homemade liquid dish detergent?

[hqueen13]

Does anyone have a recipe for homemade liquid dish detergent? I would like to get away from using Dawn (dang petroleum based products!) and move to something homemade. We do have the challenge that our city water is hard and so soap does not suds very much at all. I am constantly putting more dish soap on the rag when I was things, which is annoying, but otherwise, I don't feel like they get clean.
Thanks for the suggestions!!

 

[taoist]

I've never made a soap specifically for dishwashing although I have just used my regular soap to wash dishes with before. I should look into trying something...it would need to have a lot of coconut oil in the recipe I'm guessing. And to make it liquid, it would have to be made with potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide.

Looks like most of the sites I googled use castile soap and washing soda blends but I'm not sure how good it will cut grease.

 

[~gd]

The chemicals that are used in Dawn could be EITHER petroleum based or made from coconut oil. Due to the expense and the problems of dealing with Coconut oil I will conceede that they are probably made from petrolium. Just what is your objection to the use of petrolium as a chemical? It is not going to produce a lot of greenhouse gas unless it is burnt.

 

[hqueen13]

~gd, I just prefer to not use chemical based stuff anymore. Trying to move towards more natural things, and petroleum isn't really good for the body, and since the sink absorbs so much chemical wise, I would rather not soak it up

I guess I could try some regular castille soap, I don't know why it wouldn't clean dishes...

 

[Beekissed]

Since you don't get much sudsing anyway, why not just use the liquid laundry detergent for your dishes? Maybe even make it a little concentrated and throw some vinegar in it for a good degreaser, could even use EOs for scenting if you need that sort of thing. You could even make your own hand soaps with the coconut oils and such and make a liquid detergent mix out of them instead of the Fels Naptha.

My ol' grandma used to use a bar of lye soap for her dishes back in the day. There would be that brown bar of soap floating in the dishwater and the residue from that soaking was her detergent. It was a great dewormer for her hogs and chickens when she used her dishwater in their feed troughs.

 

[hqueen13]

Hmm... I hadn't thought of that, Bee! that might work actually cause the last batch of liquid laundry detergent ended up too soapy, and it is really thick in the bottom, so I think I'm going to end up having to make a new batch and use the end of that for something else - it might just work perfect!
I am planning on making the new laundry soap out of a powder, anyway, so this might be a good time to make the switch.
I guess if the dishes aren't clean to my satisfaction then I'll just go back to the dawn, I have some left, so I can always experiment while I can still clean them with something that I know cleans.

 

[snozzleberry]

Hi there,
I haven't tried these recipes yet. I am still working through the soap I have now. If you try the recipes before me, please post your reveiw/opinion of it.
OK, here goes:

Homemade Dish Soap Recipe #1
2 cups of Castile soap
1 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar
1/2 cup of warm water
Pour all ingredients into a cleaned out old dish soap bottle and shake until well combined. Give it another good shake before each use. The lemon juice or vinegar helps cut through the grease on your dishes.

[u]Homemade Dish Soap Recipe #2[/u]
This version takes a little longer to make, but is even more frugal
1/4 cup soap flakes or soap shavings (any bar soap will do)
2 cups water
1 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar
Get out a sturdy sauce pan. Pour the water and soap fakes in and slowly heat it over medium heat. Stir the mixture and keep heating it until all the soap flakes melt into the water. DO NOT let the mixture come to a boil. Turn down the heat if needed.
Allow the soap mixture to cool a bit, then stir in the lemon juice or vinegar. Keep it sitting in the pot until it is completely cooled, then pour it into an old dish soap bottle.
With either of these two homemade dish soap recipes you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to make them smell better. I find that if I use the lemon juice, I dont need the essential oil. Bottled lemon juice works just fine.

 

[~gd]

~gd, I just prefer to not use chemical based stuff anymore. Trying to move towards more natural things, and petroleum isn't really good for the body, and since the sink absorbs so much chemical wise, I would rather not soak it up

I guess I could try some regular castille soap, I don't know why it wouldn't clean dishes...

I am a chemist and I am here to to tell you soap is made from chemicals, detergents are made from chemicals.
Vinegar (acetic acid) and lemon juice (citric acid) are not grease cutters what they really do is attack and tie up the minerals from your hard water. Don't beleive me ? catch some rain water and try it with just about any soap [still chemicals] you will get suds instead of soap scum and neither vinegar nor lemon juice will help.

 

[hqueen13]

~gd, I just prefer to not use chemical based stuff anymore. Trying to move towards more natural things, and petroleum isn't really good for the body, and since the sink absorbs so much chemical wise, I would rather not soak it up

I guess I could try some regular castille soap, I don't know why it wouldn't clean dishes...

I am a chemist and I am here to to tell you soap is made from chemicals, detergents are made from chemicals.
Vinegar (acetic acid) and lemon juice (citric acid) are not grease cutters what they really do is attack and tie up the minerals from your hard water. Don't beleive me ? catch some rain water and try it with just about any soap [still chemicals] you will get suds instead of soap scum and neither vinegar nor lemon juice will help.

hellloooo Typo.... That should have SKIN, not sink! Does it make any more sense than it did?!

Everything is chemical based, I am aware of that. I am seeking alternatives that are not leaden with chemicals that I can't pronounce and ingredients lists of mysterious things that I can't identify.

Very interesting on the vinegar/lemon juice. I know that vinegar will help reduce water spots on dishes in the dish washer.

Snozzleberry, I'll have to give those a try (would probably try the second one before the first one I think, at least if it stays mixed that is, would rather not have to shake it up each time I need some).
I have no idea how much I have left of the dawn, but I'll probably try this before I run out in case I'm not satisfied

 

[hqueen13]

Hey Snozzleberry (or anyone else that can answer my question...)
I made up the recipe that requires the cooking, and it was very liquid. Not knowing what to expect, I wanted to be sure this was correct.
I am used to making the laundry detergent, which is thicker, so I wasn't sure what the expected result should be.
Just curious!
Thanks!!