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txsoaper

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I want to try making my own laundry detergent. I have seen several recipes where you grate a bar of home made soap and add it to a variety of ingredients. My question is, could I make a liquid laundry soap using a small amount of castile soap? I would like to use the castile soap, borax, washing soda, baking soda and a mixture of essential oils such as tea tree and maybe lemon. I saw a recipe that also called for grapeseed extract. DOes this concoction sound logical? I have never done this before, so could anyone offer advise as to what % I should use of each thing? Thanks you so very much for any help you can provide.
 
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

Easy directions for making a liquid gel from soap, washing soda, and borax. It's what I use, although I stopped messing with the gel and just "pulverize" it in a food processor and use it as powder. If you have hard or soft water, you can play around with the amount of borax, etc., to get the results you want. I use my own soap made at a super-low superfat. You don't want excess oils in your laundry.

FYI-If you do pulverize it in a food processor, throw a damp dish towel over the whole thing while it's running to trap the dust. And wear a mask.

Also, I recommend using plain white vinegar as a fabric softener if you use laundry soap. There won't be any vinegar smell in your laundry.
 
Ok, I just made up a test batch but am not sure if I have added enough soap to it. I mixed 1/4 of a cup of my liquid Castile soap along with 1 cup each of baking soda, washing soda & borax and a few drops of essential oils. I threw some towels into the wash and watched carefully to make sure there weren't excessive suds. I saw nothing which makes me worry that either I need to use more in the dispenser or I need to add more liquid soap. I used 2
Tablespoons in the powdered detergent dispenser. Any ideas? Should I up the liquid soap ratio to maybe 1/2 cup or do my ratios look alright.
 
txsoaper said:
Ok, I just made up a test batch but am not sure if I have added enough soap to it. I mixed 1/4 of a cup of my liquid Castile soap along with 1 cup each of baking soda, washing soda & borax and a few drops of essential oils. I threw some towels into the wash and watched carefully to make sure there weren't excessive suds. I saw nothing which makes me worry that either I need to use more in the dispenser or I need to add more liquid soap. I used 2
Tablespoons in the powdered detergent dispenser. Any ideas? Should I up the liquid soap ratio to maybe 1/2 cup or do my ratios look alright.

From my studies of laundry soap and today's concentrated detergents, I can tell you that if you are seeing suds you are using too much soap. Too much soap can actually damage shorten the life of your clothes. An easy test to see if you are using too much soap or detergent to run your clothes through the wash without using soap. If the water suds, thats the excess soap from previous washes. When I first learned this, I was using the commercial concentrated brands and my idea about using the detergent was that more = cleaner clothes. I had to run my clothes through the wash several times before the water stopped making suds. >_< To think, all that excess was stuck on my clothes and then against my skin, getting detergents on my skin.

The trick to getting clothes clean is more the agitation than the soap. You can even get clothes clean without soaps or detergents as long as they agitate.
 
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txsoaper said:
Ok, I just made up a test batch but am not sure if I have added enough soap to it. I mixed 1/4 of a cup of my liquid Castile soap along with 1 cup each of baking soda, washing soda & borax and a few drops of essential oils. I threw some towels into the wash and watched carefully to make sure there weren't excessive suds. I saw nothing which makes me worry that either I need to use more in the dispenser or I need to add more liquid soap. I used 2
Tablespoons in the powdered detergent dispenser. Any ideas? Should I up the liquid soap ratio to maybe 1/2 cup or do my ratios look alright.
Just curious how this has been working for you! I havent made my own castile soap yet, but I turned a bar of Kirk's Castile into liquid for my foaming soap pump and know that I will soon have soap up to my eyeballs if I start making CP on my own! Love the idea of using liquid castile in the wash.
 
I'd go with a higher cleansing soap than olive oil. I do a powdered laundry soap with my 100%, no superfat coconut oil soap. Works much better than olive oil. Olive oil tended to leave a residue after a while.

I agree with Bashfullbyte about the suds and agitation. Bubbles & suds are not needed for cleansing. I used to be one of those people who also thought bubbles = clean. But after switching to cloth diapers for our kids, I soon realized that more bubbles = too much detergent, which = horrible rashes on my baby's butt. Once I started adding less laundry soap to the water and made sure that there was adequate aggitation in the washer, the diapers and clothes were coming out nice and clean and free of excess detergent.
 
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