What You Need To Know Before Using Homemade Laundry Detergent

The perfect conditions you need to have before you use homemade laundry detergent and homemade softeners of salt or vinegar. Plus if it's safe for your clothes and washer.

[TheFakeyCakeMaker]

Long story short, replace the bar soap with a cheap detergent rather than using a bar soap. Then you will have detergent and no problems even castille soap is still soap and should be avoided.

[j.rosadahlia]

Her explanation is thorough and fair from start to finish.

Some people just easily get defensive if anyone says homemade laundry SOAP might not be working. These defensive people think because their homemade laundry soap works it instantly makes them chemistry expert.. 😔

[nickiee]

I never heard of adding these bar soaps until recently. I thought that's strange bc soap had fats and oils but detergent doesn't. They each serve a different purpose.

[TL-rf]

Add a surfactant like food safe polysorbate 80, 20 ml per 5 gallons of washing soap. Store bought detergents work as surfactants with soap more efficiently.

[joanhaugh]

put vinegar in your rinse aid dispenser which removes all the soap and surfactants while leaving a very fresh scent (not vinegary).

[Coffeecup.]

I still use homemade laundry soap and it works fine for me. I have a water softener and I think that’s why. Thank you! 😊

[maureenharrah]

I used to add a box of White King WATER CONDITIONER....not fabric softener, water Or, Calgon, if I could find it. It works beautifully with the addition on the WATER It is found in the laundry aisle. Vinegar rinses.

[espem]

Thank you for approaching this with a scientific mind. So many are stuck in their ways and want "no chemicals" when they don't understand that even water is a chemical. I want to spend less on detergent while also preserving the life of my he washer. Thank you!

[Ggirl]

I have hard water and homemade works fine for me. Borax is in mine and it is a Water softener. I have read to increase it by a third to soften water. I think I will make a batch and test the water before and after. I have a phone monitor for my fish tanks.

[laffytaffy]

This makes so much sense, but dang people are so hardheaded about “making” their own laundry soap, yes it’s soap, not detergent! I cringe when I see people say they put it into cold water, I love when they strip their clothes to acknowledge the buildup!

[eeejay]

The new round of tik tok version includes detergent. The old version didn’t use any detergent, only shredded laundry soap bars, borax and washing soda.

The newer tik tok versions are adding in cheap detergents ( foca, Ariel) plus oxiclean, which is a way to get more mileage out of cheaper detergents by adding laundry boosters. They also now ( correctly) say to use 2 tbsp which would naturally extend how long your detergent lasts.

[saramyers]

Plus epsom salt adds magnesium it hardens your water

[diannefoster]

If you have hard water add episom salts as water softener to help the surfactants work or have a in house softener. if you have a soap based laundry detergent it has saponin and needs friction to work and w ill leave a scum in fabric and in machine tubes and hoses. If you use a detergent (surfactant) Focca or dawn and you will have better cleaning and no scum.
Dial is interesting because it is detergent based and has an antibacterial qualities. I had never considered dial.

[RVBadlands]

I don’t put borax in it. Baking soda baked in the oven for an hour, I grade lavender Castile soap in it. Then I put a drop of lemon oil in the washer when I do the laundry.

[babuffy]

Thank you soo much for this I really wish I’d seen this before making it. 😏

[chichimungo]

For the first time in my life (and I’m a nurse 🤦🏻‍♀️) I’m going to say I disagree with the “science.” I only got into making my own laundry soap because when I moved to Alaska our water was so hard that it kept turning my light clothes orange and turned our shower brass color. I literally had to clean everything with barkeepers friend and as soon as I started making a powder version of diy soap I FINALLY was able to keep my clothes white after I did a load using “white out” and then the diy soap kept it from turning brass orange. This is interesting but experience, it works great with hard water. Also, we had a white drum in our washing machine, it stayed white verses when we first moved there and it started getting orange.

[a_mustache_of_great_repute]

6 parts sodium carbonate

6 parts sodium bicarbonate

2 parts epsom salts

1 part sea salt.

Essential oils just for scent

I use 1-2 tbsp per load depending on size/soil

[rbennett]

Isn’t homemade laundry detergent made with other laundry detergent mixed together so if it’s all laundry detergent why is that harmful for your clothes or your machine

[shainabothra]

What kind of soaps can be used as we do not get Castile soap easily

[peterpiper]

can rubbing alcohol be used instead of vinegar?