Help!!! Need laundry soap liquid & powder recipes...

[rxtellez]

Okay so I have gotten into soaping, CP & HP and now I have a million bars of soap laying around that has cured. I have been on the "DIY" Train lately and have tried making my own laundry soap using the "ZOTE" bar and the "Fels-Naptha" bar and have searched the forums & web and have tried both the liquid & powder version using those bars. But since I have so many bars of my own beautiful soap, I would love to make laundry soap using my own bars. However I have read forums and saw a lot about 100% coconut oil or coco oil/lard bars being great at laundry, but their is so much info, I became a little overwhelmed with choosing a recipe. So I figured why not try out ( for the 1st time ever) starting my own thread and getting recipes that have been tried & true for you guys! FYI I have read tons of these forums & finally signed up to join so be nice! I'm new

 

[lsg]

Just type in laundry soap in the forum search box and you should come up with some results.

 

[earlene]

Okay so I have gotten into soaping, CP & HP and now I have a million bars of soap laying around that has cured. I have been on the "DIY" Train lately and have tried making my own laundry soap using the "ZOTE" bar and the "Fels-Naptha" bar and have searched the forums & web and have tried both the liquid & powder version using those bars. But since I have so many bars of my own beautiful soap, I would love to make laundry soap using my own bars. However I have read forums and saw a lot about 100% coconut oil or coco oil/lard bars being great at laundry, but their is so much info, I became a little overwhelmed with choosing a recipe. So I figured why not try out ( for the 1st time ever) starting my own thread and getting recipes that have been tried & true for you guys! FYI I have read tons of these forums & finally signed up to join so be nice! I'm new

My favorite is laundry butter. I did the dry soap method of which you speak above for about a decade and liked it just fine, but when I started using the laundry butter last year I found I like it even better.

Here is the link to the recipe and directions that I use.

And if you need a video, here is one using the exact same recipe: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tki-SPcfnRY[/ame]

 

[kchaystack]

Okay so I have gotten into soaping, CP & HP and now I have a million bars of soap laying around that has cured. I have been on the "DIY" Train lately and have tried making my own laundry soap using the "ZOTE" bar and the "Fels-Naptha" bar and have searched the forums & web and have tried both the liquid & powder version using those bars. But since I have so many bars of my own beautiful soap, I would love to make laundry soap using my own bars. However I have read forums and saw a lot about 100% coconut oil or coco oil/lard bars being great at laundry, but their is so much info, I became a little overwhelmed with choosing a recipe. So I figured why not try out ( for the 1st time ever) starting my own thread and getting recipes that have been tried & true for you guys! FYI I have read tons of these forums & finally signed up to join so be nice! I'm new

The problem with using the bars you already have made is you probably have a superfat built into them. You really do not want to use bars with extra oil in your laundry.

 

[KristaY]

^^^Exactly what Kchaystack said. You don't want the extra oil in your clothes. I make soap specifically for cleaning that's 100% CO, -1% SF. This can be in bar form using NaOH or liquid using KOH. Once the soap is made I proceed from there grating and/or blending into laundry and general household cleaning soap.

 

[dibbles]

100% coconut, -1% SF here too. Since you probably don't already have that made, you get to make more soap! :mrgreen:

 

[dixiedragon]

I agree. If you have soap you don't care to use or give away for some reason, chop it up and make confetti soap.
Here is the powder recipe I use:
1 part soap (70% coconut, 30% lard, 0 superfat)
1 part washing soda
1 part OxyClean

1/4 c per load

Measure out ingredients and put them in a food processor to get a fine powder.

Liquid (makes 2.5 gallons)
3 oz soap shreds (same soap recipe)
40 cups of water
1/2 cup of borax

1 cup for a large load.

Melt the soap shreds in 20 cups of water. Stir in borax. Add remaining 20 cups of water. Stir well until Borax is dissolved. I store mine in gallon jugs.

My personal preference is for the liquid version, because I don't want to ruin my food processor with the powder version. I need to make more this weekend - with the puppies (see my thread Puppies!!), we are doing at least one, often 2, LARGE loads of dog laundry a day, and we go through some laundry soap! I use 2 cups a load if the dog laundry is especially gross.

 

[milky]

I'm very new to making soap and was wondering about laundry/cleaning soap. Is it a lot better and/or cheaper than store-bought? Or is it just that there are fewer chemicals in it?

 

[dixiedragon]

I've only been using it for a few months. It's definitely cheap - according to this, 5 gallons for $2. I like doing it b/c I like making my own soap so I like doing this.

People here in SMF have been using recipes very similar to these for years and reported good results. I have not noticed any decrease in effectiveness, but my clothes are not super dirty.

 

[earlene]

Milky, for me it has always been cheaper either when I did the powder method or now doing the laundry butter method. If you read the different links, often a cost analysis is included because people are so interested in cost savings.

 

[earlene]

I've only been using it for a few months. It's definitely cheap - according to this, 5 gallons for $2. I like doing it b/c I like making my own soap so I like doing this.

People here in SMF have been using recipes very similar to these for years and reported good results. I have not noticed any decrease in effectiveness, but my clothes are not super dirty.

I noticed a difference in how clean my clothes got when I went to using the Zero SF 100% CO soap as my base. When I used the Fels Naptha, it got my clothes very clean, too, but the CO soap with Zero SF got them even cleaner. In conclusion, in the past decade of making my own laundry soap, I noticed greater efficiency right from the start and it has only improved.

The only problem I ever have is when our town flushes out the fire hydrants and everyone's water turns yellow for a few days. Whites just get dingy if you wash in yellow water. And it plays havoc on our drinking water filter as well as put an added burden on our water softener.

 

[Cindy2428]

I played around with a few recipes and the one I like best was 90% coconut oil, 10% palm kernel oil flakes, 0% super fat. Very cleansing.

 

[dixiedragon]

I noticed a difference in how clean my clothes got when I went to using the Zero SF 100% CO soap as my base. When I used the Fels Naptha, it got my clothes very clean, too, but the CO soap with Zero SF got them even cleaner. In conclusion, in the past decade of making my own laundry soap, I noticed greater efficiency right from the start and it has only improved.

Can you share your recipes?

 

[rxtellez]

Thanks for all the tips, tricks and support! I am going to take you'lls advice and make a 100% coconut oil bar of soap tonight or i might try the co/lard recipe that most of you guys are swearing by! Arlene i love the recipe for the "laundry butter" i will be making that too. So much more creative then the basic 2:1:1 ratio i have tried using the Zote soap & Fels-Naptha bar.

For my laundry journey i have tried the basic 2:1:1 recipe using Zote/Fels-Naptha, washing soda & borax. As far as my Soaping recipes, this week alone I have made 100% castille soap, clay & charcoal face soap and my version of "grandmas's old fashion lard soap". I am actually thinking i should name it "Not your Grandma's Old Fashion Lard Soap" lol because i used stearic acid in mine, with a 10% sf, Honey & 1.5 tbs of glycerin. So my recipe went a little something like this.

Lard:63 oz
Stearic Acid:3oz
NaOH: 8.39 0z
H2O: 25.08

1.5 Tbs of glycerin
2Tbs Honey

The problem with using the bars you already have made is you probably have a superfat built into them. You really do not want to use bars with extra oil in your laundry.

Thank you kchaystack, you just gave me another reason to soap today! I will be making CO soap tonight, just for laundry!

^^^Exactly what Kchaystack said. You don't want the extra oil in your clothes. I make soap specifically for cleaning that's 100% CO, -1% SF. This can be in bar form using NaOH or liquid using KOH. Once the soap is made I proceed from there grating and/or blending into laundry and general household cleaning soap.

KristaY, what did you mean -1% SF. will soapcalc allow me to choose a negative sf percent?

 

[shunt2011]

Yes, you can enter negative SF. I have been doing the same in my last couple batches.

 

[Susie]

I make liquid laundry/dish soap using 100% CO, 0% superfat, and KOH with the CP method. Easy peasy. I keep the paste on hand to put on a brush, cloth, or sponge to clean with. Works fine, with no ingredients that are going to cause me problems.

 

[Arimara]

I'm very new to making soap and was wondering about laundry/cleaning soap. Is it a lot better and/or cheaper than store-bought? Or is it just that there are fewer chemicals in it?

It gives me an excuse to make soap. I just recently made laundry soap using NaOH and I can't say whether I find it more efficient than making the liquid variety. If I made the bar variety again, I would definitely try to let the soap come to full gel and maybe cure it for a week or so. I had an easier time grating a fully cured 100% CO soap and an attempt at a solseife. Both of them were incredibly hard bars of soap.

 

[earlene]

Can you share your recipes?

Look at my first post on this thread for the Laundry Butter link (post #3). It's not really mine, so I linked to my source. But here it is again.

My powder was just the common run-of-the mill one that's gone around the DIY laundry soap circuit forever and ever. Grated bar soap, washing soda, Borax initially. Later on I added in Oxiclean to the powdered soap.

But now I prefer the Laundry Butter. Unless I have to fly, in which case I will pack the powder as it doesn't alarm at the checkpoint like a gel does. (TSA considers whipped soap a gel.)

 

[artemis]

Thanks for all the tips, tricks and support! I am going to take you'lls advice and make a 100% coconut oil bar of soap tonight or i might try the co/lard recipe that most of you guys are swearing by! Arlene i love the recipe for the "laundry butter" i will be making that too. So much more creative then the basic 2:1:1 ratio i have tried using the Zote soap & Fels-Naptha bar.

You may have already made your soap... I just wanted to add that I make my 100% soap for laundry in a multi-cavity mold, or in a bunch of margarine tubs- that stuff hardens up FAST.

 

[dixiedragon]

Thanks for all the tips, tricks and support! I am going to take you'lls advice and make a 100% coconut oil bar of soap tonight or i might try the co/lard recipe that most of you guys are swearing by! Arlene i love the recipe for the "laundry butter" i will be making that too. So much more creative then the basic 2:1:1 ratio i have tried using the Zote soap & Fels-Naptha bar.

The soap will be much easier to shred if you do it soon after you cut it. Wear gloves! Because the soap is so new AND 100% coconut aND 0 super fat, it will be very harsh and drying. I have a Salad Shooter that I use for this. I usually get them for $3 at thrift stores. I actually have 3 right now, b/c the motors were not built for soap so they tend to burn out, so I pick them up at thrift stores whenever I see them for under $5.