DIY Natural Foaming Body Wash
This is a super easy, moisturizing, natural foaming body wash recipe that you can use for the whole family – it is so gentle because it doesn't strip your skin of it's natural sebum with synthetic detergents.
Why Make Your Own Foaming Natural Body Wash?
It’s Much Cheaper!
To purchase a natural body wash in the stores, you can easily pay $10-$15, and you're not even guaranteed that it will actually be natural. It could still be scented with artificial fragrances and not pure essential oils. Also, when you buy cleaning, laundry, bath, body and beauty products in the stores, you're paying for mostly water. Making some of your own products at home is much more economical, especially if you buy your supplies bulk.
It’s Much Healthier
Did you know there are toxins in most body washes on the market? Most of them contain sulfates, parabens, preservatives, dyes and artificial fragrances.
Sodium Laureth and Lauryl Sulfate
Sulfates are harsh detergents that are great for home cleaning or washing your house and car, but are not appropriate for washing your hair or body. They are certainly too harsh and strong for a baby’s delicate skin! When looking for a store-bought body wash, I recommend steering clear of sulfates and artificial fragrances.
Artificial Fragrances
Artificial fragrances can trigger asthma attacks, worsen allergies, and cause inflammation in the sinuses that can lead to more frequent colds and respiratory infections. And they are in a massive amount of products in the stores and are hard to get away from! That’s why I prefer to scent my homemade products with essential oils.
Fake fragrances disperse particles of formaldehyde and phthalates (thy-lates) into the air. Phthalates are small particles of plastic that are used to bind the artificial fragrance molecules together. We then breathe in those tiny particles of plastic and they get into our nose and lungs – yuck! They are also irritating on the skin, which obviously isn’t good for our skin.
It’s Eco Friendly
Those same toxins listed above that are not healthy for humans also harm the environment. They harm our delicate ecosystems as they go down our drains and are polluting our drinking water and the planet. Also, when you buy the ingredients in bulk to make your own products and reuse your bottles and containers, you produce less trash and waste, which is better for our planet.
Learn About the Ingredients in this Natural Body Wash
Essential Oils
Essential oils are wonderful to use in homemade bath, body and beauty products. They not only make your products smell like they were created in a spa, they also have many therapeutic and health benefits! My favorite essential oils company is Young Living, and they offer some of the most beautiful and convenient starter kits on the market to make getting started with essential oils easy. Learn more about their starter kits here. I use them all of the time to keep me and my family healthy and well.
To learn more about how you can safely use essential oils for babies, check out my post here!
Castile Soap
Castile Soap is one of our natural home staples. I use it in all of our hand soaps and body washes. It lathers well and is also gentle and mild. It doesn’t contain any harsh detergents like Sodium Laureth or Lauryl Sulfate so it is wonderful to use on the body. It is an olive oil-based soap that originated in the Castile region of Spain, which is where it gets its name.
PrintDIY Natural Foaming Body Wash Recipe
A DIY natural foaming body wash recipe that's super easy to make, eco friendly, nontoxic and safe for the whole family!
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz. foaming soap pump or these pretty mason jar pumps
- 4 tbsp. Castile soap – lavender, almond, Baby Mild (unscented)
- Optional – add 4-6 drops of your favorite essential oil (see ideas below)
- 7 oz. water
- Optional for moisture: add 2 teaspoons of your favorite carrier oil (olive, jojoba, grapeseed, sweet almond, etc.) or 1 tablespoon of liquid aloe vera gel
- Printable label for your bottle
Instructions
Fill the bottle halfway full with water. Add the soap and optional oils or aloe vera gel. Gently top off the bottle with more water. Done!
Notes
I've been making this recipe for years
My favorite essential oils to use in this Foaming Body Wash Recipe
Stress Away – (get here) a blended oil of lime, copaiba, vanilla, cedarwood, ocotea, and lavender. It smells DIVINE and really does help melt the stress away. It is good for tired, sore muscles, too.
Cedarwood – (get here) very woodsy, earthy smell. Great for men, but it's actually one of my favorite scents! It's very relaxing and calming, great right before bed.
Aroma Siez – (get here) a blended oil of basil, marjoram, lavender, peppermint, and cypress – perfect to ease tired, sore muscles after a strenuous workout or long day. It's also an invigorating way to start the day with peppermint and basil! Or just try peppermint.
Lavender – (get here) known for its ability to relax and calm, it can also ease sore muscles and it smells wonderful!
Dragon Time – (get here) a blended oil of clary sage, fennel, lavender, marjoram, yarrow, and jasmine. Great for balancing women's hormones, can also use during menstrual cycles to ease cramps, moodiness, and more.
I love this! For years have been diluting Castile soap, but I love foaming soap, I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Oh wonderful! Yes it’s so easy, hope you enjoying having it in your house, too!
❤️this recipe
Glad you like it, Diana! Thanks for stopping by.
Do you have to use water and if so how much is needed
Hi Nicky! Yes, you need 7-8 oz. of water.
For your foaming body cleaner, is it necessary to rinse after using?
Hi Kay! Yes, you’ll need to rinse it off to remove the dirt and other grime that the soap removed form your skin.
How long will it last? Do I need to add a preservative?
Hi Sara, Thanks for sharing. If I combined 3 oil lav der, cedarwood and ppmint, would that be okay?
I found peppermint oil burned my private partts!
Do I need to add a preservative?
Not to my knowledge – I’ve never used one. 🙂
Did I not see you add salt to this or a similar recipe on a video before? I wonder why you used it again as cannot find the video and have forgot? It may have been to help with foaming, so wondering why you used it then but not in this recipe? Just looking forward help to make body wash as so far all my foaming attempts are fails
Please switch to a castile soap that is not made with palm oil. The destruction of southeast asian rainforests to plant palm trees for the production of palm oil is an ecological disaster.
When I made this, I got small clumps of soap in the liquid. Any idea how to prevent that? Or what I may have done wrong?