There's a lot of interest out there in making decent laundry soap for home use or sale.
I admit I've not delved into this yet, myself.
Would anyone care to share some advice and/or formula recipes for homemade laundry soap?
Laundry Soap
Sun, 11/07/2010 - 4:12pm
#1
Laundry Soap
Wed, 05/16/2012 - 6:53pm
#2
bugalley I will have to try that I just tried a batch similar to that in a 5 gallon bucket that has ammonia in it and hard as I try to get by the smell I just can't
Thu, 03/15/2012 - 9:25am
#3
If you can't find sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), a simple way of obtaining it is by heating up sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3-baking soda) to 140°F or more and it will split into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide. Here's the reaction:
NaHCO3 + HEAT ---- Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2
Tue, 09/06/2011 - 11:17am
#4
Here is a recipe for liquid laundry soap that I plan to try this week.
10oz Olive Oil
10oz Grapeseed Oil
10oz Coconut Oil 76 degree
12oz water for mixing
6.9oz KOH (POTASSIUM Hydroxide AKA Caustic Potash)
30oz boiling water for 1st dilution
30oz boiling water for 2nd dilution
30oz water for neutralizing
1 cup borax (20 Mule Team)
The finished diluted product can be used at 1-2 oz. per load.
Fri, 07/01/2011 - 8:07pm
#6
I've been using a homemade powder detergent for years. It's very simple but does the job.
1c Arm & Hammer laundry powder
1c Borax
1c Oxy Clean
1c Biz
1 grated bar of soap (I use Ivory, alot of people use the Fels)
I mix all the powders together in a big bowl, mixing well. I then put it through my Cuisinart food processor to process the grated soap even further. I use 2T per load of wash.
I have a front loading washing machine so I just throw the 2T into the drum and then add the clothes and wash from there.
Darlene
www.shadowwingsfarm.com
Sat, 11/13/2010 - 2:51pm
#7
Hi!
I made up a simple cp with coconut and lard and some expiring peanut oil. (Fels naptha works great too, and is cheap!) I grate it, let it dry out as much as it can, you want it to grind to a powder in a food processor. Put 2 cups of dried shredded soap into the food processor, and add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup washing soda (not baking!) Give it a whirl, and add fragrance if desired. It only takes 2 tablespoons per load. Amazing savings! Also a good way to use up trimmings.
Also this recipe, it's a liquid, I haven't tried it yet though.
I use 100% lard (3 lbs.) and mix it up in a 3 gal bucket 1% superfat.
Sodium Hydroxide (run this through soapcalc....I use 6.7 oz for lard)
1 1/2 gallons cold water
1 1/2 cups Washing Soda
1 1/2 cups Borax
hot water to fill almost to the top of the bucket (probably around 1 1/2 gallons)
Fragrance Oil or Essential Oil (optional)
3.5 gallon bucket
1. Add the cold water to 3 gallon bucket. Carefully add the lye. It will get warm, but not hot because there is a lot of water. Stir in the washing soda and the borax.
2. In a separate container, warm lard until melted.
3. Add 1.5 gallons cold water to 5 gallon bucket. Carefully mix in lye. It won't heat up a lot, due to the volume of water.
4. Slowly add melted oils to bucket of lye water. Blend it with the stick blender. Once it's all blended add the 1.5 gallons hot water. blend well.
5. Continue to blend a couple times a day for the next week or so. Mixture will initially separate but will thicken into a homogenous mixture over time.
6. Use 1/2 - 1 cup per load.
Hi
Thanks for the info re laundry soap recipe!
The formula amounts are a little bit 'lye heavy', probably intended to be offset by the borax addition.
Washing soda (sodium carbonate) is added to laundry when using a soap product as soaps clean better at higher pH levels. Sodium carbonate solutions have a maximum pH of around 11.
However, since there are no pure soap commercial laundry products available anymore (not even Ivory), washing soda has become very, very hard to find. If you can't locate washing soda, go to a swimming pool supply store and look for a product called "PH UP". It is 100% sodium carbonate & is the same stuff as washing soda.
You might want to just omit the borax addition, which would also allow the pH to be higher, but I wouldn't use it on your face if you do.
Steve M.
Summer Bee Meadow
Site Administrator