Powder Homemade Laundry Soap

[piecemaker]

You can pick up a grater for next to nothing at a thrift store. Most people won't buy them because it is for their food and who knows where they have been, but for soap they are grate. Get it grate.

I don't remember if anyone here has mentioned this, but I run my grated soap along with some of the borax or soda through the food processor when blending the powder. If you just process the soap you get a glob, but the dry ingredient combined with the soap ends up with a nice fine powder that is easy to blend with the other ingredients. I imagine that a blender in small batches would work the same way.

And I forgot to say .... Yes I use the same processor for food as I do soap. I just wash it up well when I am done. I DO have dedicated equipment for when the soap is uncured.

I do the same thing with the blender. Makes the soap more uniform

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I just grated my bar soaps with my new hand grater. Then, soaked and washed it clean with hot water, and a dish scrubber. Then, poured the soapy water into the load of laundry I was doing.
I do like the idea of running the finished product through the blender. Mine is a little chunky. Other stuff, I would not dare put in my food blender. Like fish heads for emulsion, or compost.

 

[Nichole]

This is exactly what I was looking for I like the idea of using the blender too, when my mom made it it left the soap really chunky. Now I just need to find a grater! Guess I'll be going to the Goodwill this week!

Nichole

 

[valmom]

I tried using the blender on my detergent today- I can't believe the difference. Very nice! I actually used it because my borax had solidified and I had to chip it out of the box in chunks. Ran it all through the blender and it is lovely.

 

[RobinsValleyVT]

I used my blender this weekend when I made the detergent and it was NOT happy. The motor ran really loud and started smelling hot, so I may use the magic bullet next time and see if that works better, or use less fels naptha at a time when mixing it into the washing soda.

The finished product came out great and I've done two loads of laundry with it so far, everything seems clean and smells very fresh! I've got enough mixed powder for a month or two easily and for the $15 I spent on the supplies I think I still have enough to make about a year's worth of detergent, if not more! I also took the end of the bar of fels naptha I couldn't grate and used it to pre-treat a couple stained shirts I have and it worked like a dream! I've got that next to my tub full of detergent and have a whole pile of my toddler's stained clothes I'm going to tackle next.

Now I've got to look into dishwasher gel, hand soap and body wash. This is going to become a new obsession I can tell!

You guys are the best enablers!

 

[Farmfresh]

You need to do it in small batches when you use a blender. I much prefer using my food processor to whiz my soap.

Also remember to use some of the powder (I use the borax) with the pre-grated soap. That keeps the machine from getting gunked up. The first time I tried it I tried chunks of soap - DID NOT WORK. Then I tried just pulverizing the soap - DID NOT WORK gunky mess. But with the dry ingredient to absorb some of the moisture in the soap it works lovely!

 

[RobinsValleyVT]

You need to do it in small batches when you use a blender. I much prefer using my food processor to whiz my soap.

Also remember to use some of the powder (I use the borax) with the pre-grated soap. That keeps the machine from getting gunked up. The first time I tried it I tried chunks of soap - DID NOT WORK. Then I tried just pulverizing the soap - DID NOT WORK gunky mess. But with the dry ingredient to absorb some of the moisture in the soap it works lovely!

I did mix the grated fels naptha into the washing soda in the blender, but I think I started with too much naptha at first. I think working in smaller quantities will be the way to go, it all mixes well after with a spoon anyway. Hopefully I stopped before I did any permanent damage to the blender.

It's definitely an easy process and well worth it though!

 

[piecemaker]

Grate the soap and either bake it in low heat oven or let it set out over night to dry out. Then it will blend MUCH easier

 

[Neko-chan]

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[snapshot]

I've heard Ivory works fine but have not tried it yet.