How To: Make Your Own Body Wash (W/Pics!!)

All right, remember when I told you that I would have something for that deal on the Old Spice bar soap? I'm FINALLY posting on it! (Click here if you missed that deal.)

Here's what I paid $0.50 for:

You'll need:

A bar of soap (of your choosing)

Grater

Cooking pot

2 cups water

Container to store body wash in

How to do it:

Grate your bar of soap. I only used half of a bar because I only wanted to make enough to fill the leftover body wash container I had. I actually ended up with enough to fill that container, plus half of another one. If your bar of soap is soft enough, you can actually just use a knife and cut it into smaller pieces. Grating can get tedious.

I placed a plastic bag under the pot to catch any mess, because the pot I chose was small. I would have been better off using newspaper, but you live and learn, right?

If you didn't grate your soap into your cooking pot like I did, now is the time to transfer it over.

Add 2 cups of water and heat on the stove. Stir your mixture frequently, until the flakes and pieces of soap have dissolved.

Turn the stove off and allow your body wash to cool for several hours. After about 2 hours, it will develop a skin. Check the consistency at that point. If it's too thick, reheat and add more water. I ended up adding another cup of water because this particular type of soap will turn more into a gel than the traditional wash. But guys really don't care, right? Not when you tell them how much money you're saving. ;) Additionally, if you think it's too watery, reheat and add more soap.

Once you have the consistency that you want, transfer your mixture into the container you want to use. I chose to put mine in a large measuring cup first, simply because it made it easier to put into the body wash container.

I used empty body wash containers from soap that my fiancee had already gone through, but I've seen people use things like condiment containers and mason jars. Put it in whatever's easiest for you.

That's it! You're done! It does take some time and effort, but let's break down the savings and see if it's right for you.

Let's say the average name brand body wash, such as Old Spice for men, is around $4 a bottle. That's pretty accurate. I spent $0.25 on a bar of soap, and made 1 1/2 bottles of body wash, just by using HALF of it. That's about 3 bottles of body wash per bar of soap.

So, what you would normally spend $12 on, I spent $0.25 on. That's a savings of 98%.

Now, let's put it into perspective and say that I bought the bars at their regular price of $0.90 per bar (Walmart price because their regular price is cheaper than Dollar General's, which is where I got this deal). That's still 3 bottles of body wash for $0.90, rather than $12. A savings of approximately 92%!

I'm going to be doing this with different types of soap and also adding different things to make them smell different, be more moisturizing and also have a different consistency, so I'll keep you posted as I do! Let me know how you make out if you decide to try this. If you have any questions, leave me a comment!

Happy saving!!