VEGAN DIY - Liquid Dish Soap

I ran out of dish soap today and I have been meaning to make some for a while, so I guess the fates aligned to bring this post to you :)

There are a couple of brands of cruelty free dish soap out there.  Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyers, and Target's Method brand to name a few but they do tend to be more expensive than their non cruelty free shelf mates such as Dawn or Ajax and I've been on a mission to prove that being a vegan household does not mean breaking the bank, EVEN when it comes to personal care and household cleaning products so dish soap is the next stop on that train! 

So far we have discussed making our own vegan liquid hand soap and vegan dryer sheets and the reasons why we might want to dabble in making our own. Besides contributing to WAY less landfill waste by buying less packaging, there is a LOT of money to be saved by making your own and of course we want to ensure that our products are vegan so as not to contribute to any form of animal testing. There is also a lot of junk in your normal run of the mill dish soap that may cause concern for some.  Check out this post if you are interested in learning more about the goods and bads of what is in your dish soap.

Making dish soap is crazy simple, it took me about 5 minutes to throw together my batch today.

There is one ingredient used in making this soap that is questionable to vegans and that is washing soda.  The only commercially available brand of washing soda I have been able to find is made by Arm & Hammer and they are a terrible company that is known throughout the AR community for their torture and mistreatment of animals. When I first started making my own laundry soaps I was in quite a quandary because I knew of and could find no other alternative and it is a necessary ingredient.  I was stuck using it until the day I stumbled upon this blog and finally I could make my soap with a clear conscience!!  You see the difference between simple baking soda and washing soda is a few molecules, I'm not a chemist so check out the link above for a better explanation.  Basically I buy my cruelty free Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda and bake it in the oven until it becomes washing soda, the heat breaks the molecules and turns it into washing soda!  Cheap, EASY and VEGAN!  I use washing soda in my homemade laundry detergent, to make this dish soap, for my homemade "oxyclean" and as a laundry booster for particularly nasty loads of laundry.  So make yourself up a batch and then lets make some clear conscience dish soap!




You need:
1/3 bar of vegan soap, I found this one at the Dollar Store
1/4 cup of simple white vinegar
1/4 cup washing soda
6-7 cups HOT (almost boiling) water
essential oils as you desire 

This will make a 1/2 gallon of dish soap and I figured with 1/3 of a bar of soap from the Dollar Store and the other ingredients it cost about $1-$2 to make.  Now if you buy more expensive soap your end cost will be more and of course if you add the essential oils those will bring up your price as well but still even with the expensive soap and a bunch of oils I can't see this costing more than $4-$5 for a HALF GALLON (or *about* 8 cups) of dish soap.  Compare that to Mrs. Meyers at $4 for 2 cups of liquid dish soap, Seventh Generation at $4-$5 for about 3 1/2 cups of soap, and Method at $4 for about 2 1/2 cups and you can see that the savings are quite substantial AND you are not buying any more plastic bottles!  

Grate 1/3 of your bar of soap (about a 1/4 cup of shavings)

Washing Soda

Vinegar

Add soap flakes, washing soda and vinegar to a 1/2 gallon jar

Pour 1/2 of your water in over the other ingredients, put the lid on the jar and with oven mitts on your hands (it's HOT!) shake it up for a couple minutes until the soap flakes are dissolved.  Other people do this in a bowl or pan but this way it's already in what I plan to store it in and I have no extra dishes to wash. 

After the flakes are melted take the lid off, it'll be really sudsy from shaking.  Just slowly pour the rest of your hot water in over the top of the suds and they will go down.

Once it's full set it aside (without the lid) to cool over night.  In the morning give it a good shake and then use a funnel to fill up your dish soap bottle.  Label this jar and you have plenty to keep your dishes clean for months!