A few months ago I found a coupon for $1.00 off four Yardley bar soaps. I had never actually purchased Yardley bar soap before and was not sure how much they normally ran but I cut out the coupon anyway. I was shocked to see that one bar of soap sells for over $2.
I made a mental note to throw away the coupon but like most of my mental notes I forgot. A week or so later I was picking up some things at the Dollar Tree and noticed that they had Yardley bar soap for $1 a bar!
The next time I was out by the Dollar Tree, I stopped in with my coupon that I had not thrown away, and picked up 4 bars making each bar about 80 cents after the coupon and tax.
I am not a fan of bar soap, I prefer body wash. But here I was with four bars of soap so I decided to try and make body wash out of them.
And it worked!! 🙂
Supplies required:
- 1 bar Yardley English Lavender soap
- 16 – 20 cups of water
- big pot
- gallon jug/container
- funnel
Directions:
- In a microwave safe bowl, place bar of soap.
- Microwave in 30 second intervals until soap easily crumbles. Be careful the bar of soap will get hot! I scrapped the crumbles off after each microwave session.
- Place soap crumbles and water in pot.
- Melt over medium heat, stirring occasionally until soap crumbles have melted completely.
- Allow soap to cool for 5 – 10 minutes or until you are able to handle the pot.
- Using funnel pour soap into a clean, dry gallon jug leaving about an inch of head space.
- Do not place the cap on the jug.
- Allow to cool and set overnight.
- The soap will solidify some overnight which is why you need the head space.
Pour body wash into the container of your choice and begin using. Store extra body wash in gallon jug.
From start to finish, this took about 30 minutes plus the overnight cooling.
So for 30 minutes of work I ended up with 5 gallons of body wash!! I did all 4 bars at the same time. I like my body wash to be a bit thinner than how most commercial body washes come, so I used 20 cups of water per bar of soap. You should be able to get approximately one gallon of body wash for each bar of soap.
Have a blessed day!
Brandi
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I am a novice at making homemade body wash. When I found your recipe, I used it as a base for what I thought would be a super moisturizing body wash that was good for me. I didn’t add plain water, I made oatmeal water as I wanted those properties added to my body wash. I used probably 3 quarts of water, but I still ended up with a solid the next morning. Do you think it is the oatmeal water or the coconut oil? If you have any advice, I’d appreciate it. THANK YOU!
Hi Terry, Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature. So it could be that. Oatmeal is very absorbent so maybe that is soaking up the extra water? I honestly don’t know exactly what is happening but those are my two thoughts.
Can you use any bar soap ?
Yes! Just reduce the water.
Thanks for the tips! I just found this after a minor #pinterestfail…used another recipe and it turned into a HUGE blob, slimy! But, I used way too little water. These bars are big, too — may be the other person’s problem as well, too little water. Much better now =)
Great! I’m so glad it worked out for you, Laura!
Mine turned out slimy; followed directions. Any thoughts?
Hmm… I’m not sure. Maybe your bar soap was smaller than mine? Or you added to much water? I’m really not sure. I’m sorry.
Or not enough water! My first try I wanted it good and rich and didn’t use ENOUGH water :O Ended up with a blob lol
The water ratio is very important and varies each time I make it. You are absolutely right, Laura!
Wow ! that is great idea ! I would have never thought of making body wash from soap. Thank you for linking up at Bloggers Brag weekly pinterest party. I have pinned to Bloggers brags pinterest board.We would love to see you again next monday.
Thank you Sahana. It is very simple and really stretches one bar of soap. Plus it cost so much less than store bought body wash.
Yay! I saw another Yardley coupon in the paper like 2 maybe 3 weeks ago. And the Dollar Tree is still carrying them as of last week.