If you like washing up enveloped in big poufs of fluffy lather, prepare to fall in love. Back when I published my Gentle Chamomile Facial Cleanser recipe, Laura asked about using it in a foamer bottle sans the thickener, and then reported back and said it worked like a charm. I couldn’t get my mind off the notion of plump, fluffy, lathery goodness, so I got myself some foamer bottles and set to work creating this Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash. Good thing, too—it turns out I am a huge fan of fluffy orange-scented poufs.
I’m working with a blend of three surfactants to create this Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash; rich, creamy SCI and mild Cocamidopropyl Betaine, with some added Bio-Terge AS40 as it offers good flash foam and boosts cleansing. Bio-Terge AS40 is a new surfactant for me; it’s liquid, and anionic. If you don’t have it, I’d recommend replacing it with another liquid anionic surfactant. You could also use more Cocamidopropyl Betaine, but that will reduce the amount of foam—not necessarily a bad thing, but something to be aware of.
For some fancy-it-up add-ins, I included some hydrolyzed oat protein, panthenol, and vegetable glycerin; all with help keep your skin from feeling too dry after washing up. I would really recommend keeping the glycerin, but if you don’t have a hydrolyzed protein or panthenol you can replace those with more water; obviously water isn’t going to do the same things at all, but replacing the missing weight with more water will keep the recipe in balance.
The lovely juicy-fresh orange scent comes from the inclusion of orange wax; if you don’t have it, feel free to use orange essential oil instead. If you’re using a different surfactant than Bio-Terge AS40 I’d recommend blending the orange wax or orange essential oil with a bit of Polysorbate 20, Turkey red oil, or olivem300 before adding it. Bio-Terge AS40 is a good solubilizer for small amounts of oils, so if you’re using something else, you’ll need to get that emulsifying power somewhere else.
You’ll need to dissolve the SCI (which is powdery) into the Cocamidopropyl Betaine; that’s the part that takes a while. I tend to mix mine together and leave them for an hour or so in a hot water bath until I have a thick, uniform white paste. From there you’ll add that paste to distilled water and let it dissolve. Once that’s done, you can stir everything else in, and that’s pretty much it! Now, you will need a foamer bottle for this if you want to use it as-is as it’s very thin. If you just have a normal pump-top bottle, add some crothix or xanthan gum to thicken it; whisk the xanthan gum into a bit of glycerin for easier incorporation. You’d probably need 2–4g of either, but I haven’t tried it, so I recommend working up to that.
The foamer bottles I used are sort of like an air horn, and I am not keen on that design. The foam shoots straight out the front of the foamer, meaning it’s a two-handed operation; one hand to pump, one hand to catch the foam. I also find the foam tends to accumulate in the dispenser since gravity isn’t working in its favour. So, all in all, don’t get a foamer like the one in the photos if you can avoid it—they aren’t very good.
Even in the face of lovely, fluffy clouds of lather, I think my favourite thing about this hand wash is how it doesn’t leave my hands feeling stripped and dry. With Lottie around I wash my hands a lot these days, and I’m so glad that these fluffy citrussy clouds don’t leave me with sad, flaky skin, even when used multiple times in an hour. Also… fluffy citrussy clouds! 😍 You should definitely make some Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash, I’m pretty sure you’ll love it, too!
Orange Cloud Foaming Hand Wash
14g | 0.49oz Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) (USA / Canada)
24g | 0.85oz Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)20g | 0.71oz Sodium C14-16 Alpha Olefin Sulfonate (Bio-Terge® AS-40) (USA / Canada) or Coco Glucoside (USA / Canada)
127g | 4.48oz distilled water
6g | 0.21oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)4g | 0.14oz hydrolyzed oat protein or other hydrolyzed protein (like silk)
2g | 0.07oz panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
2g | 0.07oz orange wax
1g | 0.03oz Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the SCI and Cocamidopropyl Betaine into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or beaker. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through—this will take at least an hour. It’s not done until you have a thick, uniform, white paste.
While the SCI mixture does its thing, combine the water, Bioterge AS40, and glycerin in another beaker. Stir the oat protein, panthenol, orange wax, and preservative together in another.
Once the SCI mixture is uniform, add the water mixture, and heat through until the SCI paste dissolves into the water mixture. This will also take a while; I covered my beaker with a piece of cling film to reduce water loss as it was taking so long. Periodically stir and mash the paste around, and you will slowly notice it start to vanish into the liquid.
When all of that is uniform, remove it from the heat and let it cool until the outside of the beaker is only warm to the touch. Stir in the hydrolyzed protein mixture and decant into a 250mL (8oz) foamer bottle. Enjoy!
Check your title my dear
Oops! Oh well, it’s impossible to change anything in an email that’s already been sent
Woohoo, a hand wash!!! Thanks so much for this recipe, it sounds so good with the orange wax (which I happen to have!) Was going to ask if I could use coco glucoside instead of the Bioterge AS40 but I got my answer when I looked at the actual recipe. I’m assuming I can add the coco glucoside where I would the bioterge, am I correct? Just swap it out? Can’t wait to try this!
Yup, swap away! Happy sudsing
Oh, this sounds so nice! Can’t wait to try it!! Thanks Marie!
I’m so smitten, I must make more as soon as I’m back! Swoon
Woohoo…I’ve inspired awesomeness
Fluffy, citrussy, foamy awesomeness!
This sounds great! Thanks for including the INCI names – that makes shopping in the UK and other places so much easier! Just foaming bottles to get…
No worries! Happy foaming 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve started following you on YouTube and love the things I’ve made so far based on your recipes, especially the Winter Solstice Face Cream and Gentle Chamomile Facial Cleanser. I’m trying out your DIY Egyptian Magic tonight.
Also thanks for publishing the chemical names for this recipe, as I’ll know what to get in New Zealand, plus thanks for doing things in metric 🙂
Do you think you would be able to come up with a cold cream recipe?
Thanks, Denise! Being Canadian I am well acquainted with the difficulties in getting ingredients that are readily available in the US, and I LOVE the metric system! It’s my default 😛 I’m only including ounces for the Americans out there, though a few of them have told me I’ve sold them on grams since they are obviously a superior measurement system haha.
For cold creams, check this out! That emulsion method is the classic cold cream emulsion method, and there’s no reason you couldn’t use that as a cold cream 🙂
yay!!! love this and can’t wait to make it. that part I love the most is that I have all the ingredients. I always buy stuff you buy and don’t know when I will use it but I know a Humblebeeandme recipe will call for it lol…
Awesome! I do try not to be toooooo ridiculous with the number of ingredients I use, but before I can narrow it down I often have to try a bunch of things an see what is best. Right now I want to buy alllll the surfactants lol. It’s so tempting! Enjoy your orange clouds 😀
Another quick question about the surfactant… as i mentioned i will be using coco glucoside for this recipe, do i still need a solubilizer for the orange wax? I have polysorbate 20 and olivem 300 though id like to try the olivem 300. How would i go about using it? Like i would poly 20? 1:1 or so? (I made air freshener using poly 20 and fragrance oil and had to use A LOT more poly 20 than oil for the mix to get nice and clear so i thought id try olivem this time around.) Any input is greatly appreciated. And thank you
I actually made another version of this wash using coco glucoside and I didn’t end up needing a solubilizer for my fragrance, so you might be able to get away without one. Otherwise, I’d probably try 1:1 with Olivem300 🙂
I still cannot successfully make foam stuff! Weep for me! All the “foam” stuff I make all look the same. Like… well… never mind. This will have to be one of those things I make when I move. It smells heavenly and feels great! But just no foamy stuff going on. It’s not your recipe Marie, it’s mine. I can only get my hands on Cocomide Betaine. My initial google search said I could use it but upon further investigation, it turns out that I can’t.
That’s so odd! The Amphosol CG is not the only source of lather by a mile (it really just plays a supporting role), so whatever you have must be a lather murderer 🙁
Guess what I found? In the oddest of places too? A chemist wholesale supply shop. They list Cocamidopropyl Betaine as the INCI in a picture so it wasn’t searchable. I found it listed and being sold as CAB-35. I cannot remember if I told you that story about thinking a pyrex 500mL handled jar was like 9rmb so jumped on that and bought two. Only to have 2 bottles of this clear liquid with CAB-35 on the label arrive on my doorstep. Those bottles sat in my apartment and were finally tossed as I had no idea what they were for. I tossed them in October.
Go figure. So, now we are in the summer schedule, guess who is playing with some foam this weekend????? Moi!
So cool! And what bad shop design, haha. And I’m sorry you already lost some! I recently realized I did this with a pair of shorts I now have a use for. BOOOOO. 😛 Happy foaming!
You crack me up!
Its their a substitute for the orange wax its not available here in New Zealand
I look forward to your reply
Please look it up in the Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia (https://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-encyclopedia/) for substitutions & more. Happy making!
I’ve made this a few times and really like how it feels on the skin. It’s just unfortunate that you have to shake the bottle each time to get the wax to mix with the rest of the ingredients. Was hoping to put in a clear foamer bottle to give to friends as I like the orange colour, but the wax sits on top and doesn’t look very appealing. So for now using very dark coloured bottles. Guess there’s no way to fully mix it without using an emulsifier?..