This Genius Hack Will Save You 75% On Body Wash | One Good Thing by Jillee

When I was growing up, I don’t think we ever bought “body wash.” It was bar soap all the way! Even after I got married, we still used bar soap—I distinctly remember trying to convince Dave that Dove was superior to Irish Spring. (Well, I still try to convince him of that, not that we’ve gotten anywhere on that front.)

But somewhere along the way, we stopped buying bar soap (except for the laundry bars I used to make homemade laundry detergent) and made the switch to body wash. Apparently we weren’t alone—since 2003 (the same year Old Spice entered the body wash market), sales of bar soap have plummeted nearly 40%.

So this week when I was grocery shopping, two things occurred to me: A) we go through quite a lot of body wash, and and B) body wash isn’t particularly budget-friendly! Like I said, I’m very much a Dove gal, so that’s what I like to buy for body wash, but a 22-ounce bottle goes for over $6 at our local store.

So in classic Jillee form, I said to myself, “I bet I can do better than that!” And that’s how I came around to figuring out how to turn bar soap into body wash. I bought a 6-pack of Dove bar soap for $6.88 and used 3 of the bars at a cost of $3.44. They yielded about 48 ounces of body wash, or $1.58 for a 22-ounce bottle (a savings of 75%!)

Give this bar-soap-turned-body-wash a try for yourself! It’s quick and easy, and it’s much more affordable than buying it. (It’s also better for the environment, because you’re not going through all those plastic body wash bottles!)

How To Turn Bar Soap Into Body Wash

You’ll need:

• 6 cups water
• 3 bars of soap
• Pot
• Pyrex measuring cup (or another microwave-safe container)

Directions:

Pour the water into a pot on your stove, bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.

Put the soap into big a Pyrex measuring cup, or another microwave-safe container, and microwave for about 30 seconds at a time until softened. (It took about 90 seconds when I did it, but it may take slightly more or less time for you depending on your microwave.)

Once the soap has melted, carefully add it to the water. Continue stirring over medium heat until all the soap has dissolved. It might take a little while, but you want to make sure all the soap has completely dissolved.

Once it has, remove the pot from heat and allow the mixture to cool to room until it’s just slightly warm. Then pour it into a shower-safe bottle where it will continue to cool and thicken for about 24 hours. (If it gets too thick, you can always thin it out by adding more water.)

Looking for something more organic? Check out this natural homemade body wash recipe.

Do you prefer bar soap or body wash?