Lard or Coconut Laundry Soap?

[Susie]

Yes, I made liquid soap for laundry and dishes for a couple of years. My new hubby is sort of hung on using commercial detergent for clothes. He likes the home made soap for everything else, so I can forgive him that.

I made 100% CO soap for clothes. (and dishes, I just used the same paste)

You can post in the liquid soap forum for info/help on liquid laundry soap making if you like.

 

[dosco]

Yes, I made liquid soap for laundry and dishes for a couple of years. My new hubby is sort of hung on using commercial detergent for clothes. He likes the home made soap for everything else, so I can forgive him that.

I made 100% CO soap for clothes. (and dishes, I just used the same paste)

You can post in the liquid soap forum for info/help on liquid laundry soap making if you like.

DeeAnna,
Thanks for the replies.

One more before moving on to the liquid soap forum.

Can you boil or salt out liquid soap to remove the glycerine?

I'm not sure it matters ... I suspect it would be more important to add EDTA or somesuch to the liquid soap to prevent buildup of scum.

Something about "just soap" in liquid format that makes me feel better about a homemade liquid soap for laundry.

Thanks for your patience!

-Dave

 

[DeeAnna]

No, you can't salt-out a potassium soap the same way you can salt-out a sodium soap. If you try, what will happen is that you'll end up with a high-water paste soap that's a mix of potassium and sodium soaps. On top of that, you'll lose a lot of the potassium soap down the drain, since it wants to remain in solution with the salty water phase, rather than precipitate out of solution like sodium soap will.

Glycerin has absolutely nothing to do with the formation of soap scum, if I'm following the implications in your last post correctly. Leave it in or take it out -- you'll still get the same amount of soap scum. It's the soap itself, not the glycerin, that reacts with hard water minerals to form scum.

EDTA (or citrate) will help with soap scum, but it shines best in a soap for shower or hand washing. In those cases, EDTA (or citrate) can treat just the water next to your skin, not a large basin or tub full. You cannot possibly add enough EDTA to soap to control scum formation in the washing machine (or bath tub) with hard water. That's the job of a home water softener or a separate water softening additive. Calgon makes a zeolite based water softener powder that works very well if you don't have a home softener.

Borax or washing soda also soften water to some degree. That's one reason why they're used in laundry soap/detergent. Keeping the alkalinity of the wash water high is the other -- this lets the soap do a better job of cleaning.

 

[dosco]

No, you can't salt-out a potassium soap the same way you can salt-out a sodium soap.

Thank you for the answer in this thread and in your other. I was reading your tutorial, and chirping away in the back of my mind was a blurb from one of the older soapmaking tomes about how boiling and salting-out removes glycerine. I must have missed where you mention in your tutorial that one of the byproducts is glycerine. Sorry for that.

Glycerin has absolutely nothing to do with the formation of soap scum, if I'm following the implications in your last post correctly.

I understand ... I should have been clearer in my question.

Thank you #2.

Calgon makes a zeolite based water softener powder that works very well if you don't have a home softener.

No home softener in this place.

Both powdered and liquid "Calgon softener" can be had on Amazon.

Borax or washing soda also soften water to some degree. That's one reason why they're used in laundry soap/detergent. Keeping the alkalinity of the wash water high is the other -- this lets the soap do a better job of cleaning.

So would it be "better" to add both the Calgon softener and washing soda (or borax) at the recommended rates ... or is this redundant?

DeeAnna, many thanks for the explanations!

Warm Regards-
Dave

 

[DeeAnna]

You're welcome, Dave. I don't know the answer to your last question.

In a sense, no, the products aren't exactly redundant; they act in different ways to soften water. The ingredients in calgon basically chelate the hard water minerals, much like EDTA or citrate act. The chelated minerals are still dissolved in the wash water, but they can no longer cause trouble by reacting with soap to form scum. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) reacts with hard water minerals to form insoluble calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Again, the minerals can't form scum because they're bound up with the carbonate in a solid form.

Both products (calgon + washing soda) certainly will do the best job of softening as well as keeping the alkalinity high so the soap can do its job. I know the calgon is expensive, however, so if washing soda alone will work, that would be nice. I imagine the best solution will depend on just how hard your water is, so it might take some experimenting to learn what works.

 

[dosco]

I know the calgon is expensive, however, so if washing soda alone will work, that would be nice. I imagine the best solution will depend on just how hard your water is, so it might take some experimenting to learn what works.

Interestingly, Arm and Hammer sells a "water softener powder" ... on Amazon it sells for 1/4 the price of the Calgon product.

Interesting.

-Dave

 

[DeeAnna]

Yep, I've seen that. Read the ingredients -- if my memory is correct, the A&H product is mostly washing soda and that's why the price is lower.

 

[dosco]

DeeAnna:
Found this ....

Rain Drops Non-Phosphate Water Softening Powder ... ... ... sodium citrate, sodium carbonate

Calgon Water Softener Powder ... ... ... sodium carbonate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, sodium sulfate

Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda ... ... ... sodium carbonate

Calgon Water Softener Liquid ... ... ... citric acid, sodium hydroxide, trisodium citrate dihydrate, magnesium chloride, magnesium nitrate, and a few other things that don't seem to be acids, bases, or salts ...

Based on this I would conclude the Calgon and Arm & Hammer powders are danged close to the same thing.

I'm sure ... hope? ... I'm wrong or missing something ...

-Dave

 

[topofmurrayhill]

DeeAnna:
Found this ....

Rain Drops Non-Phosphate Water Softening Powder ... ... ... sodium citrate, sodium carbonate

Calgon Water Softener Powder ... ... ... sodium carbonate, trisodium citrate dihydrate, sodium sulfate

Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda ... ... ... sodium carbonate

Calgon Water Softener Liquid ... ... ... citric acid, sodium hydroxide, trisodium citrate dihydrate, magnesium chloride, magnesium nitrate, and a few other things that don't seem to be acids, bases, or salts ...

Based on this I would conclude the Calgon and Arm & Hammer powders are danged close to the same thing.

I'm sure ... hope? ... I'm wrong or missing something ...

-Dave

They actually all look pretty similar -- a combination of chelators and alkali. Liquid products often substitute sodium hydroxide for sodium carbonate. It's presumably cheaper and more efficient but for the same purpose. You can't use it in a powder product.