Poll on laundry soap

[tamlynn]

I really want to be part of the cool laundry soap making club! I found Zote at my local Walmart -haven't seen FelsNaptha anywhere. Borax is easy to find -Walmart or Target. No luck yet on washing soda. I'm going to check the local Ace Hardware. If they don't have it in stock I'll bet they'll order it for me.

 

[freemotion]

It is sold as pH balancer in the pool section....bet you have a few of those in SoCal.........I just can't remember right off the top of my head if it is to raise or lower the pH....

 

[The YardFarmers]

I use the powdered version similar to the recipes posted here. We have village water and get lots of mineral build up on faucets, etc. Don't have a water softener. I think our whites are greyer too, but it could just be the age of our clothes (we use our clothes a long time), plus I don't always wash only whites alone.

I have read some people using salt to boost the cleaning power of the laundry soap. Has anyone tried or heard of using water softener salt in the recipe?

Thanks,

YardFarmer Julie

 

[savingdogs]

You can find washing soda is small markets sometimes, we have it in our local camping-store type place. It is a very old product so it just depends on who is ordering for the store. Here in WA you can get it at Winco.
I used Zote very successfully in place of Fels Naptha.

I've heard the suggestion of whitening by using bleach, adding it to the batch of (liquid) laundry soap. To me, when I heard that, I thought, well why not just add bleach to my machine the old-fahioned way? So that is what we do when we need to whiten socks or sheets or whatever that are getting gray.
I've also heard of adding baking soda or vinegar to the recipe with good results. Baking soda to freshen odors of course and vinegar is supposed to be good in the rinsing.
In the recipes I've seen the amounts varied and looked kind of non scientific. The one with baking soda said to just add a cup of baking soda and this was a recipe that called for a cup of borax, cup of arm and hammer, one bar of soap and five gallons of water.

I would think adding baking soda would be easy to do with the dry recipe as well.

I've also heard of using equal parts baking soda and borax for dishwasher detergent. It worked okay when we tried it but I like using the liquid laundry soap better.

 

[Farmfresh]

I just use a little bleach or some extra borax when necessary to whiten and brighten. My whites stay nice and white.

 

[eggs4sale]

I have found that when the water softener is out of salt or not working, there ain't nothin' in the world that will get my once-whites white once again. Bleach won't do it, vinegar won't do it, extra soap won't do it... they just get greyer and greyer.

 

[savingdogs]

I used Zote on my latest batch and wasn't as pleased. I had a harder time getting it to all melt and now it is lumpy with chunks of Zote. It is working fine but I think I will use Fels Naptha next time. The Zote smells great though and does a good job freshening the clothes. This latest funky batch just worked awesome to get some really funky smelling clothes clean.

 

[Farmfresh]

Those soap chunks and more difficult storage is why I went from the liquid recipe to the dry one. NO more lumps!

 

[valmom]

I decided not even to try the liquid soap- sounded like a pain to dissolve and store. I use the powdered.

A soap question- what is Fels Naptha/Zote, and why is it different from regular soap? I use the Fels Naptha but can I use some of my early soap attempts that are unscented? Now that I have a large-ish stash of nice handmade soap no one wants to use the unscented early bars! I'd love to use them up in laundry soap.

 

[Farmfresh]

I would. The main difference in a laundry bar and a bath bar is usually superfatting. Most homemade soaps are made with extra oils to be moisturizing. They won't clean as well as soap made with just enough fat to bond with the lye.