Pinterest Experiment 1: DIY liquid hand soap

My mom and I are always being inspired by all of the neat "life hacks" that we see on Pinterest, so we are making an effort to give one an honest try every two weeks!

[Insert your standard college-student-on-a-budget spiel here.]

So when I saw this idea on Pinterest to make a ton of hand soap for a lot less than one can buy it, I was stoked! Furthermore, I am unbearably finicky when it comes to choosing soap. I can never find a scent I like in liquid soap, but there are tons of bar soaps that I enjoy.

Because I haven't done this before, I wanted to try to make 1/4 the volume that the original pinner had made so that I wouldn't waste too much if the experiment went horribly awry.

I started by gathering my ingredients and supplies.

Start by grating the chee- uh, soap. This step was very enjoyable, as my hands smelled delightfully pepperminty afterward.

Combine the water, soap shavings, and glycerin in your pot.

Stir on low/medium for a few minutes until everything dissolves together. Then wait for it to cool.

During this time, I cleaned up my kitchen and made a label for my container.

Pour the cooled soap into a holding container. 

Bonus points if you reuse a container that you would have otherwise tossed out or recycled.

Done!

I found that this soap is pretty runny - like, I have to exercise caution when pumping it out of my dispenser or else it'll shoot all over the counter. However, I also noticed that it had thickened a little after several hours, so perhaps it will continue to thicken as time goes on.

This soap leaves my hands feeling clean and smelling minty! I give this project a B for the runniness; if you can think of a way to thicken it more easily, leave me a comment.