What concentration of soap do you use for laundry soap/detergent?

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RogueRose

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I made some pure coconut oil soap with no superfat (no need for clothing washing from my experience and it does a better job) and I'm wondering what percent (by weight) do you mix the soap with water to make a liquid laundry soap? I think I'll use KOH next time so it makes a liquid soap a little easier as the NaOH soap remains pretty thick even when adding a good bit of water.

I don't add any washing soda (sodium carbonate) or borax to my soap, I add that directly to the washer before adding the clothing, otherwise the soap gets WAY too thick.

if you make the soap so you add 1 cup per load (8oz, or 16 loads per gallon), how much soap do you add to the water? If you use 1 oz of bar soap (~28g) then you would need 1lb of soap to make 1 whole gallon of detergent.

I've heard people say they add something like 1/4c of shredded soap per load, but that can vary by a lot depending on how fluffy or dense the soap shavings are. My washer also doesn't do well dissolving the shredded/powdered soap in enough time for it all work in the load, so I have to dissolve it before adding.

So what are some recipes that you use?

Out of curiosity what are some oil mixes you have used for this and do you also use NaOH or do you use KOH?

The reason I use coconut oil is it bubbles a lot and has great cleansing properties so the bubbles lift/float the dirt and it also does an excellent job on tough stains like grease (from food, like pepporini, sausage & other oily foods - it works GREAT!). I've also heard that some people use pure olive oil for this, which blows my mind b/c it is MUCH better as a soap for skin as it has a zero for cleansing and bubbly while it has 82 for conditioning and 17 for creamy & hardness, so it really has no good properties as a laundry soap, which is why most commercial laundry soaps use a DETERGENT which is MUCH closer to coconut oil soap.

So would anyone like to share their recipes? Even if you do add borax or sodium carbonate, you can include that and tell me the amount of soap (and type) you add and how much.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone!
 

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