# Laundry Soap



## mommycarlson (Feb 3, 2017)

I made some 100% coconut oil soap per a post on the forum and wanted to make some powdered laundry soap and also a laundry butter that someone had posted.  Now for the life of me I cannot find this post.  Does anyone have a link to it?  I've searched and can't find it.  Please help! Thank you!


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## shunt2011 (Feb 3, 2017)

I use 100% CO with a -1 SF.  Then grate as soon as it's hard enough and then leave it sit out for about a week.  I then mix it with Washing Soda and some store brand oxyclean.  

Here's the link that was posted some time ago for the laundry butter.  I've wanted to give it a try but haven't as yet. 

https://moreonless.vbulletin.net/fo...dry-butter-with-permission-from-miki-odendahl


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## Scooter (Feb 3, 2017)

shunt2011 said:


> I use 100% CO with a -1 SF.  Then grate as soon as it's hard enough and then leave it sit out for about a week.  I then mix it with Washing Soda and some store brand oxyclean.
> 
> Here's the link that was posted some time ago for the laundry butter.  I've wanted to give it a try but haven't as yet.
> 
> https://moreonless.vbulletin.net/fo...dry-butter-with-permission-from-miki-odendahl



earlene has an interesting post on this and quotes the same link as above, here: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=59686&highlight=laundry+butter&page=2

ETA: Also if you go to that thread, scroll down and DeeAnna has some interesting things to say about powdered soap as well as a useful link.


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## earlene (Feb 3, 2017)

Thank you, Scooter.

I also found Seawolfe's experience with adding CA to the soap to be used for powder to be of interest.    It is one the same page of the thread as Scooter linked above.

I would also like to re-iterate how important thoroughly rinsing soap out of laundry is, especially as it relates to the absorbency of towels and cloth diapers.   The build up of soap and fabric softeners, leads to loss of absorbency.  With High Efficiency (HE) washers using less water, the need for more soap diminished, so we see people using less soap.  (But not always, it depends on the person and their beliefs and habits.) That combined with less water with each wash and rinse, and you have the potential for compounding build up of soap in the fabric.  

So my solution to this problem was to stop using fabric softener & dryer sheets (a couple of decades ago), use less soap (I know, contrary to some people's belief that that is counter-intuitive, but it is upon recommendation of an industrial laundry expert, so I took his word on it and gave it a try), and added a second rinse because my HE washer uses so little water to begin with.  For me this seems to work very well. I've been doing laundry this way for about 2 decades now, although the HE washer I've only had for a little less than 15 years, so the second rinse practice is less than 2 decades.  

Just a thought.  No one has to do it this way, but it works for me.


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## mommycarlson (Feb 3, 2017)

Thank you so much Shunt, Scooter and Earlene, so much good information!  I made my 100% CO soap almost a month ago, grated it just a few hours after and am now ready to make some laundry soap.  I haven't used commercial laundry soap in years and haven't used fabric softener in decades since myself and 2 of my 4 kids would break out in full body hives from using it.  I do have the top loading HE washer so I don't use much soap and frequently do a second rinse.  Thanks again!


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## Susie (Feb 3, 2017)

I just bought my second HE washer.  I learned from the first one that I needed the "deep fill" option to be able to feel like the clothes were both clean and rinsed properly.  I was adding a gallon of water to the clothes before starting it to make them weigh more, so it would add more water.  It is very difficult to catch the washer right before the rinse cycle to do the same then.

So, I now have a deep fill option, and a deep fill and second rinse option.  Problem solved!


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## mommycarlson (Feb 3, 2017)

Susie, I haven't seen the "deep fill" option on my washer.  I'll have to do a second look.  I do have the second rinse option and use it mostly for my bike clothes during biking season.  I am currently making the laundry butter, it's in the "gelling/cooling" stage right now.

So I made the laundry butter.  I waited until it was completely cool per the instructions.  It was so solid I had to warm it back up just to be able to stick blend it.  Is this normal?  I wasn't sure if warming it up would be a bad thing or not but I didn't know what to do.  I have it in jars now, it's still warm to the touch, not hot.  Should I add more water?


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## earlene (Feb 3, 2017)

mommycarlson said:


> So I made the laundry butter.  I waited until it was completely cool per the instructions.  It was so solid I had to warm it back up just to be able to stick blend it.  Is this normal?  I wasn't sure if warming it up would be a bad thing or not but I didn't know what to do.  I have it in jars now, it's still warm to the touch, not hot.  Should I add more water?



I would probably have added a bit more water, but if it's soft enough to spoon out it should be fine.  When you stick blended it, did it get to a sort of 'thicker than mayonnaise' type of whipped soap texture?  That's what I get and it stays that way unless I put a jar of it in a very hot place.  Then it melts, but it goes back to an almost solid custard-like texture again when cool.  Not as pretty as before, but still okay.  (I brought some with me traveling and left it in my trunk for a few days last summer.  That's how it got so hot.)

If the consistency remains at about the thickness something between whipped cream and custard, it's perfect.


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## mommycarlson (Feb 4, 2017)

Thank you earlene.  It is really a nice texture this morning.  Like a whipped mayo.  I only warmed it enough that I could smoosh it with a potato masher, then stick blended.  I just checked it with a spoon and it'll spoon out nicely!  So maybe I shouldn't wait until it's completely cool to stick blend it?


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## Susie (Feb 4, 2017)

Not all HE washers have the deep fill option.  I told my hubby that I did not care how much it cost, we were getting one.  Fortunately, we found one for a reasonable amount.


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## mommycarlson (Feb 4, 2017)

It's good to know it's an option!


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## Luviesmom (Feb 4, 2017)

I hope I don't step on any toes. I was researching making your own laundry soap and came across this:
http://butterbeliever.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap-diy/

It made a lot of sense. We have hard well water and I bought the ingredients to "strip" all of our bath towels. I couldn't believe how murky the water was. Ick!


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## earlene (Feb 4, 2017)

I have seen this before, Luviesmom.  I have not done it, but wonder if the results are the same or different if one strips clothes washed only with detergent in the same fashion.  IMO that is the only way to be sure that the DIY laundry soap is really the culprit.  Without a control, scientific testing is pretty much just a guess.  I would go so far as to suggest that a new and not yet worn item be the control and that two other items be the test for comparison puposes, where the other two have each been washed the same amount of times in their respective washing solutions.  That way one would really have a better idea of any actual difference that there may be.

That all seems a little beyond the route I really want to go, so I've never done it, but I have thought about doing it, just so I can make up my own mind.  Until I do, though my mind remains skeptical on this issue.  I am not saying your results were not remarkable.  They were, but IMO without something else testing the same level of use of regular laundry detergent, I still believe it is an inconclusive test.  By the 'same level of use', I mean laundry that was washed with only detergent after undergoing the same amount of wear and exposure to body odor and dirt and washed the same amount of times as the other laundry tested.

It is an experiment worth doing and since I feel so strongly about the need for a more scientific method to obtain the empirical data, perhaps I really should do it myself.  But I don't own any detergent and I am not sure I really want to go through all the necessary steps to do this.  The steps would require me to purchase at least 3 new fabric items and subsequently expose 2 to the same rigorous getting dirty test and washing separately in the 2 different washing methods the same amount of times before doing the stripping of all 3 (one, the control, never  having been worn or washed).  That's a lot of dedication and work.  And then what kind of item would be suitable for such a test?  Something like a towel, that is actually relatively a not-so-dirty item in the laundry?  Or something like undies, or something like a shirt that gets armpit odors embedded, or something like, well the list goes on.

Let's face it, I think it's a good idea, but I'm not motivated (at this time) to undertake such an experiment.  :think:

And, P.S.  I am not offended by your post, or your results.  It's surely a valid point to consider.


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## Steve85569 (Feb 4, 2017)

Luviesmom said:


> I hope I don't step on any toes. I was researching making your own laundry soap and came across this:
> http://butterbeliever.com/homemade-laundry-detergent-soap-diy/
> 
> It made a lot of sense. We have hard well water and I bought the ingredients to "strip" all of our bath towels. I couldn't believe how murky the water was. Ick!



We have hard water here too.

I use a chelator in the laundry soap ( ascorbic) and make sure the clothes are rinsed. That and using a minus SF on laundry soap.

Before making our own we used to have mildew problems but since we started using "DIY" soap things are much better. Nothing is going to make everybody happy but we here at my house are satisfied with the laundry. 
YMMV


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## Scooter (Feb 4, 2017)

earlene said:


> I have seen this before, Luviesmom.  I have not done it, but wonder if the results are the same or different if one strips clothes washed only with detergent in the same fashion.  IMO that is the only way to be sure that the DIY laundry soap is really the culprit.  Without a control, scientific testing is pretty much just a guess.



That page on stripping is pretty interesting to me. Here is the stripping photo gallery: http://www.fortheloveofclean.com/la...-former-users-of-homemade-soap-photo-gallery/.

Specifically what interests me are the photos under "Kathleen L." Her photo of the dark clothes being stripped is much murkier/darker than the whites getting stripped... which makes me wonder how much of the actual _color_ from the clothes is being stripped out.

Full disclosure, there was a big sale on laundry detergent at Costco so I will probably be washing my clothes with that until the day I die, lol. But if I were to make my own DIY laundry soap, I am not sure what I would think about this strip test. I would probably take some dark clothes that are ready to be thrown out and strip them over and over to see how much actual dye from the clothes is being removed. 

Just my opinion....

ALSO, ETA: If you read the entire looooong article, the writer talks about how dedicated laundry detergents are better but how most of them are ****e too except for one, and I quote:

"You of course don’t have to use the Thieves soap, as there are other plant-based detergents out there (like the ones I suggested earlier) which may not be 100% natural but are still a million times better than homemade laundry soap. But after trying so many others, I have found Thieves to be our favorite choice.

"To get your hands on the Thieves Laundry Soap, you need to either purchase as a retail customer with Young Living, or you can choose to sign up as a wholesale member in which you’ll get a 24% discount on whatever you buy."

In the bold section above, the original post had a very convenient embedded link so that you could sign up for the 24% discount RIGHT NOW.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.


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## Luviesmom (Feb 4, 2017)

I appreciate all the feedback. I just wanted to toss out something I had stumbled across. I  not saying it is correct. Just food for thought. And thanks Scooter for pointing out the "living young" part. I didn't catch that.. I appreciate nobody jumping down my throat.


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## HowieRoll (Feb 4, 2017)

Luviesmom, I appreciate you posting the link because it definitely is thought-provoking.  As a DIY laundry soap user, I've often wondered about the efficacy and proper usage rate, but clothes that were visibly dirty and/or smelly came out clean so I keep rolling with it.

A few things did strike me about the article, however, and left me wondering (not saying the author is wrong, but it left me with questions).  First, the author makes all kinds of claims and I wish she had cited her sources.  Then it is recommended to "strip" one's laundry of all the handmade soap... by using the exact same ingredients commonly found in DIY laundry soap (borax and washing soda)?  I just didn't understand that part.  Lastly, like others here, I noticed the Young Living plug at the bottom, and, well, the cynic in me thinks it's a sales pitch.  But again, maybe not... or maybe...  like I said, lots of questions!


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## Luviesmom (Feb 4, 2017)

I am not a chemisty major but I can understand the dynamic.  I tried to make a hair shampoo using soap
 Failed . Left my hair feeling brittle. Then, used surfecants.  Better. Not like my shampoo though.
.

To each their own. I am so happy if homemade laundry soap works! Save money! 

It may be our hard well water. But stripping our sheets towels woke me up. Regardless of cleaning method, commercial or homemade,  I got icky water. 

This what I used to strip.

b. DIY mix*: This homemade mixture has awesome success. Washing Soda, Borax, and Calgon create this concoction at around $16.28 for it all at Wal-Mart (in the laundry aisle.) 3 Tablespoons of each for one strip = $0.49 per strip. Also, all components can be used for cleaning and laundry boosters post strip.
(Note: If you are unable to get ALL 3 ingredients, you can mix ¼ cup of two of the three ingredients, OR ½ cup of a single ingredient. HOWEVER, the more ingredients you have, the larger the broad spectrum of minerals being target. 

Like I said, I have hard water. But bath towels, sheets all had an Ick look after soaking in this mixture.  They are whites too. Just maybe saying everyone should try it, regardless of the way thery choose to launder.


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## mommycarlson (Feb 4, 2017)

HowieRoll, I was just reading the laundry stripping information and thought the exact same thing, HMMM, why are we stripping our laundry with the same ingredients that are in the homemade laundry soap?  I have used my DIY laundry soap for decades, no issues at all.  We do have soft water so I'm not sure if that matters.  I'm glad you posted the link Luviesmom, I may just throw some towels in the bathtub for giggles and grins, but that means I have to buy calgon  LOL  I don't even know what calgon is but I'll look for it.  I have borax and washing soda    Love all the feedback and info from everyone.


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## Luviesmom (Feb 4, 2017)

Gosh. I knew this would happen if I opened my trap. Calgon is a water softener. Back under my rock. Sorry to stir the pot.


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## BattleGnome (Feb 4, 2017)

Looking at that link... that magical detergent contains sodium oleate - the sodium salt of oleic acid (or possibly just a castille soap)

I use store bought detergent and have some borax. I'll sacrifice some clean clothes and let them soak in borax too see if the stripping does anything. 

Another thing (on both links) no one mentioned which washing cycle they used, just what kind of machine. My husband is convinced that a machine without the tall agitator does not get laundry clean (as mentioned between the differences with washing boards and washers). Many he washers not have much of an agitator and many people who diy do it to save money (which possibly means washing clothes on a lighter/"more efficient" cycle than needed). 

I'm off to sacrifice my clothes to the borax god, I'll post pics in the morning.

(luviesmom, I'm not trying to discredit your ideas. The article used more emotion based words than evidence and I'm honestly curious if the writer had a sales goal rather than an informative one)

Edit: I've got 2/3c borax (grabbed the wrong cup), my oldest pair of pj pants, two shirt I wear fairly often, and one shirt I don't wear often soaking right now. I'll be out till 9a (work) so I won't be able to stir as suggested.


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## mommycarlson (Feb 5, 2017)

BattleGnome, are you soaking just in Borax?  I'm curious how this turns out for you.  I already have soft water so I don't know if I need the Calgon water softener?  Luviesmom, thank you for clarifying what that is   Don't feel bad for bringing this topic up, it's what sparks discussion and it's how we learn!  it's been informative


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## BattleGnome (Feb 5, 2017)

I just used borax because that's what I have. 2/3c, four clothing items, no stirring (like was reccomended).

Variables:
1. I won't tell you the last time I cleaned my tub, let's just say it's due
2. Amount of clothing/clothing color. Robin's egg blue shirt, brown tee, medium grey tee, grey fleece pj pants
3. "Additives." I just used the borax because it's what I had on hand.
4. Agitation. I set it up and left for work. The instructions say to stir it around every once in a while.
5. Detergent type. I use Purex clean and simple (the one without scent or dyes). 
6. Cat. One of my cats gets locked in the bedroom/bathroom while we're gone. I'm pretty sure he sleeps all night but I don't keep a camera in the bathroom. 

Results: (story about the pics, there's really bad lighting)
The water was faintly black on the edges. It looked like when you reuse a water bottle that had koolaid in it and there's still a bit left to tint the water. I'm not sure I would call this a definitive answer. The instructions called for hot water so they dye from one of my shirts could have easily leeched out. I also just grabbed a quick assortment of clothes, we use the laundromat and I definitely don't want to have to do more laundry than I have to. 

First pic: with clothes still in
Second pic: immediately after wringing out the clothes


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## mommycarlson (Feb 5, 2017)

Hmm, I wouldn't call that a big deal, seems like it could just be the clothing color bleeding out. I do like your two eared supervisor in the corner there!    Thank you for posting your results.  I think I'll give it a whirl but I'm going to skip the Calgon since we already have soft water.  I'll post my findings.

I did notice in that post with the woman who bashed DIY laundry soap she said "Don't worry if your water is clear when performing this strip, there are lots of things that we can't see that will come out"  I'm quoting from memory....but seemed like she was saying "yours may not have any residues come out, but don't worry, it's there".  I found that pretty interesting.


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## earlene (Feb 6, 2017)

BattleGnome, I am curious if you felt there was much 'residue' from your soak.  Monitors can vary and make photos look so different than the subject of the photo would look to the naked eye, so I'm not sure if I am seeing the same as you saw.  To me, it looks like some floaty darkness in the second photo in the area toward the proximal to you and kitty.  You did mention some darkness around the edges, but I don't see it in the area of the tub where the light is brighter.  So I am wondering how it  looked to you in person.  How would you interpret the result?  What is your personal conclusion?


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## Steve85569 (Feb 6, 2017)

Luviesmom said:


> Gosh. I knew this would happen if I opened my trap. Calgon is a water softener. Back under my rock. Sorry to stir the pot.



Sounds to me like you have made several of us curious.
The change in towels and sheets that takes place undoubtedly happens over a fairly long period of time and any cleaner will leave residue if the water is hard or the cleaning agent is not rinsed (stripped) from the fabric.

I do have to admit that I also saw the links when I read the post and had the same thoughts as Scooter. I also read some of the comments at the bottom of the page including the bloggers reaction to criticism. That part put me off the worst.

The reminder that we can check just how clean we are getting our clothes using whatever methods we use is a very good one.

Please do come back out from under your rock and join us under the block of soap. There's nothing wrong with provoking thought and learning from folks like me.

We use DIY lye soap and Borax mixed 50:50. Like I stated before I use sodium citrate to treat some of the minerals in our hard water in nearly all of the soap that I make so it's in the laundry soap.
We do run small loads of laundry with lots of rinse water to make sure the soap is no longer in the washed clothes. If we start to get "off" smells we will run a little bleach through the laundry in a load of whites. We don't use bleach very often or much because it kills the good bugs in the septic system and drain field.


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## Scooter (Feb 6, 2017)

Steve85569 said:


> The reminder that we can check just how clean we are getting our clothes using whatever methods we use is a very good one.
> 
> Please do come back out from under your rock and join us under the block of soap. There's nothing wrong with provoking thought and learning from folks like me.



Really good points Steve. I know I have mentioned this before, as have others, but if there is one place where YMMV generally applies it is in how we formulate our recipes for soap and in how we get things clean.


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## earlene (Feb 6, 2017)

Looking back again at the instructions how to do a laundry stripping,  I have to point out something about it that has niggled at my mind for some time, and seems to me more than a bit odd. And that's the formula in option #2:  _Washing Soda_, _Borax_, Calgon

What is different between this formula and what I now & in the past used when washing my laundry?  Soap, Oxi-clean, (and occasionally Detergent, which I sometimes use when traveling or when using up what in-laws left behind after moving into nursing home) 
 n.b. Calgon is not needed where I live, as we use a water softening system in our house.[/I]

What is the same? _Washing Soda_, _Borax_ were/are in both formulas I use/used for the past couple of decades.*

So what this is telling me is either one of two things:

1. What I've said all along, that it's an insufficient rinsing of laundry after washing that is the real issue.  Not the soap itself.  I already used two of those 3 ingredients and I don't believe that I need Calgon because we have a water softener system in our house already.  So effectively I already included the required ingredients every time I washed my clothes in the wash cycle.  Theoretically, anyway.  Then I ran two rinse cycles with plain water, so that's the difference.  I did not soak the laundry because my HE washer never lets me soak laundry.  But before the HE washer I did used to soak sometimes, and I would see that dirty looking water, but that was with dirty clothes only.  I never did soak clean clothes.  It would not have occurred to me to do so.  So that part probably doesn't count.

Or...

2. Maybe I don't have enough data because I haven't really done the strip test.

But....

3.  Maybe neither soap nor detergent is needed at all and all you need is Washing Soda, Borax and soft water.....

4.  Maybe a washboard would do a better job than an automatic washer - okay I'm going overboard.  Forgive me.  :think:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

* When I made my own DIY dry powdered laundry soap the ingredients were _Washing Soda_, _Borax_, Oxiclean & grated bar soap (my choice varied from Fels Naptha to  any old syndet bar I had available). If I remember correctly (don't want  to search for my recipe just now), the proportions are about 25% of  each in volume measure, but I know for a fact that 1 cup of Washing Soda  weighs significantly more than 1 cup of Borax, so I don't really know  the true percentages in weight.   I still have some of that powder and  do use it occasionally.  (Easier to carry on an airplane, for example.)

Now I use laundry butter and the composition (not counting the water  itself) is 45% Washing Soda, 27.5% Borax and 27.5% Soap. (This is actual  weight percentages.) Water is also used in order to turn these dry  ingredients into a 'butter', but I didn't include them in the  percentages as I just didn't want to go there right this minute.


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## SheLion (Feb 6, 2017)

Earlene, I like your suggestion of testing with a control item vs. soiled items. It doesn't need to be three different garments though. Two would suffice I think because the only way to insure that the two soiled items had the same level of dirt is to take the worn item and cut it in half. Granted, that sacrifices the piece of clothing but if I were going to do this, I probably just pick up a couple of cheap t-shirts anyway. So you wear one of the shirts, cut it in half vertically (you want an armpit in each test-usually the area that gets soiled the most, I think) and now you have identically soiled items to test.

At any rate, I was skeptical at the beginning of the article, starting with the clickbait-y title. Before I even read the article, I read her 'About' page because I always want to know someone's creds when I'm being exhorted to do or not do something.  I quickly skimmed the science-y bits because from the title, I'm already expecting an angle and I'm curious what it is. Though I did pause when she said that our skin is a smooth surface. Uh, not really and it especially is not non-porous. :Kitten Love: When she then said that the ingredients for stripping are the same ones in the homemade soap we're supposed to stop using, I thought, "Ummm..." Then she shilled her Young Living product. And there you have it. Any credibility completely lost and I dismissed her post as more cyber noise.

I'll keep using my homemade laundry soap (now with homemade soap instead of Fels-Naptha even!) and not worry about soap scum build up in my washer.


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## SheLion (Feb 6, 2017)

BattleGnome said:


> Variables:
> 
> 6. Cat. One of my cats gets locked in the bedroom/bathroom while we're gone. I'm pretty sure he sleeps all night but I don't keep a camera in the bathroom.



Well of course you didn't get definitive results with that kind of shoddy science! :mrgreen:

Edited to add: I love that you listed the cat as a variable. My kind of humor.


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## Robert B (Feb 6, 2017)

Steve85569 said:


> The reminder that we can check just how clean we are getting our clothes using whatever methods we use is a very good one.



I personally have hesitations regarding the outcome of the research in the blog post but what Steve says sums it up for me....as well as others.  It is good to see an active and cordial discussion.


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## BattleGnome (Feb 6, 2017)

earlene said:


> BattleGnome, How would you interpret the result?  What is your personal conclusion?



Color wise was very similar to putting a single drop of food coloring in a few cups of water. There was a tint to the water that I could tell there was a result but it was in no way as dark as any of the pictures in the links. There is another variable that I forgot until now. My tub is fairly small (at least compared to what I've come to assume is a "normal" sized bathtub). The optical illusions created by tub shape/depth as well as available light and clothing color definitely skew results. 

As to my conclusion: there's too many variables to be certain the results are because of detergent type or wash cycle. To tack yet another variable on, the laundromat we usually go to has he, front loading machines. We usually use warm water with an extra rinse and often add the heavy soil option. The four items I used were not "freshly clean" and I know the blue shirt was not washed with the other three items (I honestly don't know the last time I wore it as it's more of a summer shirt and it's currently winter). If we're going truly scientific, does sitting in a wooden dresser effect any residue? 

All I can conclusively say is that there will probably be residue no matter the clothing/detergent used. Chances are some of the results can be from the specification of hot water and the habit hot water has of leeching dyes



SheLion said:


> Edited to add: I love that you listed the cat as a variable. My kind of humor.



This is the cat that has almost learned to like water. If I'm in the tub he thinks he can trap me for some one on one time. 

Attached: two seconds after the tub had fully drained


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## mommycarlson (Feb 6, 2017)

What a handsome boy!


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## shgcphilly (Mar 11, 2018)

This has peaked my interest as a great discussion!
First, I have only so far done very basic CP bar soap for body (personal use only), about 4 years and really wanted to dive into laundry next. Always finding more to read, I like to get to know many angles before taking the plunge.

The "laundry stripping" pics/examples mostly show fels naptha as the only cleaning agent mixed with washing soda and borax (water softeners). Considering fels naptha is suppose be a pretreat-stain stick or detergent booster that also contains salts (water softeners), doesn't seem like nearly enough cleaning power for a whole load of laundry. Plus, does anyone have an idea as to what % superfat might be used in a commercially made product like fels naptha, compared to most homemade recipes posted on SMF that are -2 to 0% Superfat? Just curious.





Quote"earlene, post:

What is the same? _Washing Soda_, _Borax_ were/are in both formulas I use/used for the past couple of decades.*

So what this is telling me is either one of two things:

1. What I've said all along, that it's an insufficient rinsing of laundry after washing that is the real issue.  Not the soap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
* When I made my own DIY dry powdered laundry soap the ingredients were _Washing Soda_, _Borax_, Oxiclean & grated bar soap (my choice varied from Fels Naptha to any old syndet bar I had available). If I remember correctly, the proportions are about 25% of  each in volume measure, but I know for a fact that 1 cup of Washing Soda weighs significantly more than 1 cup of Borax, so I don't really know the true percentages in weight.

Now I use laundry butter and the composition (not counting the water  itself) is 45% Washing Soda, 27.5% Borax and 27.5% Soap. (This is actual weight percentages.) [/QUOTE]





I really liked Earlene's thought on the extra rinse. I also use an extra rinse (and finally no longer use fabric softeners). But for those that do have water softeners or soft water already, What is the need for such a high ratio of water softeners:soap? How is that expected to clean much?


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## soapmaker (Mar 17, 2018)

I just came across this post today. It is very important that you have soft water. Clothing will become dingy looking using soap in hard water. Soap forms a scum when combining with the minerals in hard water. I don't think any amount of rinsing would take this off your clothes. Think about the scum in your tub and how you have to scrub it off, it doesn't just rinse away. I like homemade laundry soap using plain 0% SF coconut oil soap but we have a water softener. At our last home we didn't have particularly hard water but it was hard enough that after repeated washings the clothes looked dull.


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