# Homemade laundry bar soap...



## sarathan (Feb 17, 2009)

Has anyone made their own laundry bar soap?  What recipe do you use?  I was thinking of making a batch with 100% coconut oil and 0% superfat for my laundry soap.  Do you think that would work?

Thanks!


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## cdwinsby (Feb 17, 2009)

Yes I make my own laundry soap! Works great. I make it into a liquid and add orange oil and lemon grass oil so my clothes smell pretty!  

This is the one I use:
http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/c ... ml#laundry

Though lately I've just been using up some ugly soaps and scraps.

Your recipe should work just great. Coconut oil dissolves very nicely when added to hot water. You may want to wear gloves when grating it...you don't have to wait for it to cure for laundry soap.


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## MikeInPdx (Feb 17, 2009)

cdwinsby said:
			
		

> Yes I make my own laundry soap! Works great. I make it into a liquid and add orange oil and lemon grass oil so my clothes smell pretty!
> 
> This is the one I use:
> http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/c ... ml#laundry
> ...



I can vouch for this recipe working well. I've made the liquid the last several batches, along with the bar soap recipe, and it works very well. I prefer it without the vinegar because I occasionally use bleach.


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## sarathan (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks!  I'm definitely gonna try it now!


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## Laurie (Feb 17, 2009)

If I was making up this recipe with my soap scraps which come from soap with a 5 - 10%  superfat could I add a smidge of lye after it is all mixed up and let it sit for a few days.  Or would this mess up the recipe?

Hope you can understand my question? TIA.

Laurie


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## cdwinsby (Feb 17, 2009)

I've read somewhere that you can but I've never done it. I also don't know how you would figure out how much lye to add.


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## MikeInPdx (Feb 18, 2009)

cdwinsby said:
			
		

> I've read somewhere that you can but I've never done it. I also don't know how you would figure out how much lye to add.



I've done it a couple of ways.....

One is just add a spoonful of lye to your cold water before mixing in the soap and to the  :twisted: if it's a little lye heavy. It's diluted in water and it doesn't hurt anything since you're not using it on skin.

Another, safer way to do it is to use soapcalc. Weigh your soap bar, and calculate in grams what amount of lye you need for 5% superfat (or 10% or whatever). Next, change the superfat to 0%, and recalculate in grams.

The difference between the numbers is the amount of lye you need to counteract the superfatting.


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## Laurie (Feb 18, 2009)

Thank you both for your answers.  Mike, that is what I was thinking to do.
A little bit of figuring but it makes sense. :roll: 

Laurie


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## Tootie_Smiles (Feb 21, 2009)

I made some laundry CP soap yesterday and had to cut it in four hours! Anyway I made it 50/50 Coconut and Canola oils and scented it with Lavender EO. I grated about 8 oz, melted it in some water and added a cup of borax and a cup of the washing soda and added more water. I probably made two gallons total. 

I expected it to gel up like when I use a regular store bought soap bar but instead it stayed liquid. I add about a 1.5 cup to my washer and it works great. 

I also take a cheap liquid softener and add about 2 cups to a 2 quart bottle and fill the rest with vinegar and I use that as my fabric softener.

Pauline


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## Rosey (Feb 21, 2009)

does homemade laundry soap get stains out better than regular store bought stuff? I have a big problem with grease stains from food. My family are sloppy eaters and the clothes have grease stains, even if i wash it right away...grr.


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## Tootie_Smiles (Feb 21, 2009)

I still need to pretreat it, sometimes with Shout or the laundry soap. I think it does better, but then I was buying the cheap stuff anyway.

Pauline


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## MikeInPdx (Feb 21, 2009)

Rosey said:
			
		

> does homemade laundry soap get stains out better than regular store bought stuff? I have a big problem with grease stains from food. My family are sloppy eaters and the clothes have grease stains, even if i wash it right away...grr.



I have found that the Shout aerosol works better on greasy stains than anything else.

The homemade laundry soap, IMHO anyways, is about on a par with your typical liquid laundry detergent......something like All, Purex, or Arm & Hammer. It's not liquid Tide by any stretch of the imagination, but it works much better on our stuff than, say, Sun or Xtra.


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## Tootie_Smiles (Feb 21, 2009)

I totally agree, it is better than Sun and Xtra. I have been making it for about eight months and have spent maybe $10 all together. We have six in our family and wash about 2 loads a day. We also have soft water and that helps a bunch. I have also used regular Dawn on the grease stains and I add a tablespoon in the whites. I discovered that when my boys decided to squirt dawn all over the kitchen floor to make a slip-n-slide. I put the towel in with the whites and man they came out bright...no bleach needed!

Pauline


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## sandra (Feb 22, 2009)

*laundry soap*

How does this laundry soap work with the front loading washers that require HE detergents? I would imagine that it's pretty low sudsing, yes?


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## Tootie_Smiles (Feb 22, 2009)

Hi Sandra,

I have heard about people using it in their front loaders and they love it. I do not get any suds at all, mine is a top loader.

Pauline


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## beachgurl (Feb 22, 2009)

I wouldn't try it ... while I'd love to .. I'm not putting my LG in jeopardy .. I love that thing ... you don't even have to use detergent.


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## cdwinsby (Feb 22, 2009)

My washer is a front loader and it works great. I also put a fair amount of sweet orange oil in my laundry soap because it is a great grease cutter.


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## MikeInPdx (Feb 23, 2009)

I have my regular whirlpool top loader and then I have my little hand-cranked pressure washer. Its washing action in like a front loader. My soap powder is too sudsy for the little washer, this stuff is just fine and works great.

I agree with the sweet orange.....definitely gives the soap a boost. I make the soap itself the 70% coconut 30% palm with lemon FO, and then add the sweet orange when I make the liquid. The clothes smell so nice when you're done.


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