Normally when using pure soap for cleaning,one wishes a good layer of creamy suds on top of the wash water. The layer of suds indicates that not all of the soap is being used up to soften water, and enough remains to deal with soils and oils.
To understand the above one must understand a bit of chemistry, but won't bore you with a long lession, it is enough to know that soaps bind with hard water minerals (calcium mainly) which is why water with soap is cloudy. Man made detergents, OTHO do not of themselves soften water, hence the need water softening chemicals from phosphates, to washing soda, to Zeolites, to citrates and so on.
While there are low foaming man made surfactants,soap will always foam except in the presence of hard water and or excessive soils. Think of taking a shower in hard water, it takes more soap to get up a good lather than with soft water.
Problem with using soap to soften water is that as the soap binds with hard water minerals, it forms soap scum, which sticks to everything and can be very hard to dislodge.
Both borax and sodium carbonate (washing soda) are precipitation water softeners, that is they do not sequester hard water minerals, but bind them up, the same as soap. Much the same as soap this can cause scum and such that will stick to everything it touches.
If after repeated laundering in your home-made soap your laundry starts to look dull and grey, then you've got soap scum build-up which must be stripped out.
Another thing, pure soaps do not ever rinse out of textiles, because of the fat and oil content. While this can make certian fabrics feel softer without using fabric softener, it can also lead to not only build up, but textiles actually developing a rancid odour from all that built up oils/fats.
L.
To understand the above one must understand a bit of chemistry, but won't bore you with a long lession, it is enough to know that soaps bind with hard water minerals (calcium mainly) which is why water with soap is cloudy. Man made detergents, OTHO do not of themselves soften water, hence the need water softening chemicals from phosphates, to washing soda, to Zeolites, to citrates and so on.
While there are low foaming man made surfactants,soap will always foam except in the presence of hard water and or excessive soils. Think of taking a shower in hard water, it takes more soap to get up a good lather than with soft water.
Problem with using soap to soften water is that as the soap binds with hard water minerals, it forms soap scum, which sticks to everything and can be very hard to dislodge.
Both borax and sodium carbonate (washing soda) are precipitation water softeners, that is they do not sequester hard water minerals, but bind them up, the same as soap. Much the same as soap this can cause scum and such that will stick to everything it touches.
If after repeated laundering in your home-made soap your laundry starts to look dull and grey, then you've got soap scum build-up which must be stripped out.
Another thing, pure soaps do not ever rinse out of textiles, because of the fat and oil content. While this can make certian fabrics feel softer without using fabric softener, it can also lead to not only build up, but textiles actually developing a rancid odour from all that built up oils/fats.
L.
