Check This: Laundry Soap (not detergent)

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Sounds like they simply grated Fels Soap and added some Borax and Sodium carbonate.

One could probably do something similar, if not even more effective, by grating Ivory bar soap and adding STPP.
 
What they tried to do is recreate vintage Fels, which already contained washing soda. Vintage Fels, as one has posted previously was close to a detergent then, with builders, OBAs and lots of other goodies.

Still, have to admire the seller's moxie.

L
 
I can't help myself; I'm going to order a bag of it just to see how it works. I hear soap is horrid in hard water, but mine is v. soft, so I want to give it a try. I would imagine this works better on cotton fabrics than man-made, perhaps?

It might be a great soap for my ever-problematic bath towel load.

I'll give it a test run and post results when I receive it.

Pretty soon the nice young men in their clean white coats are going to come for the middle-aged man who is hoarding large amounts of laundry products, LOL.
 
They also sell Catfish Bait!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't wanna use that little soap..LoL

BTW Steve You never cease to amaze thee... Where do you find all these websites???
 
Ok, the deed's done. I ordered a 5-lb. bag, which the company claims will wash 96 loads (at 2 tb. per load---same dose as 500-lb. gorilla SA8).

I notice they also have bars of Fels Naptha and Kirk's Castile. Boy, those names bring back memories of childhood.

Togs-- What a cute little w/d! I wonder if it will fit in the back seat of The Mighty Geo?
 
Mighty Geo... I think i ran over one of those in the explorer eairler......Yup, there's some GEO guts on the explorer

(ducks and runs)
 
Mock not The Mighty Geo, for it hath carried me safely and dependably for nigh on 13 years and 204,000 miles.

Besides, I'm still jealous you got to drive a freakin' Viper, Chad!

:)

True story: Three winters ago I was riding with a friend, creeping along a snowy, icy highway in his beautiful, well-appointed Explorer. I jokingly told him to drive carefully because "these babies love to roll over". We laughed, then almost immediately went into a spin and rolled the sucker in the ditch. Fortunately, it occured at slow speed and neither of us was hurt save for a few bumps and scrapes and one wicked seat belt burn.
 
I like Kirk's Castile. I remember when it used to be available on supermarket shelves around here. But haven't seen it locally for many years. I know I can buy it on-line, but it's not quite the same... plus it's usually overpriced.

Yes, soap doesn't do so well in hard water... but if you add some STPP, then that should take care of the hard water issues.

I have a fair amount of Ivory bath bars laying around here; I might as well try grating some (with Kitchenaid or with the Salad Shooter), and mixing it up 50/50 with STPP and see what happens. It might be just the ticket for soft bath towels.

I remember way back when, my mom saved up bacon grease and then made some rather odorous brown soap with it. Dad wouldn't touch it; he thought it was toxic. She grated some and added a bit too much to the Bendix one day; I remember her in a panic as suds poured out the top of the thing. I think our water must have been rather soft; I don't remember ever seeing a water spot on a glass (although perhaps Mom meticulously polished them out). I know the tiled red/gray linoleum floor in the kitchen always seemed spotless (and shiny with wax).
 
I will admit that they have a higher roll over tendency, HOWEVER... You must be careful..You all where lucky and its sad to here his did flip.. The ICE will make just about any one spin.. I wish i had a digital camera back in 2002.. I have always had two cars because my family wanted to compete over who could give me a better present..ANy way..My first car was a 1994 Ford Explorer XLT... Beautiful white and grey interior.. I slid on the Ice into a fence and onto the golf course.. The police couldn't figure out how i had not made it flip over.. I have usualy had an Explorer as either a second car (or in the case now my main car) and i love them.. I have had an Infiniti, Taurus, Range Rover, Elantra, Prizim and Escort..
I have seen several accidents with explorers or the like flipped and squished, simply because of speed...

With that said, i have been in driving school and i learned to drive on a 1997 and 2000 Explorer... So this is what i am comfertable with...

After shopping extensivly, i am selling my truck and buying another explorer (pre 2001) simply because i am so used to the feel of them.

I have drivien a couple metros that where traded in and i think the pre 94 models are a hel of alot better than there 95 newer counter parts... I drove a 1994 Metro 4-door 5-speed for a few days while they where fixing my crappy range rover and i was quite pleased with it..But i could never deal with it on a daily basis...

BTW,
I have pictures some where..
I have driven a Z07 Corvette, Loutus Esprit, Acura NSX, 69 Vette, 2002 Corvette, Porsche 968 Boxster and 911 Turbo, Shelby Mustang, Nissan 350z, Supra Turbo, RX8 and WRX Sti.. I also drove around the dealership lot a Bently, Ferrari and Lambo!

Not trying to toot my horn, but the vette was my favorite, with the exclusion of a Porsche....
 
I like the Octagon Soap bar as a pretreater...

I even use it on my face, when I break out!

I've been using that Arm and Hammer "Essentials" liquid on my towel loads (it's supposedly soap and plant proteins, etc.) and the towels do come out noticeably softer IF I throw vinegar into the final rinse (with soft water...)

I've found a soap-based floor soap by Ecover that ROCKS, because it leaves a nice shine on vinyl....much better than Murphy's. It's not inexpensive, though....
 
I have to laugh about the yellow soap powder, though...

A suspiciously similar product from the Dominican Republic is sold in the dollar stores in Washington Heights for 99 cents, lol!
 
Chad-- Mine's a Geo Prizm (which is a rebadged Toyota Corolla). 5-speed manual.

I also had an '89 3-cylinder Geo Metro (which was a rebadged Suzuki Swift; mine was a 2-door hatchback) which, oddly enough, was my winter car. I had a gorgeous dark metallic red Camaro Z28 which had to be put away for the winter----talk about a car that was not designed for ice and snow!

I eventually traded the Camaro for the Prizm and gave the Metro to a friend who was carless. She drove the thing for years.

We used to laugh because my nephew's motorcycle had a larger engine than the Metro.

And really, I think we would have rolled almost any vehicle in that accident. It was just funny (well, not funny, I guess) that as soon as I mentioned its propensity to roll over, it did! As if on command.
 
I think you would have flipped anything in that accident as well...I ment to mention that... Glad you have a prizm.. Great cars... Plus it's a Chevy and Toyota mixed..

BAck to the soap....

We have a yellow soap similar to that in our dollar stores...
I wish the octogone would work on me..
 
Several things to remember about using soap for laundry:

Soap requires warm to hot water to really be effective. Though soaps like Fels with some sort of petrol will clean in cool water.

Soap requires soft water for both washing and at least the first one or two rinses.

Rinse temps of the first and perhaps second should be the same or near to wash temp. That is if one uses hot water to wash, the rinse water should be hot or at least warm. This is because a sudden change to cold water causes textile fibers to contract, trapping soap and dirt.

Because soaps are made from fats and oils, they never totally rinse out. Even after a final "sour" rinse some of the oils/fats will still remain. This is the "built in fabric softener" many laundry soap brands bragg about. Great for terry cloth towels and sweaters, but not so good for items ones wishes a crisp finish,like shirts or linens.

If all soap is not rinse away, and laundry is then ironed/pressed, the residue can turn brown upon contact with a hot iron. This results in those mysterious spots that appear when ironing otherwise spotless laundry.

Personally, wouldn't bother with that particular seller's homemade brew. Vintage Fels soap bars are easily and cheaply enough found on eBay. Just get a grater and have at it.

L.
 
I'm actually surprised Fels Naptha bar soap is not sold in supermarkets everywhere, like it is here...

Even if not used on the wash, it's great to get rid of poison ivy!
 
Many people probably are more comfortable with using laundry pretreaters they know, such as "Spray N Wash" and "Shout". These surfactant and enzyme based pre-treaters are effective against a wide variety of laundry stains/soils, while soaps really are great for grease,oil,wax and other sorts of stains. Fels with it's petrol content in addition to the above, is also great for lipstick, inks and other stains that are treatable via solvents.

L.
 
I have made the soap he sells. I used a microplane grater and keep it in a tupperwear container. I saw the formula on a frugal website, and just had to try it.
I mix it with Roma detergent and it works fine on towels.
I have to stand back when I take the lid off, it will curl your nose hairs. I have also used it when I tried a new detergent and it was causing too many suds in the machine.
Our Kroger sells the Fels, I used it because mom did, still my favorite pretreater.
 
Soap

I use bar soap as a pre-treatment for stains and it works even on stains where it is not supposed to work on - maybe because it loosens the dirt better, so it can be attacked better by the detergent in the wash-water.
Also I mix my own stain pre-treatment soap according to an old recipe I found in an old book.

There are some things to keep in mind when using soap!
Hard water is poison to soap! Even when rinsing in hard water areas there must be a softener (calgon, phosphate, soda or anything like that) added to the first warm or better hot rinse!
As already said: warm (40°C) is the minimum wash-temperature, hot is better and boil-wash (100°C) is always best with soap!
Soap does not bleach any stains and so needs the use of oxygene or chlorine bleach and does give a yellow-grey appearance after a while when not used together with a brightener or blueing!
But the appearance of the washing after being treated with soap is better than with any detergent. The smell is not artificial like that of detergents. Ironing is done much faster and fabrics smooth out much better when line dried than those washed with detergent. Also the water absorbance of towels is better. And no softener is to be needed!
Here in Germany are soap-based detergents available - see link below - but they are more expensive and are not made to wash with cold water which I generally do. But with warm or hot water they can be used like all other detergents, too!

Ralf

http://www.sodasan.com/remote/home.html.en
 
99 and 44/100ths percent pure, just like me.

My understanding is that soap removes dirt without pulling out the natural oils found in natural fibers, as over-zealous over-effective artificial detergents do.

WIth soap you don't need softener which attempts to replace those natural oils using waxy substances.

Methinks I need to get a bar of IVORY soap (all 99 44/100 % pure) and grate a bit into my washes as suds contol, for starters!

http://www.ivory.com/YourIvoryProducts_IvoryBarSoap.htm
 
Sometimes I grate my old soap chips after I deem them unworthy of Body Beautiful....

I love the "Delusions of Grandeur" scent...
 
I just ordered some some laundry soap (Fels Naptha, washing soda and....something else) and I'm interested to see how it does with my bath towel loads. I don't like to use softener on towel as it messes with their absorbency, but detergent suds don't want to break down in my FL'er. I'm hoping the soap product will be the solution I've been looking for: >No suds.
> Natural fiber softening

I've read posts from a couple of people who say the rinse water should be warm if using soap, otherwise.....I don't know, Western civilzation will collapse or something. No, wait. If the rinse water is cold, the fibers will contract and hold the soap. That's what it was.

Anyway, my FL'er won't do cold for the 1st and 2nd rinses. I'll have to catch the cycle after the wash and reset it so the first rinse will be warm.
 
Just finished grating three different kinds of soap: Ivory bar, Zote laundry bar, and Island (Fijiian) laundry soap.

Results were interesting, and colorul.

Am now washing a load of bath towels with the grated Ivory ... with 33% STPP.

Will post photos and commentary in separate thread.
 

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