Nearly a month with the Homemade Laundry Powder...
- Thread starter charbee
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re: seeing and reading this info again
It would be really great to have a simple web page with all this collective wisdom to refer to, including everyone's favorite "home-brew" laundry detergent/soap recipes to try. It would also be a great resource to point "newbies" with questions to, eh?
It would be really great to have a simple web page with all this collective wisdom to refer to, including everyone's favorite "home-brew" laundry detergent/soap recipes to try. It would also be a great resource to point "newbies" with questions to, eh?
pturo
New member
I just bought the ingredients listed above to try out this wonderful product. I do think it needs warm or hot water, however to melt the Fels.
toggleswitch2
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 23, 2008
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~Then one 1/4 cup of plain white household vinegar into the Fabric Softener dispenser in the middle of the agitator on the 'Tag, and that's it.
Beware. Vinegar eats porcelain. OK with SS and plastic tubs.........
Beware. Vinegar eats porcelain. OK with SS and plastic tubs.........
launderess
Well-known member
Secret to making "soap jelly" which is what this homemade detergent is more or less, is to grate the soap as finely as possible. The increased surface area allows soap to "melt" into a jelly when warm or hot water is added.
If using any of the vintage Fels products that contain naptha,or other solvents better to use warm or hot, but not boiling water.
Also grated soap, especially any of the Fels types that contain solvents are NOT the most healthy thing to inhale. I wear a face mask when grating mine.
If using any of the vintage Fels products that contain naptha,or other solvents better to use warm or hot, but not boiling water.
Also grated soap, especially any of the Fels types that contain solvents are NOT the most healthy thing to inhale. I wear a face mask when grating mine.
mistereric
Well-known member
so...
If one were to try this home made detergent, would it be safe to say the best recipie would be equal parts Fels, STPP and Borax?
If one were to try this home made detergent, would it be safe to say the best recipie would be equal parts Fels, STPP and Borax?
My recipe
I've been using this one for years. It's a powder, as I find cooking a liquid soap just way too much to do.
1 large (14 oz) bar Zote soap
1 1/2 cups borax
1 1/2 cups washing soda
or to use other soaps:
2 parts grated soap
1 part borax
1 part washing soda
Grate the soap. Grating while the soap is fresh is much easier. Mix in rest of the ingredients. If using a food processor, pulse the resulting mix in batches to obtain a finer powder. If not using a food processor, grate the soap, put into a bag and let sit in a warm place for a couple of weeks. I put it on top of the water heater. Then you can mix the borax and soda in. Do it in a large bowl and rub together with gloved hands. The dry soap will crumble into a powder as you rub it together with the other ingredients.
Laundress, thanks for all the information on sours in a soap wash, and the importance of warm rinses. I have been using the hot cycle on all my whites, but this new machine only offers a cold rinse for the hot cycle. The old Westinghouse let me have a hot wash/warm rinse. So I tried an experiment today. White load, warm wash/warm rinse, 1/4 cup homemade powder, 2 tablespoons Sun Oxy Wash, 2 tablespoons white vinegar in the softener dispenser.
Well, I am impressed with the results. I was able to increase the soap powder by one tablespoon from my usual dose. Cleaned the whites better. And the warm rinse with addition of the vinegar did rinse cleaner. There is less of a scent on the clothes. Thanks again for the great information.
Lisa
I've been using this one for years. It's a powder, as I find cooking a liquid soap just way too much to do.
1 large (14 oz) bar Zote soap
1 1/2 cups borax
1 1/2 cups washing soda
or to use other soaps:
2 parts grated soap
1 part borax
1 part washing soda
Grate the soap. Grating while the soap is fresh is much easier. Mix in rest of the ingredients. If using a food processor, pulse the resulting mix in batches to obtain a finer powder. If not using a food processor, grate the soap, put into a bag and let sit in a warm place for a couple of weeks. I put it on top of the water heater. Then you can mix the borax and soda in. Do it in a large bowl and rub together with gloved hands. The dry soap will crumble into a powder as you rub it together with the other ingredients.
Laundress, thanks for all the information on sours in a soap wash, and the importance of warm rinses. I have been using the hot cycle on all my whites, but this new machine only offers a cold rinse for the hot cycle. The old Westinghouse let me have a hot wash/warm rinse. So I tried an experiment today. White load, warm wash/warm rinse, 1/4 cup homemade powder, 2 tablespoons Sun Oxy Wash, 2 tablespoons white vinegar in the softener dispenser.
Well, I am impressed with the results. I was able to increase the soap powder by one tablespoon from my usual dose. Cleaned the whites better. And the warm rinse with addition of the vinegar did rinse cleaner. There is less of a scent on the clothes. Thanks again for the great information.
Lisa
Interesting topic
Didn't know there was such a difference between STPP and TSP. I knew STPP was exclusively used in detergent formulation.
Also didn't know about the closing down of fibers in the sour rinse either.
Latey, I have been reading all the patents for DASH and WISK and now the newer lo sudsing "HE" detergent formulations. Almost 50 years later all the formulators are still struggling around the lack of Phosphates in their formulations. And to achieve the low sudsing are still using versions of the original DASH formulation with synthetic Surfactants today.
The patents all play it close to the chest because all these detergent companies get their base products from a handful of global chemical manufacturers so they don't really control their product. P&G does some unique research it appears, most others analyze what is already produced to see if with formulations they can gain an edge.
To be sure they are using fancier chemicals than what was available 50 years ago but the base formulations are still the same. Fatty acids neutralized with some kind of metal alkali and then a host of custom builders for suspension or machine protection, determined by what each formulator wants to push to distinguish their product.
Did anyone see the piece on Henkel and how they are trying to get back the lost market share in Asia? It took you through their testing labs and I found out that they feel the hardest stain to remove is Pumpkin Oil!
Now how many of you out there have come into contact with Pumpkin oil and had to wash it out???
Didn't know there was such a difference between STPP and TSP. I knew STPP was exclusively used in detergent formulation.
Also didn't know about the closing down of fibers in the sour rinse either.
Latey, I have been reading all the patents for DASH and WISK and now the newer lo sudsing "HE" detergent formulations. Almost 50 years later all the formulators are still struggling around the lack of Phosphates in their formulations. And to achieve the low sudsing are still using versions of the original DASH formulation with synthetic Surfactants today.
The patents all play it close to the chest because all these detergent companies get their base products from a handful of global chemical manufacturers so they don't really control their product. P&G does some unique research it appears, most others analyze what is already produced to see if with formulations they can gain an edge.
To be sure they are using fancier chemicals than what was available 50 years ago but the base formulations are still the same. Fatty acids neutralized with some kind of metal alkali and then a host of custom builders for suspension or machine protection, determined by what each formulator wants to push to distinguish their product.
Did anyone see the piece on Henkel and how they are trying to get back the lost market share in Asia? It took you through their testing labs and I found out that they feel the hardest stain to remove is Pumpkin Oil!
Now how many of you out there have come into contact with Pumpkin oil and had to wash it out???
launderess
Well-known member
Read one of the boxes of vintage Calgon water softeners from my stash, which one assumes was made when soap was the main laundry "detergent" since it goes on about making soap work "better" and removing scum.
Anywho, Calgon recommended one add enough product to make the water slippery (their words), which according to the box is about 1 teaspoon per gallon of water (at 6 grains hardness).
Directions also state one was to add Calgon to the wash water (before laundry and soap), and the first rinse water, followed by a plain water rinse.
While the box does not state what sort of phosphates vintage Calgon contained, the powder formula from the 1970's until things started changing contanined STPP and sodium hexaphosphate, both excellent water softeners.
Anywho, Calgon recommended one add enough product to make the water slippery (their words), which according to the box is about 1 teaspoon per gallon of water (at 6 grains hardness).
Directions also state one was to add Calgon to the wash water (before laundry and soap), and the first rinse water, followed by a plain water rinse.
While the box does not state what sort of phosphates vintage Calgon contained, the powder formula from the 1970's until things started changing contanined STPP and sodium hexaphosphate, both excellent water softeners.
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