Fels Naphtha safety

It works great. I don't think the other brand worked any better, I would say equal. I do alot of laundry and I like how far the homemade stuff goes and as far as stains and all that I have to say the ivory works amazingly well.
I have a child with very sensitive skin and neither the fels naphtha or the ivory irritated his skin at all.
There are commercial brands of detergent that I cannot use, Tide being one of them because it causes skin rashes on his chest, neck and face.
The homemade soap using both of these brands along with the 20 mule and arm & hammer have never caused a problem.
Everyone is different though.
By the way, funny you mentioned having a problem using ivory as a kid. I could never wash with ivory or my skin would get red and itchy, I hated the stuff and still don't buy it for showering now.
When I heard that you could substitute the ivory for the fels I was a little hestitant but figured it might be different since its now like I am rubbing it on my skin.
I have never had a problem with it causing skin irritation.
I love the way the Fels smells and if I had access to it on a regular basis I would probably buy that too, but I have access to Ivory without paying shipping charges and thats the point of making my own soap, to save money so I go with that.
 
I use the ZOTE soap for my detergent. The Fels was to strong smelling for me. Zote can be found at any Mexican store. Dollar General used to carry it here but they don't anymore :idunno

Sav-a-Lot carries ZOTE if you have one of those near you.
 
Don't blame you for going with what you can find at all. I hate paying shipping for stuff. I will try making my next batch with Ivory or an affordable natural soap I can get at our food co-op. I haven't ever seen Zote around here. We have a few small Hispanic grocery stores around here but in my experience they only carry food items.
 
You can ask them do they have ZOTE and they probably carry it. I is only about a $1.25 for a bar that you can get 3 batches of detergent out of.

Zote is specifically made for cleaning dishes, laundry, etc.

This is what the package will look like.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zote-Soap-Cat-f...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Haven't heard of using it for catfish bait but maybe it cleans the fish while still on the line. LOL
 
After reading this post, I was trying to locate an ingredients list on store bought detergent....there wasn't any. Maybe these detergents use solvents that are potentially harmful with direct and prolonged contact as well?

I say, as long as the FN is working for you and isn't causing you any problems, the majority of it gets rinsed out of your clothing anyway. I can't smell the FN in my dried clothing at all.
 
Naptha is a petroleum distillate. Soaps and detergents work in a few different ways in order to tackle a variety of cleaning issues as once. Petroleum distillate's main role would be to loosen oils or greases. Basically, naptha would be used on those oily stains that resist waster (remember, water and oil don't mix). If your clothes aren't particularly greasy or oily, I don't see why you would need naptha at all. On the other hand, if you have adequate detergents in your recipe, the naptha should rinse out with the rinse water. The detergents allow the particles of oil or grease (and the petroleum distillates with it) to be dispersed into water and rinsed away.
 
I use Dr. Bronners castile soap and grate it with the fine grater and add it to the water to let it dissolve before adding my clothes, too. I can get 3 batches out of 1 bar and it comes in lots of scents. I found it at Kroger for $2.49. Still cheaper than buying regular detergent.

I couldn't find Fels anywhere and I was told that if we had any skin issues, both my kids have mild eczema, to stay away from it anyway. Now I know why...geeez
 
I take it no one here has tried homemade bar soap as a substitute for the Fels?

I haven't made my own laundry soap yet, I can't find anything but the borax. I read somewhere that the washing soda, sodium carbonate, is also pool ph balancer, but haven't looked, as it is not pool season here for a while. Any opinions on this?

I see no reason to make my own if it is not better for me and for the environment. Even if it washes out of my clothing, it is going to ultimately end up in our water supply. That is something I think about more and more.
 
I don't think its any worse for the environment than the commercial brands.
The purpose of making homemade soap is the savings involved, which can be substantial, especially if you have a large family.
You can make your own and it can cost 3 cents a load.
 
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