Homemade men’s hand scrub for a gift or for seriously stinky fingers!
Homemade men’s hand scrub recipe as a gift or for every day. Ever since I started making my own homemade foaming hand soap it continues to be the one recipe that everyone raves about the most. Without any shadow of a doubt it works better then ANY hand soap I have ever tried and it even takes off the fishy smell after I’ve been cleaning fish for hours! With Christmas here it dawned on me I might be able to take what I learned from my foaming hand soap and make something even more geared for our guys that know how to get dirty and stinky! (And us gals too of course!)
This scrub would make an excellent gardener’s hand scrub as well but, for now, let’s focus on it for our boys. Because I wanted this to seem particularly “manly” I added three charcoal capsules and, yes, it does make it look like black dirt and the exact opposite of something that would clean your hands which I kinda like. I think it being black makes it perfect for a men’s hand scrub. I used a liquid castile soap for this because I’m lazy and didn’t want to melt anything down. This is one of those recipes where you literally just mix it all together and its ready to go:
1/4 cup liquid castile soap (What I use)
1/4 cup white vinegar (What I use)
1/3 cup salt (What I use)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking soda
3 opened capsules of charcoal (What I use)
5 drops peppermint oil (What I use)
5 drops eucalyptus oil (What I use)
5 drops tea tree oil (What I use)
Of course you do not need to add any essential oil or charcoal but in the end this not only looks manly but it smells manly too and leaves an interesting and light scent behind. (It looks pink in my batch before adding the charcoal because the only salt I keep in our house is pink Himalayan salt that I buy in bulk.) But that’s not really the point of course, the question is: does it work?
YES, YES AND MORE YES! Even with my foaming hand soap we had to go back and wash our hands twice after cleaning fresh fish. If we use this men’s hand scrub though (and hot water) its all we need and we only need to use it once. It also leaves our hands totally smooth and soft too. On top of all of that my husband (now ex husband) came in from deer hunting where he had climbed out of a pine tree and totally unintentionally covered his hands with sap. If you’ve ever got pine sap anywhere on your skin before then you know it is incredibly hard to remove. So, he tried this scrub and it took it right off!
Note here: this is gonna bubble when you mix it all together so make sure and use a bowl a little bigger then you think you need! Baking soda and vinegar is what causes the reaction but it calms down quickly and it all mixes up together nicely. This is a wet enough scrub that you can pour it but I prefer to use a spoon so I can mix it first and then spoon some into my hand. I put a big dollop on my dry hands and really scrub scrub scrub and then I wash it off with hot water scrubbing all the time. Interestingly this stuff really CLINGS to any rough places.
I put it in a squat, wide mouthed mason jar. This men’s hand scrub makes a great gift and I’ll definitely be giving quite a few out for Christmas!
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
Hi Tarah! Great post, and I will definitely be making this for myself and my husband. I have sworn off cleaning any fish we brought home as my hands would smell for what seemed like a week after. Can’t wait to give it a try!
Hi Samantha, I keep a jar of this made at ALL times now because it works so great! Thanks for coming by and commenting!
This would be perfect for my husband! He is a country club golf course superintendent and comes home with his hands dyed blue and green from the chemicals, this is a brilliant Christmas gift for him. Thanks for sharing! #totallyterriffictuesday
Sara, I think this would really help! My cousin is a mechanic and he tried this and just could not believe how well it worked! Thanks for coming by!
Thanks for sharing this hand scrub recipe! I will share it with my friends who have gardens and hubby’s that go fishing, plus make some for myself.
Elena, this stuff is almost miraculous, I keep a jar at my sink at all times now! Thanks for coming by!
We could definitely use this around here! Thanks for sharing with Party in Your PJs!
Thanks for coming by Lynda!
This looks so interesting, I’m bookmarking (and sharing, of course).
It’s a lovely idea. Dropped by from #bloggersPitStop and so glad I did, following you now. Happy Holidays to you and yours! 🎄
Thanks Donna!
Hi Tarahlynn this scrub does look a bit strange being black although it certainly looks like it works! Thanks for sharing how to make it with us at #BloggersPitStop and have a fabulous week.
Thanks Sue! Yeah I made it black just cause I wanted it to be “manly” lol but you certainly wouldn’t need to add the charcoal. Thanks for coming by!
Such a great idea! Husbands need something that they feel comfortable using and mine definitely does not like anything less than ‘manly.’ Love this idea – perfect for my hubby!
Thanks Jelica!
Hello!
I just want to know why the vinegar and baking soda?
Thank you
HI Arlene, both work amazingly for bad odors. The baking soda provides an awesome non abrasive scrub and the vinegar is just such a great green cleaning agent!
How long is this good for typically???
Hi Emily, ours lasted about a year. Mostly it just eventually separates and needs to be stirred up again.
Great post! Thanks for these interesting and creative ideas on homemade men’s hand scrub. This is really helpful for washing hand.
Thanks for checking it out!
Hello, I made this and the baking soda & vinegar reaction kept going over a day. Every time it would settle, it didn’t last long, as it slowly expanded time after time. I put some in a jar after letting it sit out over 24 hours, and it still leaked out of the jar. Have you ever had this problem?? So confused as to why it happened and I tried it twice! So weird.
Stacy I’m sorry to hear that! I wonder what caused yours to be so much more bubbly than mine… My baking soda may not have been the “freshest” like a few months old etc as I do buy it in bulk. I remember when I first made this I did let it sit in the refrigerator for a day but then it dried out quite a bit and worked great after that.
Is there something that can be added to this such as beeswax so it can be formed into “tablets”? I would like to be able to just grab one tab instead of messing with spoons and such.
Hi ALicia, I think you could actually just add less vinegar / liquid and then pack them into small molds (such as a cupcake tray) to dry. You could definitely try beeswax though, I’m sure that would work!