Teach Soap

What is your experience with making laundry soap? I want to give the liquid a try, so many people really like it and say it works better than powdered, but all the recipes I've come across use water with no preservative. Does anyone here use a preservative for liquid laundry soap? If so, which one?

The powdered soap seems easier to store. I will probably make some of both types and give them each a try.

Any tips are appreciated!

I have made both the liquid and powdered. I did not use any preservative in the liquid. I did not have any issues with it going bad. Personally, I prefer the powdered. In my experience, using vinegar in the rinse cycle is a must with homemade soap.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Thanks! I have read suggestions on using vinegar in the rinse cycle. Does it make the laundry smell like vinegar?

Can you add vinegar to your soap or does it have to be when rinsing?

What is the reason to add vinegar to the rinse?

MaryLou

Not sure of the scientific reason. If you don't add vinegar, in my experience, the clothes tend to get dingy looking and there is a soap build up. I just add straight white vinegar to where I would normally add softner. When you first take the clothes out of the washer there is a slight vinegar smell - however, it is gone by the time the clothes dry.

I have a front-load machine. So instead of adding my powder mix into the little drawer where I add the vinegar/softner, I just add it directly to the "barrel" with the clothes.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

I make up 5 gallon buckets of the liquid and don't use a preservative. I prefer liquid because it works better with my water - I find that the powdered doesn't dissolve as well.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Vinegar is a natural fabric softener. It makes the world of difference!

As for powdered vs liquid...honestly, I dont know. IF powdered, it needs to go through the food processer to be a super fine powder... grainy wont "melt" down in cold water. I have had a jar of liquid for about a year now, no issues! I am thrilled with it, no spoilage. I think the blend of water, soap, borax and so on, keeps it free of bad things. Mine is a thick gel, so maybe thats different?

I mixed some of my soap last night in a mason jar and did a couple loads of laundry. It was great, all the soap dissolved and the clothes smelled clean, not overly fragrant. But today when my son went to wash clothes the powder turned into a hard rock. Maybe my soap wasn't dried out enough? It was pretty hard and seemed dry, but it was only a few days old.

I'm going to make a liquid next, and I'll try the vinegar rinse. I just have to figure out how to set my washer to stop and beep before the rinse.

I make 100% CO 0%SF that I shred to put in my laundry soap. My powdered mix also has things like Borax and Washing Soda. I keep the big batch of master blend in a plastic bag inside a plastic tub stored in the basement. I keep a clear jar that has a good seal on it by the washer that holds maybe a gallon or so. It may draw a little bit of moisture at first and ball up, but is usually easily scrapped back into powder form.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

New question - Has anyone used xantham gum to thicken the liquid detergent? I've seen complaints online while researching that liquid detergent often is very thin or separates. I'm lazy and want to see if I can get it thick enough not to have to mix it each time.

The dry soap I mixed in my mason jar kept hardening into a ball so I added some hot water to it and it bubbled up like a volcano - forgot I had added some citric acid to it, lol. Now it is very gel like with clumps that I'm trying to break up (I never did add the xantham gum). Has anyone tried adding some oxyclean to their soap mix to avoid the vinegar rinse? Does it work?

I do use oxyclean in my dry mix. However, I still use a vinegar rinse. For me, the oxyclean is more to help with my husband's extra dirty work clothes.

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Sudawn
Better to be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

Vinegar is a great rinsing and softening agents that helps prevent soap build up and hence, the yellow dingies. Fun fact of the day - laundry bluing, made of blue iron either solid or suspended in water, came into use to counteract the yellow color of soap buildup. It came into commercial use in the Victorian era and continues today. When you add bluing, the clothes aren't any cleaner, but they look whiter.

Back to vinegar. Have no worries that your clothes will end up smelling like a Greek salad if you use vinegar in your rinse cycle. I use also pour a good slug into my dishwasher every time I use it - probably about a quarter cup. No more white slime on my dishes since phosphates were outlawed in automatic dishwasher and laundry detergents. Glasses come out sparkling, spot-free, and there's no residual odor. Great stuff, vinegar!

I ended up making liquid laundry soap because it's so humid here in southeast Texas that the dry stuff turns into cement in a couple of days. It doesn't matter how tightly sealed the container is either. I even tried storing it in a Mason jar and sucking the air out with my vacuum sealer. That kept it dry for a few more days, but eventually - you guessed it - cement. Plus, it's a pain to have to re-seal it every time I wash a load. I just looked back at what I wrote and thought, "Ouch! First-world problems."

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Jennifer
Doing my best to blow up my kitchen. In style!

Thanks for the tips! It's still a work in progress here. My liquid detergent that I mixed in the mason jar turned very gel like, too thick to even pour out. So I added a bit more water and it got very thin. It's hard to tell the concentration I have left and how much to use. My test laundry has come out clean with no powdery spots, so that's a win! I think I'm going to start over and just use a liquid recipe because I live in a humid area too so the powder will most likely continue to clump. At least I'm having fun with a task that I usually dislike!