Learn how to make a foaming hand soap with essential oils. This DIY Thieves hand soap saves money versus buying it, and you can make it under 5 minutes! This diy Thieves hand soap uses a blend of essential oils called Thieves oil. I also have some Thieves oil dupes and a recipe to make your own blend.

Thieves Oil Foaming Hand Soap Recipe

With five people in the house, we go through a lot of hand soap!

I swear it's like my kids use half of a bottle each time they wash their hands! I make DIY foaming hand soap with essential oils to save money.

I used to use the regular pump style soap dispenser and put a hair tie on it so it would squirt out less soap. I gave up on that and just use a foaming dispenser now.

Foaming hand soap is almost 80 to 90 percent water. Even though you're only getting about 10 percent soap, it's still plenty to clean your hands.

This Thieves hand soap hack is based on the hand soap from a big MLM company. I’ve never used their oils, so I can’t comment on the quality. I can say that they are overpriced.

I have some alternatives from other companies that you can use for a DIY Thieves hand soap.

For more wellness ideas, check out these posts:

Does Foaming Soap Last Longer?

Yes, homemade foam hand soap lasts a lot longer than regular soap. You’ll dilute liquid castile soap 1 to 1 to make a hand soap.

However, this homemade foam hand soap uses 2 ounces of liquid castile soap to 10 ounces of water.

The foaming bottles that I use hold 16 ounces of Thieves hand soap refill, so it lasts quite a while.

Can I Make My Own Foaming Hand Soap With Essential Oils?

Yes, and it’s very easy to make a DIY foaming hand soap with castile soap. You’ll just need water, liquid castile soap, essential oils, and a carrier oil.

Is Thieves Hand Soap Antibacterial?

Yes and no. A Thieves hand soap refill has a blend of essential oils that have antimicrobial properties. These oils may help kill germs on your skin.

However, the oils are heavily diluted, so it may not be a high enough concentration to kill germs. You do need to dilute essential oils for safety, so you can’t simply add more Thieves oil to your homemade foam hand soap.

The liquid castile soap doesn't kill bacteria and germs directly, but it is a surfactant. That means that it lifts dirt and germs so they get washed away from your skin.

What is Thieves Hand Soap?

Thieves hand soap is a soap that’s made with a blend of essential oils called Thieves oil.

Thieves oil is an old blend that has been used for centuries. I have an entire post about how to make Thieves oil recipe and how to use it, so I won't repeat it all here.

According to legend, a group of thieves escaped getting sick because they used a blend of essential oils and herbs to boost their immune systems.

It's a blend of:

Clove essential oil
Lemon essential oil
Cinnamon bark essential oil
Eucalyptus essential oil
Rosemary essential oil

You can learn how to make a Thieves oil blend or use a premade blend to make a Thieves hand soap recipe.

If you want to play with the amounts for the blends, then I suggest using an essential oil blending factor worksheet to get an idea of how much of each oil should be in the blend.

You can also use my essential oil substitution chart if you need to make any changes to any oils.

Simply Earth has a Defender blend that is similar to Thieves oil, which is what I use for my Thieves oil foaming hand soap.

You can also use Shield from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Plant Therapy also has a Germ fighter blend. For a kid safe option, try their Germ Destroyer blend.

It's important to note that there has never been a study to determine if Thieves oil can kill germs. However, the oils that in this essential oil blend have been studied and shown to kill germs.

What Does Thieves Hand Soap Smell Like?

I think this Thieves foaming hand soap refill smells medicinal. It just smells clean.

It’s almost like a fall scent with the spices, but it also has lemon for an uplifting citrus scent.

How Much Essential Oil Do I Add to Foaming Hand Soap Recipe?

Essential oils must be diluted in order to use them topically. I recommend a 1 to 2 percent dilution for a homemade foaming hand soap recipe.

This recipe has 1 ounce of a carrier oil and 12 drops of essential oils for a 2 percent dilution. Use 6 drops of essential oils for a 1 percent dilution.

Use an essential oil dilution chart to ensure that you are using the correct amount of oils in your DIY recipes.

What Are the Ingredients for Homemade Foam Hand Soap?

The ingredients for a Thieves hand soap refill are pretty common. Once you buy the supplies, you’ll have enough left over to make several batches of this Thieves foaming hand soap with castile soap.

Liquid Castile Soap

You’ll need to use unscented liquid castile soap. You can use Dr. Bronners on Amazon or buy it from Mountain Rose Herbs or on Etsy.

I do recommend buying a trusted brand. I picked up the Equate (Walmart) brand and was not impressed. It didn’t dilute well, so I used it for cleaning and bought better soap to make my foaming hand soap recipe.

I would also caution against buying liquid castile soap from craft and hobby stores. I haven’t used their castile soap, but their oils and butters are inferior.

I prefer to use an unscented liquid castile soap for this DIY foaming hand soap recipe. If you want to use a scented one, you can omit the essential oils, but you won't get the benefits of the oils.

Not sure what to do with the rest of the bottle? Check out these 15 liquid castile soap uses.

Carrier Oil

I add a carrier oil to my Thieves hand soap refill for two reasons. The first is that it helps dilute the essential oils. Secondly, it helps moisturize your skin.

I use several different carrier oils, depending on my needs and what's close. Good ones to try are grape seed oil or fractionated coconut oil because they are both dry oils.

You can also use sweet almond oil or even avocado oil for more moisturizing. I used hemp seed oil because my hands get really dry from washing.

Learn about different carrier oils and their benefits to choose the best one for your needs. Also check out my best carrier oils for skin.

Foaming Bottles

Essential oils are very concentrated and can break down plastic. For that reason, it's always recommended that you use glass bottles.

That said, I am using a plastic foaming bottle. The essential oils are heavily diluted, so I'm not really worried about it breaking down the plastic right away. It might over time, but these bottles don't last forever anyway.

Secondly, I don't want glass in the bathroom where it can fall and break. We have one teeny tiny bathroom with very little counter space, and things fall.

I don't want to worry about cleaning glass in the bathroom where we are barefoot.

If you don't mind glass, I really like these foaming dispensers for mason jars. Otherwise, these are the plastic foaming dispensers that I used for my homemade foaming hand soap recipe.

Just a note that you will need the foaming bottles to make a DIY foaming hand soap with essential oils. They have a special mechanism that creates foam, so you can't use a regular bottle.

Unfortunately, the springs do wear down. I used to reuse store bought bottles, but the springs wore out. I’ve had the same bottles two years now, so I’d say the quality is there.

Essential Oils

I've made this a Thieves foaming hand soap refill and use other essential oils. You can use your favorite essential oil blends.

For a lighter scent, try one of these essential oil blends that smell like candy.

DIY Thieves Hand Soap Ingredients

You will need the following to make a foaming hand soap recipe:

10 ounces distilled water
4 tablespoons liquid castile soap
1 tablespoon hemp seed oil
12 drops Defender essential oil blend

How Do You Make Thieves Foaming Hand Soap Recipe?

Step #1

Place the grapeseed oil in the bottle and add the essential oils. Swirl the bottle to combine.

Step #2

Add the liquid castile soap to the bottle.

Step #3

Slowly fill with distilled water.

Since this is a foaming hand soap recipe, it saves you a lot of money! And when you need to refill it, it will only take about 5 minutes!

Keep track of your essential oil recipes with my printable essential oil journal. You can print the pages and create a binder so you have your recipes, blends, inventory, and more!

Like this post? Pin it!

thieves oil, hand soap, essential oils

Yield: 1 bottle

Author: Cari @ Everything Pretty

Estimated cost: $2