Hi! Since liquid soap is so cheap I want to cheap out by making it cheaper. I pretty much always dilute it which extends its life but the resulting runniness lead to some soap escaping the hand washing my money straight down the sink.

This pain is unbearable and I’m thinking to add a little bit of corn or potato starch, agar or some such from the pantry to increase the viscosity How bad of an idea is this? I figure soap doesn’t really allow for microbe life and starch tends to be quite anti microbial. Same goes for dish soap. The soap is dumpstered so switching to hard soap isn’t cheaper and I haven’t found a foaming dispenser in the trash (yet). But soap is rare in the trash so I want to make last. Alternatively anyone know if a a regular pump can be made foaming or have other creative solutions?

  • CallMeAl (like Alan)@piefed.zipEnglish
    17·
    14 days ago

    If you wet your hands first you only need a tiny drop of undiluted soap. Rub hands together vigorously for about 10 seconds to make a foamy lather. I stretch it out by always trying to use as little as possible from the dispenser.

    • Pat_Riot@lemmy.todayEnglish
      11·
      14 days ago

      This is the way, OP. What you suggest is anti-frugal as you are considering buying a whole other product to further cut a product you are already cutting. You will end up spending more money and time in the long run. AI has it right this time.

      • Kaffeburk@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        4·
        14 days ago

        I already have a lifetime supply of corn and potato starch, and my thought was that it wouldn’t require a lot to gel it up again. Time is not really an issue in my life so I don’t mind boiling some dilution water every now and again.

    • Kaffeburk@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      21·
      14 days ago

      That works for me but my spidey senses say if that I can’t be instructing guests how to use the soap. I tried modifying the pump to have a shorter stroke, but the pump broke surprisingly fast, I think due to the downwards pressure people expect to need.

      • HypnoticSheep@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        13 days ago

        Could you shorten the stroke in the other direction, and stop the pumphead from going all the way back up?

        Alternatively, I’ve been enjoying some touchless soap dispensers I got for fairly cheap, I dropped the dispensed amount to the minimum and can go a long time between refilling.