Comment by j

April 13, 2012 @ 1:34 pm

You are a genius. Am definitely going to try this. Thanks.

Comment by A

April 14, 2012 @ 1:02 pm

did you know that you can skip using the cheese grater with dove? Apparently you can microwave it.. I’m sure if you google it, you’ll find how to do it and what to look for. I haven’t done it yet, but will do soon. It turns into foam and then when it cools it can easily be mashed into a powder.. or from what I’ve read. good luck!

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April 18, 2012 @ 3:59 pm

Dove Sensitive Soap Bars…

[...] t should still be foamy and soap-like when you stir with a spoon. Using a funnel [...]…

Comment by Lora

April 22, 2012 @ 8:14 am

If you’re using dove soap bar, shouldn’t the hand soap be able to be used as a body wash as well??

Comment by chichicho

April 23, 2012 @ 8:29 am

I tried making liquid soap from your earlier, but it turned out very slimy…. I was wondering if this soap would turn out slimy as well since the picture you posted at the top doesn’t look too slimy? I really want to know how to make it not as slimy since I have a lot of soap from traveling.
I read that I could use a beater, but I just don’t feel comfortable using it since I am worried that there would be residue left on it.

Is there any other method?

Comment by IAT

April 26, 2012 @ 9:48 am

Using bar soap has been quite bugging for me, so today I picked my iPad and googled “how to turn bar soap into liquid”one of the returns brought me to ur site. Thanks for the good work.

I would like to know however if this could be done with a medicated soap without messing up with the original composition of the soap.

I would like to try this with a 120g Thetmosol bar. Do you think I should adapt the recipe for dove or try another formula. I really can’t wait to get this done. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Comment by Kyla

May 5, 2012 @ 7:00 am

I just made this with some Dove soap that I got as a Christmas Gift. It was the cucumber and green tea moisturizing kind I believe (recycled the boxes and forgot to keep one). I didn’t have access to a grater (I know crazy) so I just chopped REALLY small and seemed to work fine but I wasn’t sure if going to melt completely smooth so when it was all soft I threw it in my trusty blender and it came out WONDERFUL!!!! I don’t know if this might help the ones that are saying it seems watery or not but it sure worked for me and my 5yr old said it is the coolest soap ever!!!

Comment by Kathy

May 6, 2012 @ 7:54 pm

I tried this today with regular Dove soap. The recipe I had called for one bar of soap to one gallon of water and 2 T, glycerine. I melted the spoap flakes and the pot sat all day, but the liquid never got thick. I cut up another bar of Dove and melted that in tonight. I’ll let it sit till morning and see how it looks. I’m hoping it will thicken and that the mositurizing ingredients in the regular Dove soap aren’t a problem.

Comment by Savvy Housekeeper

May 7, 2012 @ 1:35 pm

Kathy, since you are using a completely different recipe than the one listed here, I’m not surprised it didn’t work.

Comment by crafty grandma

May 9, 2012 @ 4:44 am

Try leaving a bar of soap in the shower. It will get softer the more you times it gets hot and humid – then put pieces of the soap into your pump with a little added water. Swish around once in awhile and watch it melt….no need for any fancy equipement except for a funnel.

Comment by cathy

June 25, 2012 @ 1:37 pm

I just made this and it is wonderful. I diluted it 3-2, liquid soap to water and put it in a foaming bottle.

Comment by Eve Stewart

June 27, 2012 @ 2:32 pm

I have found that you can use just about ANY soap, including the beauty bar types like Dove (regular or sensitive skin). You can also substitute for glycerine using olive oil. All the glycerin does is act as a binding agent and gives the soap a “surface tension” that helps bind to the dirt and germs on your skin so that it slides off in the rinse water. Rinsing is what really takes the dirt and germs off -not necessarily the soap or strength or “soapiness” of the soap.

I use a REALLY frugal method of making hand soap and body wash from store-bought soap bars. I save the slivers of my Dove soap -which is way too slippery to hold on to when it gets down so far – and I put them in a little plastic container (any will do). I let them dry out before putting them away. When the container is full (about 2 cups worth of soap slivers), I heat water to boiling then slide in the soap slivers which dissolve instantly, stir, add the olive oil and a couple capsules of Vitamin E, any essential oils I want (although Dove doesn’t need any), and voila. The soap will thicken quite a bit and ooze out of your soap dispenser unless it is completely cooled and checked for desired thickness.

Honestly it is not rocket science, and everyone can come up with a workable recipe just by messing around with the water content. I always start with 4 cups of water and 2 cups of soap slivers -more or less – but I usually add more water when the mixture cools. Last time, I got almost a gallon from 2 cups of leftover soap slivers, and I am still using it 2 months later, and I wash my hands a LOT!

My son who gets eczema on his hands uses it, too, and I am using it for body wash for him as well. Another great eczema-fighting and sensitive skin soap to use this way is Yardley. Smells YUMMY!

My experience has been to start with a recipe, then experiment and come up with your own way of doing it. Converting bar soap to liquid hand soap and body wash is almost foolproof.

Comment by kaylah

June 29, 2012 @ 4:42 pm

Just remember stewart… soap does contain germs…. lots of them! Just think about the places that soap, and your hands have been— making old soap into handwash might not be such a great idea :/

Comment by Jenny

July 7, 2012 @ 12:38 pm

I’m sure the boiling water is killing any germs that might be on it. Not to mention the weeks and months of drying.

Comment by A

July 8, 2012 @ 5:58 pm

Boiling water does not kill all germs or bacteria. Depending on where you work and what you encounter I would most definitely not be using left over soap.

Comment by Lying

July 24, 2012 @ 9:27 am

Just made this yesterday morning after searching for a quick liquid handsoap DIY using Dove soap, since I had a hunch the recipe may differ from others. It worked out great! Thickened to a gooey consistency within 6-8 hrs, but I wanted to wait till this morning to use it. I have it at 2 different sinks for hand washing and poured the rest in a reusable pump for shower “gel.” I watered the shower gel a bit and now wish I didn’t as I now need to use 3-4 pumps to scrub down. Oh well! I used the Dove Revive pomegranate soap. Thanks for the post!

Comment by Teddi

August 9, 2012 @ 1:27 pm

For those of you wondering if the microwave will work, as a previous poster suggested, someone who tried it commented on this link (click the Reviews tab) and Dove was the only one of 4 soaps she tried that didn’t expand. I was going to try microwaving the Dove bars to save myself grating time, but it sounds like grating is the way to go. I’m considering doing it in my food processor, though.

Comment by Teddi

August 9, 2012 @ 1:28 pm

Oops! Here’s the link: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/soap-souffle to the microwave soap experiment!

Comment by shannon

August 10, 2012 @ 10:35 pm

I love making my own soap. I haven’t tried the hand soap as of yet, but I do make my own laundry soap (dry and liquid). I saw a previous post about the use of medicated soap but no response. I too would like to know, My daughter uses Clinique and their soap is awkward and very difficult to use when washing her face. AND Yes I know Clinique makes a face wash but it is a few dollars more than the bar and the bar last much longer. I don’t want to use anything that will make her face oily.

Comment by KJ

October 26, 2012 @ 8:53 am

I bought dove soap today to use to make the soap, but I tried it with the original recipe. I thought “this isn’t working!” so I went to check the comments to see if I was the only one only to find the “Dove recipe” when I scrolled down an inch. Duh! Anyways, the concoction is really liquid-y, but still super soapy. It’s all going in my foam soap dispensers so I think in this case it will work just fine! Thank you for savvy recipes!

Comment by Cindy

October 28, 2012 @ 10:54 am

I made this yesterday with Dove for men soap. I followed the recipe and mine never thickened up. So today I put it back on the stove and added another bar of soap. So, far it is still not thickening up.

Pingback by How To Make Liquid Hand Soap from Bar Soap | Carol Drive

October 29, 2012 @ 5:15 pm

[...] I read through a few website/blogs for how-to directions and my favorites are the Better Mom, Savvy Housekeeping, and wikiHow.  If you click through those links, you’ll noticed that the ratio of ingredients are very different from site to site.  My conclusion is that it really all comes down to the type of bar soap you use.  (From reading through a lot of sites and comments – the biggest problem is making liquid soap from Dove bars.  So if you REALLY want to use Dove bars, you should probably use these directions). [...]

Comment by Betty

November 10, 2012 @ 9:13 am

Worked great and I put it in one of those foaming soap containers and watered it down. This batch should go a long way. Thanks!

Comment by cistakhori

November 16, 2012 @ 2:03 pm

Regarding Eve Stewart’s method – the germs that might be on the slivers of soap are her and her family’s germs in the first place, so I wouldn’t worry too much. Saying you shouldn’t use it again is like saying that you shouldn’t wash yourself with the same bar two days in a row.

I do agree about “A”‘s comment though – boiling water is unlikely to kill bacteria except if you keep it boiling for a while.

I wonder a little bit about using olive oil instead of glycerin – in my mind olive oil would be more nutritious for any bacteria that might be in the mixture and therefore they’d be able to grow better and decrease the shelf-life of the liquid soap. But then again, soap isn’t the best place for bacteria to grow and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a gallon product isn’t really anything.

Comment by Ann-Sofie

January 10, 2013 @ 2:46 pm

Hi,
I used 1 dove soap ( 90g ) and 1 1/2 cup water and that turned out perfect for me. Not to thin and not to thick.

Comment by barneyhairball

January 12, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Hello all Yanks,

Just what is ’4 c’? Speak English!

I imagine it is a cup, but, what size?

Please advise.

A Brit.

Comment by Leila

January 20, 2013 @ 2:28 pm

Barneyhairball-
A Cup is a standard unit of measurement. It doesnt change size. If it’s so confusing for you, you can always Google what the measurement would be the equivalent of in the metric system.

Comment by Leese

January 21, 2013 @ 4:31 pm

This turned out great. I used 1 bar of Dove sensitive skin and 1 1/2-2 cups of water. Once it cooled off overnight, the consistency was great! I will definitely make this again. Much cheaper than buying the bottles of Dove liquid soap. Thanks for the recipe!

Comment by shalom

January 25, 2013 @ 9:34 am

Regarding the comment about slivers of soap and this one: “Saying you shouldn’t use it again is like saying that you shouldn’t wash yourself with the same bar two days in a row.”

It is also like saying that you need to provide a separate bar of soap for each person/family when you have a party and it should be thrown away afterwards. Also, your friends should do the same when you go to their house. Og, btw, don’t touch ANYTHING in their house (not even door knobs when you leave)…germs are everywhere!

Use common sense and don’t be so paranoid. Healthy bodies take care of themselves very well, especially if they have been exposed to various germs and built up natural immunities.

Comment by Louise

March 1, 2013 @ 5:49 pm

I don’t know what to do, it’s very liquid.
I made it with natural soap.(from the natural store)
Can you help me! Thx

Comment by Tony G

March 30, 2013 @ 8:34 pm

Soneone asked what Dove was made off. I Work for Lever brothers that’s what it was called in the US in the 80s whille in college it was a summer job in 1982 in Baltimore. my father works there at the time which is how I got the job.. I made dove soap and caress the only difference between the two was caress soap use’s mineral oil. The other ingredients at that time was Lux soap,and a synthetic ingredient called Defi which was slimy when finished. It was heated and mixed then rolled on a large metal chiller then came off in chips then pressed Into bars.

Pingback by Savvy Housekeeping » Turn A Bar of Soap Into Liquid Hand Soap

April 3, 2013 @ 10:27 am

[...] this with Dove Sensitive Skin Soap too. If you want to turn a bar of DOVE soap into liquid soap, click here for the recipe. ETA: The kind of soap you use may be a bit of a wild card, since every soap will have different [...]

Comment by Lisa

April 7, 2013 @ 12:04 pm

Thank you for posting this recipe! I reference it anytime I need to melt Dove Sensitive Skin soap, which I actually use as a face wash! Like others above, I only do one bar at a time and add only 1.5 cups of water. It’s perfect!