Welcome to another COVID-19/handwashing/hand sanitising series. You probably are very lucky to not have dry itchy skin after a lot of handwashing. Since the 2020 global pandemic, I believe that everyone had already picked up a good habit, which is a lot of handwashing. Handwashing with soap removes germs from hands. This helps preventĀ infectionsĀ because people frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. But a lot of handwashing plus hand sanitising will also cause dry skin. I have my hands look dry and fragile even though we use only high-quality organic liquid soap. I have created this moisturising hand sanitiser gel which is not only soothing for sensitive hands but also has powerful sanitising properties. So when I created this gentle liquid hand soap, I do have conditioning as my ultimate objective. With the calming floral scent from lavender, that sounds downright lovely.
ingredients of conditioning lavender hand soap
The conditioning power of this lovely homemade hand soap comes from BTMS (INCL: Cetearyl Alcohol and Behentrimonium Methosulfate). It is a cationic conditioner obtained from rapeseed and palm oil. BTMS works as a conditioner to soften our skin, at the same time as a surfactant to combine the water phase and oil phase. We have lactic acid to enhance the conditioner power of BTMS. On the other hand, the cleaning properties of our hand soap come from the SLS, it creates that beautiful lather to lift and clean the germs. We have lavender essential oil, one of the most gentle essential oil to soothe and calm sensitive skin. I hope by this point you are sold already to make this lovely liquid hand soap!
| Phase | Ingredients | % W/W |
| A | BTMS [ US / Europe ] | 9.95% |
| A | Mineral Water | 57.25% |
| A | Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, SLS [ US / Europe ] | 29.90% |
| A | Xanthan Gum [ US / Europe ] | 1% |
| B | Mica Purple Oxide (optional) | 0.1% |
| B | Lavender Essential Oil | 0.85% |
| B | Geogard [ US / Europe ] | 0.60% |
| B | Lactic Acid [ US / Europe ] | 0.35% |
For the fun, I have also added a little bit of purple oxide mica to create that beautiful romantic violet colour for the lavender theme. The mica I bought was from Aroma Zone, it is obtained from Kaolin clay. I admit that this is really quite excess, as the violet colour came from manganese oxide, which means the colour will fade away along the time due to oxidation. So you are welcome to don’t use it and substitute it with same amount of water.
I use cosgard (INCL: Benzyl alcohol, Dehydroacetic acid, aqua), also name Geogard as the preservative. It is indispensable in this formulation as water creates a microbes-friendly environment. We don’t want those germs and bacteria not seen by eyes to grow in our hand soap because the whole purpose of having a hand soap is to clean our hands!
DIY Tools
- double-boiler [US / Europe]
- electronic balance precision 0.01g [US / Europe]
- mini inox whisk [ US / Europe ]
- mini silicon spatula [ US / Europe ]
- 50ml glass jar [ US / Europe ] or 50ml aluminum can [ US / Europe ]
Packaging
Conditioning Lavender Hand Soap — for a lot of handwashing
Course: Beauty RecipesDifficulty: Easy200
g30
minutesPhase A: Heating Phase; Phase B: Post Heating Phase
Ingredients
Directions
- Weigh and transfer all the ingredients of phase A into a double boiler.
- Warm it over a bain mairie ( water level should reach 1/3 of the double-boiler ) until the mixture reaches 75Ā°C~80Ā°C.
- When the BTMS is finally totally melted, take the double-boiler out of the bain mairie, mix it with your mixer until the temperature of the mixture drop until 50Ā°C.
- Move your double-boiler to a cold water bath, continue mixing until the emulsion happens which is when the mixture turns into creamy white, about 3 minutes, temperature around 30Ā°C.
- Add in all the ingredients of phase B and continue mixing until the ingredients are totally incorporated into the mixture.
- Transfer your liquid soap into your container. It’s done! Enjoy.
Notes & Substitution
- Mica in the recipe is totally optional. You can top it up with the same amount of water
- Geogard can be replaced by Germaben II or Optiphen. For the volume please follow the instruction of the supplier and adjust the recipe accordingly.
- Under optimal hygiene conditions, this liquid hand soap can be stored for up to 3 months.
- The pH of the recipe is 6.0 ~ 7.0
This lovely conditioning hand soap will keep your hand moisturised even after a lot of handwashing! I love it and I am sure you will too.
Stay safe and happy making!
If you like what I am doing, please consider donating me a coffee! =)
Calleigh
Hi, I am Calleigh, MEng Chemical Engineering and a process engineer, and I'm here to show you how to DIY your skincare and household products with the correct formulation and using only natural ingredients. I believe that eating good food (Yes I have cooking recipes too!) and living in a chemical-free environment are the keys to having a healthy lifestyle. And that doesn't need to be expensive.
