Adventures in homemade laundry soap

[Poco Pelo]

Howdy
i've been making soap for grins and giggles.:help: So far, i have this..... i did a powder soap from a bar of ivory soap with equal parts borax and washing soda. Works good, whites look good and soft dispite hard water. The flakes dissolve within a minutes or so of agitation. But i don't like powder... so i did two batches of liquid. The first was the same recipe doubled. i dissolved the flakes in simmering water then added it to 2.5 gallions of hot water and stirred in the borax and washing soda. No tests yet...
Dos was some dollar store lavender bubble bath liquid, 2 cups in 2 gallions of hot water and 2 cups borax stirred in and washing soda (2 cups) added as well. this works good, maybe not as good as the powdered batch. But maybe if i had hot water to the washer things would improve. But it didn't gell and settles some and needs to be shaken before use.... (like myself:~))
i've started boiling down plants from the yard. So far Snake grass has been the only nice scent. It smelled like wet down that rolled in the grass at first, but the next morning it was more like camomile tea.... Next Dr Washingstein experiment will be Morman Tea, i have buttloads of that this year, makes great tea and i eat a lot of it raw, so i wonder if it would smell enough for scent in soap.
Any comments suggestions or death threats ? Thx

[Gardenarian]

I use Dr. Bronner's - it works great with HE machines. I love love love the scents and the clothes come out soft and clean. Maybe not the cheapest, but easy and good.

[Poco Pelo]

Dr Bronners doesn't come out soft for me. i have hard water and was using it with baking soda. But Dr B is on my list of ingrediants to try

[larknm]

Gardenarian, do you use the Dr. Bronner's by itself or with other ingredients?

[Selah]

Just curious, Poco Pelo, but what is Mormon Tea?

[Poco Pelo]

a green stick like plant that can be brewed into a tea. i like to chew on it, has a tart lemon flavor. i have no idea how the name came about, other than a guess that it might have be favored by Mormons at some time in history....
But it is sold as a medicinal herb, good for anxiety relief/mood enhancement

[Gardenarian]

Gardenarian, do you use the Dr. Bronner's by itself or with other ingredients?

Just plain old Dr. B. It works fine for me!

[Poco Pelo]

Update on soaps...... The best mix was the powder, one part grated bar soap (zote or ivory) to equal parts washing soda and borax. This is what pleased me the most as far as softness and whites. i have well water and no hot water so crustywear has always been an issue.

As for the liquid, i boiled the grated soap, then mixed in 1 part to 2parts borax and washing soda into 2 gallons of warm water. i have some small chunks of (i guess) borax that won't dissolve until in the washer, so not good for hand washing but when i hand wash i use a bar of Zote and a washboard anyway. i wasn't happy with the liquid until i added hydrogen peroxide (1/2 cup) then it worked wonders on whites in cold water.

Now that i have finished my experiments, i have enough soap for the next 4-5 years. Or perhaps the most "unique" gift for a Quienceanera party...... ever

[crunchycon]

I use the same recipe, except I use Fels Naphtha (easy to find and I like the smell). Works great. But if Ivory works, and it's about a third the price...hmm...maybe for my next batch....

[Rosemary]

Poco Pelo,
could you clarify your dry recipe? Is it 1:1:1 by weight or volume? Thanks!

[thinkgreen]

Poco Pelo
could you also clarify the hydrogen peroxide? Do you add 1/2 cup to each load? Or do you add it to the bucket of laundry soap?

[CatsNK]

I use the same recipe, except I use Fels Naphtha (easy to find and I like the smell). Works great. But if Ivory works, and it's about a third the price...hmm...maybe for my next batch....

This is the recipe I use but to be honest - I don't think it works... My DBF refuses to use it so we wash our clothes separately now... Even for me, every five or six loads I have to use Tide. Too many stains don't come out with this mixture.

I'm glad to see this topic here - I have been wondering what to do about not liking this homemade soap and if there are alternatives out there.

[Bastelmutti]

I did the Fels Naptha version of the powdered soap, too, and although it cleaned our clothes, the flakes didn't always come out, especially when I washed in the warm/cold cycle (which is what I do almost always). I saw online that some people grind the soap in their food processors, but I didn't have one then and don't want to contaminate mine now that I do have one. Have thought of making the liquid, but my DH isn't really on board either. Weird slimy mixture in the basement might not go over well. I guess if he decides to get worms, I can have my slimy mixture! :-)

[Poco Pelo]

The mixture is by volume and i pat the soap flakes down a little

i already had a bunch of bars of Ivory and it is fast to grate since it is not hard milled.


Liquid update: every thing was by volume and 1/2 to 2/3 cup peroxide per gallion. It separates and need to be shaken before pouring

[crunchycon]

This is the recipe I use but to be honest - I don't think it works... My DBF refuses to use it so we wash our clothes separately now... Even for me, every five or six loads I have to use Tide. Too many stains don't come out with this mixture.

I'm glad to see this topic here - I have been wondering what to do about not liking this homemade soap and if there are alternatives out there.

I will say that I do have to pre-treat stains and "ring around the collar." You can use Fels Naphtha rubbed on the stain as a pre-treatment, but I prefer liquid Dawn Dish Soap rubbed right on. My only nod to Proctor and Gamble.....

Also, I grind up my soap in my 24 year-old mini food processor and run the blades and container through the dishwasher right afterwards. No soap taste to anything I ground up afterwards (and yes, I was sweating that out the first time).

[HKPassey]

Has anyone tried any of the recipes on tipnut.com?
Recipes: http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
FAQ discussion: http://tipnut.com/homemade-laundry-detergent/

[Poco Pelo]

yes that was my starting point, although those ten are more like 5 repeated. Still having separation issues with the liquid. But i'm quite happy with the powder