You can use it as body wash. It’ll lather as long as you’re mixing it with only a small amount of water, not a tubful.

Several other readers commented on what they did to get bubbles. Maybe one of their tips will work for you.

Same. More like sea foam brought in by the tide. No actual bubbles at all.

Thank you for letting us know what worked for you!

Yes, you can do that, softening the water to use real soap to make it sudsy — but you wind up with very soapy water for the amount of bubles you get. As long as you have softened water, there’s a way to make a heap of suds on top without getting the whole bath as soapy as dishwater, and that’s to blow thru a soapy washcloth. Use a cloth with a dense weave (high thread count) and no holes, soap it up (you needn’t use liquid castile, any soap will work, but the more lather-prone the soap the better), hold it around your mouth so there’s no other way for the air to escape, and blow. Re-wet and re-soap the cloth as needed. To keep your face from getting sore where the soapy cloth keeps getting pressed around it, you could rig one of those arrangements with a cut-open plastic bottle and rubber band to blow thru, or you could get one of those pillowcase-like pouches they soap you up with in a Turkish bath (hamam) or make your own. This way you cover yourself (or your kids) and the water surface with suds, but don’t get the entire bath very soapy.

As to repurposing the mixture, simple: use as hand or body or any other soap that doesn’t require mixing it with a large volume of water in use.

Looking forward to trying your homemade bubble bath. I could use a nice relaxing bath!