Comments on: Homemade Laundry Detergent FAQ

By: LeAnn

LeAnn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:25:43 +0000

I had a question about the bar soap. I have read through lots of the comments and many say not to use the Dove bar soap. I was wondering why I shouldn’t use the Dove soap. It seemed that it needed to have some key ingredients in the bar. Dove Sensitive Skin unscented has listed in it’s ingredients: sodium lauroyl isethonate, stearic acid, sodium tallowate or soduim palmitate, lauric acid, sodium isethionate, water, sodium stearate, cocamidopropyl, betaine or sodium c14-c16 olefin sulfonate, sodium cocoate or sodium palm kernelate, sodium chloride, tetrasodium edta, tetrasodium etidronate maltol, titanium dioxide. I was under the impression that the soap needed to have sodium lauroyl or tallowate, which it has. So i wanted to see if it was ok to use this since I have really sensitive skin and so does my 19 month old son.
I received this recipe from a friend, so it’s what I started trying-
1 76-oz. box borax
2 55-oz. boxes Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
2 bars of Dove Sensitive
1/3 c. Oxi Clean

Use 1 teaspoon.

Thanks, I would appreciate any help so I know if this works or if I should be changing something.

By: John

John — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:40:14 +0000

Hi,

I’m really interested in trying these recipes out, but I have one question. I’ve tried “green” detergents in the past. No matter what kind I try, my clothes start to stink after a couple weeks, so I have to switch back to name-brand detergent. Has anyone noticed this with homemade detergents?

By: Using Homemade Laundry Detergent in an HE Washing Machine | Frugal Upstate

Using Homemade Laundry Detergent in an HE Washing Machine | Frugal Upstate — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:53:41 +0000

[...] in an HE machine. The fabulous Tipnut addresses this about 2 pages down in her “Homemade Laundry Detergent FAQ“, and Thrifty Fun had this exact question about HE washers & soap asked-you can go read [...]

By: Patsy

Patsy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:56:50 +0000

Oops, that was suppose to be “batch”, not bath!!

By: Patsy

Patsy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:53:47 +0000

I made up a bath of Recipe #1 of the powder laundry detergent and OMG it is fabulous. The only other detergent that I have found to clean like this homemade detergent has been the very expensive Persil. Now I can make a quality detergent for just pennies a load. I wash the dirtiest and stinkiest of laundry as I do animal rescue work. When the homemade recipe cleaned and sanitized the worst of the worst bedding, I knew I had a winner. Thank you TipNut for your wonderful web site.

I’m also trying some of the other cleaning recipe’s and so far I love them all.

I think it’s time we let the world know the detergent and cleaning products being sold to us are not only toxic to us and our homes, but they are so overpriced, and it is criminal. The biggest offender is Procter and Gamble, the company who tests and tests and tests on poor helpless animals when it is completely unnecessary.

Thanks again.

By: Cybele Pruitt

Cybele Pruitt — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:32:37 +0000

I have been using homemade detergent for a while now and I love it. I use a paint mixer (for a drill) to mix my detergent in the 5 gallon bucket and then use cleaned milk jugs to store the detergent in. They are easier to handle and just shaking it makes sure it’s all mixed. My receipe is 1 bar Fels-Naptha, grated(I use my food processor), 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup borax. Melt the soap in hot water, put all three ingredients in 5 gallon bucket. Mix well. Fill bucket with hot tap water. Let set overnight, mix again(here is where I use my paint mixer and drill), use equal parts soap mixture and hot water and pour into jugs. Makes 10 gallons and cleans great. My husband does construction work and sometimes his clothes are filthy, but they have all come clean! A friend of mine uses Ivory soap and said it works great also. I have a HE washer and have had no problems at all. The cost per bucket is $3.00.

By: Romaida

Romaida — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:09:47 +0000

I’m looking to try using a homemade bar of soap that’s all natural. Has anyone else tried it? Has anyone found a solution to the dingy whites? Thanks!

By: Barb

Barb — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:12:07 +0000

I find it hard to believe that some of you people Attack someone that is actually trying to help you and myself save money.
And then you don’t even have enough sense to read/follow the directions.
I appreciate all the how-to’s that can be found on the internet.
Guess I am just old school. Trial & error works most times. You do not JUMP on someone for helping.

Thanks Tipnut for all your teaching, and your Website.
Barb

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:12:21 +0000

Feb. 3, 2010 — I tried Joey’s tip for microwaving the Ivory soap before using it in recipe #4 (powder laundry detergent). I cut the bar of Ivory soap into eighths and put the pieces on a paper plate. After about 1 minute 10 seconds, the soap stopped expanding, so I removed the plate of soap from the microwave.

After the soap cooled, I slid the expanded soap into a 2-gallon Ziploc bag, and removed as much air as possible before sealing the bag. I then used my rolling pin to pulverize the expanded soap while it was in the sealed Ziploc bag. The soap turned into a fine powder without my having to use a food processor, AND this technique minimized the amount of Ivory soap dust in the air!

I repeated this technique with a couple more bars of soap. Then I just scooped out the amount that I needed, sealing the rest of the Ivory soap powder back into the Ziploc bag until the next time I needed to mix more laundry detergent. The pulverized Ivory soap mixed extremely well with the washing soda and dry color booster — no big clumps of Ivory soap. (BTW, a double batch of the dry recipe fits in an empty peanut butter jar, along with a tablespoon from the Dollar Store.)

I hope this helps someone!

By: TipNut

TipNut — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:53:56 +0000

Fragrance oils are synthetic and are just used for fragrance, essential oils are natural and have not only fragrance but contain the natural healing/cleaning properties of the plant. If it’s just the nice smell you’re after, fragrance oils are fine.