Laundry Soap

[American Valkyrie]

I just made my first laundry soap today:

Recipe:
1 cup low-SF soap (I made a 100% CO soap at 0%SF, HP in crockpot)
1 cup washing soda
1/4 cup citric acid for tough stains
(1/4oz PPO fragrance, which I hear will wash out and not linger on clothing, but it makes it more enjoyable anyway)

I made the soap today, grated it, mixed the powdered ingredients. Tomorrow I'll try it out. We have a lot of "work residue" from both farm work and exercise, and commercial detergents don't help as much as I would like.

Does anyone else make laundry soap? Any recipes or experiences you'd like to share? Since this is my first batch, I'm sure I'll tweak it a little bit until I have it right. I'd like to try borax, but didn't have an onhand tonight when I made my soap. But at 5-10 cents per load, it's still cheaper than the cheapest commercial powdered detergent.

 

[Moonblossom]

I've been making HM laundry soap for about 7 yrs now I'll never go back to regular. I do add borax to mine and don't add citric acid but I do add Oxyclean since I got some on a great sale. Honestly I just use soap scraps from whatever soap I have previously made for mine and haven't noticed any difference. I did just start using those fabric softener granules and I just made my own using medium mag sulfate and fo I'll be interested to see how it turns out when I start using it, I wanted to let them sit for abit to get all the FO combined before trying them and I'll try them on my towels first in case there is any issues..

 

[tlm884]

I made laundry soap the other day for the first time as well, I have used it a few times and it seems to do okay with general cleaning.

I made a batch of lard soap (100% lard 0% SF)
Then I used a cup of lard soap shredded
1 cup borax
1 cup Calgon Water Softner (similar to washing soda, I am having a hard time finding washing soda)

I throw it all in a blender and mix it up. One thing I am interested in doing is maybe adding some ultramarine blue to the batch. Ultramarine blue is what is used in liquid bluiding to make whites look whiter, but I'm not sure if it would just be rinsed out in the rinse cycle.

How did you like using CO in your soap? I haven't used it because I only by CO is small qaunities and it gets expensive.

 

[Lilahblossom]

I make the liquid 5 gal. version because I use cold water to wash. Keep some of this handy at the sink for sponges, mix some in hot sink water to wash down the stove and counters, if you run out of dishwasher powder it will do for one or two loads. Take it outside to wash down the picnic table.

 

[American Valkyrie]

Moonblossom, where do you add the mag sulfate? I have some lying around, and it's super cheap anyway. Do you put it in with the detergent, or toss it in the rinse cycle?

tlm884, I love coconut oil. I buy LouAnn brand at Walmart: 32oz for $2.50. It's low-grade, 76-degree melting point, but it works great. A lot of people don't like how cleansing it is, but that's what I love most about it. I do a facial soap of 100% CO at 20% SF, mixed with equal parts salt a trace. It's pretty much gotten rid of my acne, and I haven't had dry skin from it at all. I'm sure other people's skin is different, but it works for me. When I started reading up on laundry detergents, it was recommended that I use coconut oil because it is so cleansing.

There is a product called liquid bluing on the market that my mom used to un-dingy her whites. http://www.mrsstewart.com/ This might be a good thing to mix in liquid detergents? I wonder how it would work for a powder.

 

[tlm884]

Wal-mart here doesn't seem to carry coconut oil. The only place that I have found it charges 18 dollars a pound for it so I use it very sparingly. The reason I want to use it in laundry soap is the exact reasons you mention, the cleansing factor. I recently ordered 10lbs of palm online and I might have to order 10lbs of CO next time I order something from them. I may stick to 50% CO and 50% lard for my laundry soap. I also want to make some stain sticks.

My plan for stain sticks is to use lard and CO at 0% superfat and hotprocess it. At the end of processing I want to add maybe 1/2cup borax PPO then let them set up and give them a try.

 

[ToniD]

I used to use some coconut in my laundry soap, and now just use lard or tallow. I don't notice a difference in how clean the clothes are. I use 1 cup soap, one cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda. I added some citric acid to the last batch, I'll see if that makes a difference.

 

[tlm884]

I used to use some coconut in my laundry soap, and now just use lard or tallow. I don't notice a difference in how clean the clothes are. I use 1 cup soap, one cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda. I added some citric acid to the last batch, I'll see if that makes a difference.

I'm suspecting the citric acid may neutralize the washing soda and may lower the efficiency. However, I have no scientific evidence to back that up. Let us know how it works.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I've been making liquid washing soap for about 6 months now, I use about 5 oz of beef tallow soap (0%SF) 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda and about 1 gal of water. I got this recipe from this site: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapr ... psteps.htm

I didn't have enough washing soda last time so used 2/3 washing soda and 1/3 baking soda. I have added baking soda to my wash for years, and also read that some people add it to their soap. I would like to use CO but all the Walmart's I have ever shopped in had 32 oz for about $7, not $2.50, and I get the tallow for free. If there isn't a noticeable difference between CO and tallow, then I will save my CO for other projects.

I did read that you can bake baking soda in the oven for about 1 hour and then use it in place of washing soda. I have also read arguments that this does not work, but I don't know either way. I think I will try it next time.

I always use white vinegar in every load so that there is no soap build up in the clothes. I have quit using fabric softener and dryer sheets both with the vinegar. The vinegar smell is gone by the end of the rinse cycle. I put it in a Downy ball and toss it in right before closing the lid. I have used it on everyday clothes as well as my good stuff and it all comes out clean.

 

[Moonblossom]

Just like the fabric softener granules I add it in the washer before I start the washer, before I add the clothes.

And I also use Cold Water with the dry laundry detergent in a front loader and I've never had problems with it dissolving.

 

[Genny]

I did read that you can bake baking soda in the oven for about 1 hour and then use it in place of washing soda. I have also read arguments that this does not work, but I don't know either way. I think I will try it next time.

At 200 degrees celsius is when baking soda will decompose into sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide and water. So, in a regular home oven, I don't think that would be possible. Then you'd have to know exactly when to stop heating it so it doesn't break down any further, which would be really hard to test for.

You might have better luck getting the sodium carbonate right off your ashy soaps if you have any heavy ashers.

 

[ToniD]

I used to use some coconut in my laundry soap, and now just use lard or tallow. I don't notice a difference in how clean the clothes are. I use 1 cup soap, one cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda. I added some citric acid to the last batch, I'll see if that makes a difference.

I'm suspecting the citric acid may neutralize the washing soda and may lower the efficiency. However, I have no scientific evidence to back that up. Let us know how it works.

I am interested in the experiment. I find such conflicting information online. Some say the citric acid will neutralize the washing soda, some say that both in the Laundry soap will make for more stain fighting and will remove any soap scum from the laundry better. Guess I'll see.

 

[SoapAddict415]

I got the idea to make my own laundry soap from an aunt who makes her own liquid detergent. My first try didn't go so well. My water wasn't hot enough to dissolve the soap & it separated. Instead of being discouraged I put the solid part into a large container & the liquid part into a gallon jug. I've been using bonJth as stain pre-treaters for almost a year now! Since then I've made my own laundry bar soap (50% CO & 50% palm). I grate it down & mix it with equal parts borax & washing soda for a powdered soap. I also add a container of generic oxy clean. It doesn't create a lot of bubbles. So when my BF (the lord of soap dispensing lol), comes to the laundry mat with me, I add commercial detergent to my homemade soap. He thinks that if you can't see suds then it's not getting clean & he will use up my entire batch laundry soap looking for a lot of soap suds if I don't do that.