Today we’re keeping up the Rosé theme with a shimmery, sudsy Rosé Hand Wash. This lovely bottle of bubbles also uses the Iselux Ultra Mild surfactant blend from Windy Point for ultra-easy making (we used it earlier this month to create a Sweetgrass Facial Cleanser as well). After a bit of a streak of foaming hand washes over the previous months I elected to thicken this one for use in regular pump-top bottles, but if you’d prefer to leave it un-thickened it’ll also work beautifully in a foamer top bottle. Either way, it’s super easy to make with no heating required!

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

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Our delicious scent comes from three places; rich rose hydrosol, fresh green cognac essential oil, and some sort of citrussy note. I’m keeping the rose & cognac notes the same throughout the series, but I’m having fun fiddling with the citrus notes. I’ve tried both grapefruit and litsea cubeba essential oils already, and this time I’m trying the lemon slices fragrance oil from Rustic Escentuals. It’s much sweeter and dessert-like than the essential oils, and I do love how it comes through in this hand wash! You can definitely feel free to use whatever citrussy thing appeals to you, but if you’re a citrus fiend the lemon slices fragrance is delightful.

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

Since we’re thickening this hand wash I decided to include a bit of pink shimmer in the form of a pretty “Tickle Me Pink” mica from YellowBee. I was looking for something rosé-ish, colour-wise, so let that be your guide when you’re choosing something from your stash. You definitely don’t have to use a mica if you don’t want to, but I think it makes for a very pretty end product.

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

The suds come from a pre-made blend of surfactants called Iselux Ultra Mild, which makes this hand wash super beginner-friendly and easy to make (it also drastically reduces the number of ingredients you’ll need). If you don’t have it be sure to check the substitutions list at the end of the recipe!

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

Because Iselux Ultra Mild isn’t an amazing solubilizer I’ve also included some polysorbate 20 to solubilize our essential oils/fragrances into the hand wash. We’ll use crothix to thicken the mixture, though if you prefer foaming hand washes you can certainly leave it out and pop the hand wash in a bottle with a foamer top instead (leave the mica out if you do that; it’ll just settle out).

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

The finished hand wash is lovely—silky and sudsy, leaving your hands feeling clean and fragrant. I hope you enjoy this lovely hand wash as much as I do!

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Rosé Hand Wash

14.4g | 6% polysorbate 20 (USA / Canada)
1.44g | 0.6% green cognac essential oil
0.96g | 0.4% lemon slices fragrance oil

24g | 10% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
0.6g | 0.25% “Tickle Me Pink” mica
1.2g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)
36g | 15% Iselux Ultra Mild surfactant blend

65.4g | 27.25% distilled water
96g | 40% rose hydrosol

Crothix™ Liquid (USA / Canada), as needed

Weigh the polysorbate 20 and fragrance/essential oils into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Whisk to combine. Add the glycerine, mica, liquid germall plus, and Iselux, stirring between additions.

Add the distilled water and hydrosol and stir gently until the mixture is uniform.

Lastly, it’s time thicken the face wash with Crothix™ liquid. For a 240g batch I’d add ~3g at a time, stirring between additions and waiting five minutes or so before adding more. Crothix™ liquid can go very quickly from “hmm, not thick enough” to “whoops, just made sudsy flubber”, so err on the side of slower additions!

When you’re happy with the viscosity you’re done! Transfer to a container; I used a 240mL (8fl oz) pump-top bottle. To use… wash your hands with it. It’s pretty normal that way 🙂 Enjoy!

Made as written the pH of this hand wash is around 6. If you make any changes please test and adjust as required to get a similar end pH.

Shelf Life & Storage

Because this hand wash contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.

Substitutions

As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.

  • As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 240g.
  • To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
  • You could use white cognac essential oil instead of green cognac essential oil.
  • Feel free to choose a citrus essential or fragrance oil of choice.
  • You could include 0.3% rose fragrance oil and then use 39.7% distilled water in place of the rose hydrosol
  • You can use a different mild surfactant blend instead of the Iselux Ultra Mild. Suggestions include BSB Liquid Surfactant and Miracare Soft 313.
  • If you want to make your own surfactant blend I’d recommend starting with a mixture of 13% Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI), 63% Cocamidopropyl Betaine, and 25% Coco Glucoside. You’ll need to melt the Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine together first before adding the coco glucoside, and the whole mixture will need to be gently heated with the water and hydrosol to fully disperse. You can also look at creating your own blend based on your personal collection; I recommend checking out this table, this FAQ article, and this series of posts to learn more. If you use a different surfactant please check and adjust the pH as necessary.
  • You could try propanediol instead of vegetable glycerin.
  • The mica is optional; replace it with more water if you elect to remove it.
  • You can leave out the Crothix™ liquid and instead package the hand wash in a bottle with a foamer top (replace the mica with more water if you do this).

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

How to Make Rosé Hand Wash

Gifting Disclosure

The Iselux Ultra Mild was gifted by Windy Point. The green cognac essential oil and rose hydrosol were gifted by Plant’s Power. The “Tickle Me Pink” mica was gifted by YellowBee.