Teach Soap

Can anyone here help me with a Laundry soap recipe? I have no idea how to make this but would love to make my own laundry soap (just for personal use)!

I found someone who sells it her ingredients are: Vegan cold process soap from scratch, washing soda, borax, fragrance- either cosmetic grade fragrance oil or pure essential oil.

I have no idea in what ratio the soap to soda to borax would be. I've also never heard of washing soda, is it just baking soda?

I'm guessing you just grate up the CP soap? Also is there certain CP soap best for clothes washing? I think I read somewhere if your soap has too much lye in it you can just use it to wash your clothes. Another question: How much soap would you need per load?

Thank you to anyone who knows and is willing to share their "secret" with me.

Hi Becca,
I've been using my own laundry soap for about a year now, it's much cheaper and more effective than the liquid detergent I had been using.

I purchase Fels Naptha soap (found in laundry aisle) but you could use some of your own if you prefer. I grate 1 bar of Fels Naptha, add it to the food processor, add one cup washing soda (not baking soda, washing soda is found in the laundry aisle), one cup borax, process until all are combined. I store it in an airtight container.

I have a front loader and use about 1/4 cup per load, I'd use more -maybe 1/2 cup for a top loader. I don't add any fragrance, but you could add a few drops of EO or FO. I find that the detergent alone leaves my clothes smelling nice and "clean", which I love. If you have hard water you could add 1/2 cup vinegar as the fabric softener. Good luck!

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Kim

Thank you Kim! I'm going to try it out. I do have hard water so I'll give the vinegar a try as well and maybe soap some lavender e-oil

Becca,

I think I read where the EO/FO doesn't stick after going through the washer. I might be wrong tho. I would maybe try and sprinkle a few drops onto a clean cotton cloth and throw that in the dryer. I don't know, haven't tried either.

That sounds like a good idea. Hey a reusable dryer sheet made of cotton that you just put drops of EO or FO on, genius!

You can sub the Fels Naptha with 100% coconut or lard soap at 0% superfat.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Just an FYI, my dad has been an appliance repairman for over 30 years. When he was visiting me a couple weeks ago, he looked at my front loader and said "DON'T use anything but HE detergent. You'll ruin the pump." I have some soap I made for laundry soap and I use it occasionally but am afraid of ruining the pump. I asked a friend that was over the other day if she had a front loader because I was going to give her some laundry soap and she said she did. I told her I couldn't give it to her because she should use HE detergent or it will ruin the pump. Funny, she said I just had to have the pump replaced. I don't use HE detergent.

I used 1 bar soap (shredded), 1 C Borax, 1 C washing soda, and 1/4 C oxyclean. It does work well, as tested on my hubby's dirty week old gym clothes.

Rena

Yes, I have a front loader and was also told this.

I dont have a front loader so I guess it's safe to use for me. But I wont be giving it to my friends or family that have front loaders, thanks for the info!

I make my own laundry powder to wash my baby's diapers & clothing...it's 100% coconut oil with 0% SF.
After I take the soap out of the mold I grind it up in a food processor to make it a powder. I grind it up with
some washing soda- I don't use borax because it irritates my son's skin. I have an old top loading dinosaur- from
the '80's so I don't know how well it works on front loading machines.

Hope that helps

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http://www.inarubathandbody.com

Hi all,

I have a front loader and use homemade detergent--the fels-naptha+borax+washing soda recipe. When I first got the front loader, I used the HE detergents, which are so expensive. For the past two years, I've been using homade and no problems with the motor--yet. My machine gets mildewy if I forget to leave the door open, but that happened with the HE detergent, too.

Just thought I'd include my story too. Hope I'm not screwing up my machine because I am saving tons of money and have some super clean clothes!

my MIL has a front loader and says she has used other detergents but instead of say 1/4 cup she would only use 1TBS and that it worked out fine. But I really don't know how the front loaders work so...