Borax! Who’s still using ?

[launderess]

@ Angus

You might want to treasure that stock of soap flakes as neither Allo Laverie nor anyone else can lay hands on them any more. British company (Dri Pak) stopped producing soap flakes several years ago. They were the last in world apparently doing so on a large scale, and now that's all over.

Apparently besides declining market for pure soap flakes there was the war (or hate) on against things made from palm oil as well.

https://www.dri-pak.co.uk/where-have-dry-soap-flakes-gone/

https://www.dri-pak.co.uk/tag/soap-flakes/

https://msodistributing.com/#more

On this end happily have a crate of P&G laundry soap, two of Persil (original formula), one of Lux Flakes, three boxes of Ivory Snow (original soap, not detergent), and smaller crate of Fels Naptha and Kirkman's Borax. So that's me for you.

 

[brisnat81]

Hi Laundress

The last time I checked, Lux soap flakes were still available in AU. I haven’t needed them for a while, but last year you could still purchase.

You only get a couple of loads out of a box though.

Cheers

Nathan

Lux Flakes - Pure Soap Flakes 700g - Household Cleaning Products

Made from pure, mild soap flakes, the lubricating properties help maintain natural softness of fibres and minimise irritation to tender or sensitive skin. Suitable for top load washing machines and hand washing.

pental.com.au

 

[launderess]

What Borax Does In Laundry

Borax being a mild alkali helps bring wash water into balance by counteracting acids such as (fresh) perspiration and body oils.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/173478

Body odor simply comes from bacteria breaking down sweat into acidic compounds. Thus borax will help deal with that whiff. So will sodium percarbonate, sodium perborate, and many other alkaline boosters used on laundry day. All soaps are usually alkaline in dilution with water so you get same sort of activity.

Many complain when using liquid detergents their wash still has a whiff about it. Well now you can understand why, unless that liquid detergent is built with certain substances to give proper alkalinity to deal with acidic body soils....

To some extent borax is a mild (very) disinfectant and fungicide. Ever since it arrived on scene in major amounts borax was known to give laundry a "sweet" and "clean" scent.

Borax has other uses on wash day as well.

It can be used with starch to make things more stiff and less vulnerable to going limp in contact with moisture. Borax will also render things (to an extent) fire retardant or proof.

 

[sudsmaster]

"The National Institutes of Health has found that borax has been associated with several adverse health effects in humans. These include:

irritation
hormone issues
toxicity
death"

Is Borax Safe: To Ingest, For Kids, on Skin, and More

Borax, or sodium tetraborate, is a powdery white mineral that has been used as a cleaning product for several decades. Today, modern ingredients have mostly replaced borax in cleansers and cosmetics. But some people continue to use borax because it has been advertised as a green ingredient. Is...

www.healthline.com

 

[qsd-dan]

several adverse health effects in humans.

If that was true, I'd be dead.

http://www.cytoluminator.com/cancer-photodynamic-therapy/httpwww.health-science-spirit.com%20borax.pdf

 

[reactor]

availability

I found Twenty Mule Team Borax at a Dollar General Store here in TN.

 

[askolover]

Walmart and Kroger here still carry 20 Mule Team as well as Zote soap flakes.

 

[2011hoovermatic]

I especially love borax for killing ants. I also once in a while use some to clean.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Availability

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I don't think I've ever gone to a grocery store and failed to find it. This'd be metro NYC, SE quarter of Conn., and Boston's South Shore.

 

[mixguy]

I use Borax too

I too find it is a useful detergent booster. Also find my towels are softer when I use it as well. In a hard water area here but find no precipitates in my washer tub.

I quit using fabric softener when I learned of the greasy residue it leaves in the washer tub and how is builds up in fabric too. When I did use it, I used half the suggested amount or less.

Not a fan of fragrance or dyes so I use detergent without those additives.

 

[abcomatic]

Yes, I use it all of the time. In the wash cycle or in the Easy spindrier and away we go!

 

[mrsalvo]

@ MixGuy, 

"Not a fan of fragrance or dyes so I use detergent without those additives."  A welcomed observation.  I completely agree, as I am finding many fragrances can bring on headaches, or make me feel bad.  I'm glad to see that I'm not alone. 

 

Barry

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[kenwashesmonday]

When my laundry is done, I want it to smell like clean laundry, and nothing else.

 

[ralph611]

Hi Stan.
I also use borax on some loads. Does anyone use washing soda? I still see it in the grocery stores. My mom would use it sometimes when I was growing up

 

[launderess]

Bought a box of Arm and Hammer washing soda just the once. Was fresh out on my own with first washing machine. Never again.

Made everything scratchy and stiff, even with tumble drying.

Never bothered ever again....

 

[rp2813]

Agreed about washing soda.  When I first knew Dave, he was buying the stuff in large boxes from Price Club (now known as Costco).  My dress socks for work came out stiff and were hard to put on.  It didn't take long to make him switch to another brand, and the stiff, scratchy effect was gone as soon as he did.

 

As for borax having other uses, that is true.  After being made aware of it by Rich (Sudsmaster), I made a borax paste and used it as a flux around some brass jewelry wire to mend a broken nichrome heating element on my 1946 GE roaster oven.  It was a quick and permanent fix with a blow torch, and the roaster has been working fine -- including baking pies and banana bread outdoors on hot days -- ever since.