’m not sure what preservative you’d need to use. Sorry I couldn’t help.
I went to the dollar store yesterday and purchased. Olay Shea Butter formula. I am planning on trying out the recipe this weekend, so I will let you know what happens. After reading everything. I am going to use less water than you recommended. I can always add more later.
Michelle, I would love to hear how the Olay Shea Butter works for you. I hope it turns out great.
Super easy and as advertised recipe. I added 30ish drops of essential oil for fragrance and added about 2-3 teaspoons of almond oil for added moisture. Worked great…. so far!
Jen, so glad you liked it.
I’m going to give this a try with goat’s milk soap. I started using it about a year ago because of my extremely sensitive skin. I really like it but do prefer a liquid soap in the shower. I sure hope this works for me. Thanks so much for sharing your “recipe”!!
Debbie, I hope the recipe works well with the goat’s milk soap too. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to know how it turns out.
I love this recipe! Turned out perfect. Thank you!!!
I’m glad you liked the recipe, Michelle.
Definitely *doesn’t* work with the fancier artisanal bar soaps! Haha! I made hot water with chunks, whisked until my arm fell off – gave up and am just going to pull the chunks out and put them in a soap saver bag. Will have to try with the regular Dove next time!
Autumn, thanks for adding your experience. I’ve always made it with Dove soap, so it’s good to know it doesn’t work with the fancier soaps.
Do you have a recipe for a lotion to match the shower gel?
Sabrina, I have a whipped shea butter recipe and lotion bars you might like to try. We make both of them regularly and use them for lotion. I hope that helps.
when making the soap do you need to add anything like glycerin or a perservative?
Hi Sabrina!
I only use the soap and the water as mentioned. I don’t think that adding a preservative is necessary, but you can if you would like to.
This really did work! So much cheaper than buying bottles of dove for ~$10 a piece and for far less amounts than what you get out of two bars of soap and 6 cups of water. Thank you for this! I will be using this method from now on. 🙂
Cassidy, I’m so glad you liked it.Thanks for coming back to comment and share your experience, I appreciate it.
I decided to try this with Ivory bars. I purchased a 10pk for $4.50 on sale. I followed this recipe but found the ivory soap needed more water. I added 9 cups of water to a pot with 2 tsp of liquid coconut oil to 2 bars (90 g each bar) and grated ivory bars and let it melt down and stirred for 15 mins or so. Stirred some more while letting it sit for 12 hours. I used a handmixer to mix the soap and the consitancy was really nice. I’m so happy I came across your recipe, it’s so helpful and now I can keep the cost down.
Im so glad you liked the recipe. It’s good to know it works well with Ivory bars if you add some liquid coconut oil to it. Thanks for sharing that tip.