Homemade Laundry Soap ??

pampam

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2003
Messages
3,643
I have been making my own laundry soap for about a year now, and use it on light coloured clothes. (1 cup each of washing soda, borax and ground up bar soap, disolved in water till it is a gel when cooled like liquid laundry detergent). I like using it and have had good success. Mind you, the clothes are not heavily soiled. My question is can I use it on dark coloured clothes, or will it likely fade them? I currently use detergent specifically for dark colours on my dark clothes .
 
I have been making my own laundry soap for about a year now, and use it on light coloured clothes. (1 cup each of washing soda, borax and ground up bar soap, disolved in water till it is a gel when cooled like liquid laundry detergent). I like using it and have had good success. Mind you, the clothes are not heavily soiled. My question is can I use it on dark coloured clothes, or will it likely fade them? I currently use detergent specifically for dark colours on my dark clothes .

I've been using the same formula (but I keep it as a dry mix, just let it dissolve in washer prior to adding clothes) for a while now too on all of my clothes. Haven't noticed any fading. Give it a try!:thumbsup2
 
I put the same mixture (dry) right into the dispenser for dry laundry soap. I have never had a problem with it not dissolving. I have also never had a problem with fading.
 
I've always wanted to make my own laundry soap, but where do you find these ingredients at? Does it also save money in the long run?
 

I've used that same recipe for years and years but in the dry form. I just put 1 tablespoon in the dispenser cup. It is my exclusive laundry product, dark, light, hand washing, whatever ... works like a charm.

I purchase the borax and washing soda in the laundry aisle of my local grocery store. I DO dry out the soap by unwrapping the bars and letting them sit open on a shelf while I use up the current batch. When you put the 3 products together in a food processor the dry soap turns into eenie weenie teenie pieces instead of just tiny pieces. I've never had an issue of the soap not dissolving.
 
I use 1 bar of Fels Neptha soap, grated (found in the soap aisle next to other bar soaps, my cost is $1.50 per bar), 1/2 cup of soda ash (purchased by DBF in bulk supply at a reef shop, he uses it in our fish tank) and 1/2 cup of Borax, found in the laundry aisle, I don't make it a liquid, I simply mix the above ingredients in an airtight container (32 oz container) and use 1 Tablespoon per load, I use it in cold water, on all colors, I have not seen any fading with my recipe. :) I like it a lot, I doubt I'll go back to using store bought.
 
My DH makes our laundry soap also. I have very sensitive skin and the cost of sensitive skin detergent can be expensive. We've been using it almost 2 years now. I don't see any difference in clothes fading than before. I use it with darks, lights, colors, and delicates. Sometimes when the kids have a really bad stain I'll put a little oxy clean in and it works great.
 
I used homemade detergent for years until I discovered that DH's white work shirts just didn't get clean. No matter what type of stain fighter I used (and I tried just about all that are out there!), they still had bad grease stains on them and looked dingy (DH is a cook).

I switched to Tide with Bleach Alternative, and while the price makes me cringe, his co-workers said "It's about time you got new shirts". This tells me that the detergent is worth the price.

When using the homemade laundry soap, I never had a problem with colors fading.
 
Can the dry formula be used in the front loading HE washing machines?

My machine is a front loader, supposed to use that HE stuff, BUT I've used the homemade soap for years with NO issues at all. :thumbsup2

I use 1Tbsp per load unless it is a load of my DH's stinky work clothes in which case I use 2 Tbsp for that load.
 
I have used the dry version of this detergent for about a year in my front load machine, and it works like a charm ! For extra dirty clothes, I add a quarter cup of vinegar , it works really well to get the stains out. I make my own dishwashing soap as well, and I use vinegar as a rinse agent. It is a lot cheaper !
 
I used homemade detergent for years until I discovered that DH's white work shirts just didn't get clean. No matter what type of stain fighter I used (and I tried just about all that are out there!), they still had bad grease stains on them and looked dingy (DH is a cook).

I switched to Tide with Bleach Alternative, and while the price makes me cringe, his co-workers said "It's about time you got new shirts". This tells me that the detergent is worth the price.

When using the homemade laundry soap, I never had a problem with colors fading.

I had the same issue with the homemade detergent and whites. They just looked dingy.:( I love the Tide with bleach alternative too, but also have found the Arm and Hammer version to work well for less $.
 
I've used that same recipe for years and years but in the dry form. I just put 1 tablespoon in the dispenser cup. It is my exclusive laundry product, dark, light, hand washing, whatever ... works like a charm.

I purchase the borax and washing soda in the laundry aisle of my local grocery store. I DO dry out the soap by unwrapping the bars and letting them sit open on a shelf while I use up the current batch. When you put the 3 products together in a food processor the dry soap turns into eenie weenie teenie pieces instead of just tiny pieces. I've never had an issue of the soap not dissolving.


I will try drying out my bar soap(Zote) to make it easier to grate, in the past I have put it in the freezer for a few hours to make it harder.:surfweb:
 
Does anyone have a recipe for homemade liquid soap?

I'm also going to try making the homemade fabric softener
 





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