Laundry soap (3% SF)

[Lyma]

Hi there,
I'm making some types of cold process soaps (90% OO - 10% CO).
I have many scraps remained after i trim them, so i was wondering how to reclaim them and i thought of laundry powder.

1. Is there a problem with the 3% superfat in laundry soap?
Rebatching with a little more lye is not an easy solution for me because i'll have to melt the already grinded soap and after rebatching, grind it up again.

2. Should i avoid using the scraps from the soap with pink clay or honey?

 

[lsg]

I don't superfat my laundry soap.

 

[AustinStraight]

The superfat may not harm your clothes, because the oil is bound to soap & will just rinse off, but it won't be as effective as a non-superfatted soap. Honey might be okay, but pink clay worries me a little.

 

[Lyma]

I suppose i can make some tries with a hand washing, and see if the unsaponified oil or the clay have any negative affect to the clothes!

If someone has already any experience for these two factors just inform me...

 

[AF_SOAP]

I recently, as in two days ago made a 100% coconut oil soap discounted at 1% and it worked fine. I doubt you would see problems at 3% although I would say if it gets higher than that to avoid.

Extra oil in laundry soap is counter intuitive. You are trying to get the stains and other oil from skin out of clothing. Please try it though, I am always curious about the threshold of superfatting in laundry soap.

 

[Saponista]

Does anyone fragrance their laundry soap? Or make something similar to fabric softener with fragrance in it?

 

[AF_SOAP]

I added lemongrass and bergamot essential oils to my laundry soap just for some added benefits. I use Epsom salt scented with lavender for "fabric softener". It also helps out with hard water if you have it.

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I don't use any scents, and I use white vinegar as my rinse agent. It does not leave a scent behind, helps remove any soap crud left over and for me leaves my clothes with no static electricity. I use no more than 1 tablespoon of soap and about a cup of vinegar put into the rinse cycle. My soap is a coconut/lard/tallow based soap with 0% SF but is not a powder, it's more of a thick paste.

 

[Saponista]

Does anyone use 100% CO for laundry soap?

 

[coffeetime]

Does anyone use 100% CO for laundry soap?

I do. Works great.

 

[Seawolfe]

I've a thought that my woolens would appreciate a superfat of around 3% or maybe even more when I wash them gentle.

 

[grayceworks]

I use 100% CO at 0% SF, and I add 5x sweet orange EO at the same rate as I would for regular soap. It doesn't scent the clothes, but it smells nice when I measure out the soap. lol

To make a batch of the powder, I use 2 cups shreds with 1 cup each borax and washing soda for each batch of laundry soap.

I use 1tbsp of this for my small HE front loading clothes processor, and 2tbsp per load for the large HE front loaders down in our building's laundry room.

I don't usually use fabric softeners or rinses. My clothes come out smelling... like clean fabric. No smell of anything really. Just clean.

 

[Saponista]

I think I'm going to give your method a go grayce. My husband has psoriasis and I think the strong scents and enzymes in regular washing powder are aggravating the problem. I've been pondering making my own laundry soap for a while but haven't had chance to give it a go. How good is it at removing things like oily food stains?

 

[grayceworks]

I haven't had any issues with stains. Even my husband's clothes don't get dingy-looking as much as when I was using commercial soap and fabric softener. I keep a bar of the soap unshredded and wet any stains and rub them with the bar. Coconut soap is excellent at removing oils.

 

[Saponista]

Thanks grayce, definitely going to give this a go.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I've a thought that my woolens would appreciate a superfat of around 3% or maybe even more when I wash them gentle.

I've decided that I'm not going to wash my wool socks with the LS soap I made for laundry. Wool fulls when agitated in warm, alkaline water. Even though I use superwash wool, I'm still not risking it. I have a shampoo that I use just a little bit of, and once that's gone I'm switching to a no-rinse delicates cleaner for those.