Natural Laundry Soap (no shredding)

[Hazel]

You have to think about how lard is saponified by the lye. It is soap. However, I've read that lard soap doesn't work well in cold water so I would prefer to use coconut.

I believe it doesn't LATHER well in cold water, but I think it still cleans. Just basing that on a rather tenuous grasp of the chemistry of cleaning, though - not on experience.

Maybe that's what the person meant - that it doesn't lather well, not that it didn't work in cold water. Then I think that might make it good to use in a washing machine.

However, it's a moot point with me. I don't have lard but I do have coconut.

 

[tinglingclean]

Non=Shredding Laundry Soap

Hi Tasha
Well I think we have a winner. The mixture is all gelled, nice and white, quite thick, but certainly like it says it should be.
I think I will add some more hot water, as you suggested, as it is really thick, and I think it would make it easier to pour into storage containers.
Maybe I will do a little of both and see how that works.
Thanks so much for helping me. I did scoop off the blob on the other soap mix, I tried, and have used the remainder in the wash, and it seemed to make the clothes cleaner. hard to tell with just using it once. at least they came out all in one piece.(that should be a good sign)
I am assuming now the mix is gelled, that is the end of the curing, and it is ready to put away.
Anxious to try this in the next load of wash.
Thanks again Tasha

 

[Sunny]

Re: Non=Shredding Laundry Soap

Hi Tasha
Well I think we have a winner. The mixture is all gelled, nice and white, quite thick, but certainly like it says it should be.
I think I will add some more hot water, as you suggested, as it is really thick, and I think it would make it easier to pour into storage containers.
Maybe I will do a little of both and see how that works.
Thanks so much for helping me. I did scoop off the blob on the other soap mix, I tried, and have used the remainder in the wash, and it seemed to make the clothes cleaner. hard to tell with just using it once. at least they came out all in one piece.(that should be a good sign)
I am assuming now the mix is gelled, that is the end of the curing, and it is ready to put away.
Anxious to try this in the next load of wash.
Thanks again Tasha

I'm so glad it worked! Mine is very very thick too.. it has to be scooped like ice cream. But I don't have enough room in my container to add anymore water! (I made a double batch.) So I dissolve it in the warm water as my washer is filling.

I was very excited to use mine the first time. I am actually looking forward to doing the laundry right now. I'm sure that effect will wear off...

 

[tlm884]

Could you use baking soda for this instead of washing soda? I know they a different chemicals all together and washing soda is more caustic than baking soda but would it work?

 

[Sunny]

I don't know. I think if you don't have it, he says to double the borax. If you can find it, it's really cheap and there's really no reason to substitute. I thought there was no way it would be at my local grocery store and drove all over the area trying to find it, couldn't. But it was at my local grocery store, ha!

 

[Tegan]

I made it....but I have to admit...I'm a little afraid to use it! I would CRY if my machine broke lol.

However I WILL use it. Just a few "make me feel better and hold my hand questions".

1. I have hard water, do I NEED to add borax extra to soften it or if I shake the soap up with some water to make it a liquid before adding it to the machine is that good enough?

2. I have a front load HE machine...so 1/4c - 1/2c max for this correct?

3. I add white vinegar to the softener dispenser to help with rinsing correct?

 

[Sunny]

oh dear Tegan I think it will be totally fine - I've been using the homemade laundry soap for over a year off and on (I sneak in a load with Tide sometimes when I do my bedding cause I like the smell! otherwise just my own soap!) and nothing bad has happened to me, my clothes or my washer, haha. I was using powdered before, where I had to shred the soap bars, but this is easier.

I have hard water, verrrry hard water and a top loading washer. I use 1/2 cup of soap, which I let the water run over as I'm adding it but I still let big clumps go into the washer, I don't water it down much. Then I add 1/2 cup of regular white vinegar to my rinse cup.

I don't think you need to add extra borax, just what is already in the recipe. If you look around one day and think there is some scum building up in there, run it through a hot cycle with a lot of vinegar and you should be okay. I have done this a couple of times even though I haven't seen scum in my washer.


Then: bonus: I made up some sachets with lavender buds and calendula flowers and I put one sachet in the dryer to dry with my clothes. I drop a few drops of lavender or lemongrass or patch onto the sachets about every 5th time it goes through. Then everything smells very lightly of EO! Not strong like fabric softener but still very nice.

I made one sachet this week from the fabric that kbuska had wrapped his soap in for the last swap. That piece will make 2 sachets.

 

[Tegan]

Ok thanks! Off to do a load of towels!

I'm curious if I can cross post this recipe on another forum, giving credit to the OP of course??

 

[Sunny]

hmmm I don't know... which other forum haha! is it a very large forum? I know he is a member of other forums too...

too bad we can't get ahold of him?!

 

[Moonblossom]

I've used plain old powdered home made laundry soap for over 5 yrs with my front loader but I just might have to try this out esp if I want to use it to rub stains.

~Teri

 

[Sunny]

Tegan, just noticed today that OP is still active on the other forum, under the same name. If you wanted to give him a holler. I'm sure he doesn't really mind you reposting his recipe and giving him credit!

 

[Tegan]

Heheheh Well....the thread I was gonna post it in kinda died out.....so I'm not too worried about it. If someone resurrects it I will.

 

[MikeInPdx]

Hey guys. I made a video for this recipe to show what it looks like and to show that it really does work. I was scared to try this recipe for a really long time because I was afraid of wasting materials or didn't know what it should look like, or how it would work! So here is something to reassure anyone who has wanted to try this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7K9myB9yPk


Thanks to MikeInPDX for the recipe and you are in the credits
If this video offends you, I'll gladly take it down.

I just ran into your video on Youtube....it ROCKS! It is such a perfect demonstration of the whole process. I was not offended at all but flattered.

I haven't been soaping a lot lately (too much on my plate at work) but I did take some time to do some experiments. For ages, I have said to take the "cleansing" numbers on Soapcalc with a grain of salt....all soap cleans. So I decided to do an experiment to see if I was way off base or not.

I had some sweatshirts that were seriously splattered with soaping oils. I had some of my lard based recipe 0% superfat, and I have some really lye heavy stuff made with coconut oil. Pretreating the shirts and washing in CO and Lard produced similar results....both shirts ended up clean, with most of the oil removed (only some faint spots that will disappear with another wash remaining). Actually, I think the lard did slightly better....but both were very adequate.

I also compared suds levels. The coconut oil is quite bubbly when added (expected), but settled down to no suds even with 1 1/2 cups in my Whirlpool top loader. OTOH....the lard started off slow, and worked up to a rich foam by the end of the cycle with 1 cup. So, the CO would probably be a better choice for HE machines....while suds junkies with top loaders and wringer washers (yes, I still have one...LOL) would probably like the lard.

 

[flavapor]

Do you think having the oils or lard in the mix will mess with a septic system?

I was told not to make fabric softener because it had vinegar and that would screw up the bacteria eating process in the septic tank.

I have been making the shredded type with borax and washing soda because of this, but I dont know anyone else who makes soap so I dont have anyone with first hand experience to ask.

That soap looks nice for a general cleaner around the house too. I bet you could add some water and use it as dish soap also.

 

[lady_morana]

Laundry soap

The oils are are kinda no longer an oil when chemically combined into a soap.

So there is no difference between this soap and Ivory to a septic system.

Also, has anyone tried this with Peanut oil? I was recently given 5 gallons of used oil to clean and thought this would be a uber cheap way to make this.

 

[MOGal70]

I know this thread is an older one, but wanted to share my experience.

Two days ago I put together a quadruple batch. (I happened to have a 4 lb bucket of lard). I forgot to add the extra water at the end. And did not completly melt the lard, just softened it enough to pour out of bucket.

When I mixed it up I really thought I had messed up by not melting the lard, as I had little "curds" of lard that floated back to the top. But I just put the lid on and left it overnight.

In the morning there was about 3 inches of soap on top. I used the sb and put the lid back on. Then in the evening I opened and thought well that looks done, I used the sb and did there was not any liquid to mix in.

So in 24 hours it was done! I did add some extra water and EO after blending to thin it down, but don't really think it was necessary.

I did this on the porch, so the temps were in mid 70's overnight and about 90 daytime. Not sure if the water shortage or the higher daytime temp sped it up, but I'm happy either way.

Washed my husbands greasy jeans with about 1/4 cup of soap and they came out great!

 

[Sweetums]

Here is the coconut/metric version I did.....

500g Coconut oil
2 Litres cold water
92g NAOH What does NAOH mean?
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1.25L hot water
20ml orange 5x eo What does the 5x mean
5ml lemongrass eo

Can I leave out the orange and lemongrass EO? I'd like to give some to my friend and she is allergic to just about everything. She uses Washing Soda as her only laundry detergent.

Sorry for the very "Green" question?

Thanks in advance

 

[Hazel]

@ Sweetums - (like your username)

NaOH is the chemical name for sodium hydroxide. It's just faster to type. :wink:

5x (sometimes referred to as 5 fold) means the orange essential oil is 5 times more concentrated than regular orange EO.

You don't have to use scent in the laundry soap. I didn't use scent and used white vinegar for the rinse and my laundry came out very fresh smelling. I actually prefer this over powdered laundry soap.

@ MOGal70 -

Thanks for sharing your experience. I never thought about reducing the water in the beginning. It would make it more concentrated so I could add a little less. I'm almost out so I'll have to give this a try. :grin:

 

[MOGal70]

UPDATE

I have used the concentrated batch that I made for several loads now and have found that I do have to disolve it a little bit before adding to washer, even on warm loads. I put the soap in a 16 oz glass, add some hot water, swirl a little then dump in wash. I don't try to disolve it all just break it up a little bit.

I truly LOVE this soap!!!

I should also add that I have a front load washer.

 

[Hazel]

I already dissolve mine in hot water before adding so that wouldn't be an issue with me.