Purity of lye and laundry soap

[lenarenee]

A month ago I made 2 lbs of .5 sf laundry soap. As I was grating, realized that Essential Depot's lye can be anywhere from 96% pure and up; which means my laundry soap could be 4% superfatted. Is there going to be a problem?

(Also realized that my favorite soaps that I sf at 4 or 5 % may actually be a lot higher! Switching to a new lye!)

 

[LunaSkye]

Are you referring to their food grade lye? I would say that is problematic, but I actually like the results and can pray nothing bad come of it.

To answer your question, I think there are a few soapers who use their normal body soap recipes to make laundry soap as well. You could always test out a small portion and see how well it cleans your clothes. That would be what I'd do to see if I really will have a problem with it.

 

[Mellifera]

I grind up my regular soaps, as long as they don't have excess additives (clays and the like) and use them. No problems so far. Out clothes are mostly cotton, and I use a regular pretreatment I'd something is very stained.

 

[AF_SOAP]

laundry soap i have found out works better with excess lye. I always tend to think if you are trying to remove grease and dirt, why have excess fat in the soap and therefore in the water?

you should be fine. but like everyone else said, you can try to use regular body bars. I have used ivory before and it was okay but my -%5 tallow laundry soap does the best job..not too mention makes the best stain stick i have ever had. It has taken out some rough drinking nights if you know what i mean.

 

[lenarenee]

Thank you all; sounds like I won't have a problem. But since I love to make laundry soap I think I'll make another 2lb batch of lye heavy soap and mix with this stuff to help balance out any imbalance. I'd like to try to add a fo to it too, to see how that works.

 

[Sapwn]

I usually make liquid laundry soap from the remaining of my regular body soap which is usually made with 5-6% superfat and I add approximately 5% KOH in the bottle of the laundry soap.