Wash day: Making my own laundry soap. *Picture Heavy*

[ZMace]

So why don't you do a write up on the way you do it (preferably with pictures) and I am sure some of us would give it a shot.

[EllenDee]

So why don't you do a write up on the way you do it (preferably with pictures) and I am sure some of us would give it a shot.

Sorry if my post was a bit harsh - I actually woke up this morning thinking it was a bit negative!! All I can say is I had a bad experience grating soap once

I will try to do a post with pics for my method, I am planning on making another batch in the next couple of weeks. The basic method for making from scratch is to add lye/caustic soda to water - it will heat up, and you need to let it cool down to lukewarm. While that is cooling, you heat up your fat/oil to a lukewarm temperature. When they are both at that temp, you mix them together until they start to thicken (if you still have power, a stick blender is ideal). Then you pour it into molds (the first ones I used were empty milk cartons) -after about a day it sets enough to cut into bars, then you leave it for a few weeks to cure. If you want to skip the curing time you can cook it longer, but that can make it harder to pour.

The exact quantities to mix together depend on the type of fat you are using. If you want to be really self sufficient, you can make your own lye by soaking water in wood ash, but the quality and strength is a bit hard to control.

[gettinready]

This topic is really long, I haven't read all of it so I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet.

Instead of grating the Ivory soap, put it in a glass bowl in the microwave for a few minutes. It gets really big. Stop the microwave when the soap stops growing. You can then easily break it up. I put it in a zip-lock bag and crush it with the back of a big spoon. It doesn't seem to hurt the soap in any way. You Tube has some videos.

I have only tried this with Ivory, not with some of the other soaps recommended. If you do it with a creamy soap like Irish Spring or Dove, you get a gooey mess.

[Forlane]

Bump as this is like on page 4

[Anianna]

I have allergies and an immune deficiency and found myself growing increasingly sensitive to perfumes and such. I switched to perfume and dye free detergents, but the chemicals still had a smell that bothered me. I went in search of something better.

Long story short, I found soap nuts, which are a naturally growing berry high in saponin. I use soap nuts in my wash and my clothes come out soft enough that I don't worry at all about any kind of softener. If I dry my laundry in the dryer, I usually don't have a problem with static, but when the air is very dry, I do add a little olive oil to a strip of a shamwow (one I cut to bits because I found them useless for what they are intended) whenever I wash a load of synthetic fibers like fleece. If you have a problem with static, wash your foil, roll it up, and toss it in your dryer with your wet laundry. Larger foil balls help to keep fibers from rubbing against each other as they toss, which is what causes static in the clothes.

I get my soap nuts at NaturOli. They take the seed out, which is just shipping weight, so you get more berries for your buck than with some other companies and their berries always look great. I also like their liquid, which is great if you are busy and don't always get to your clothes right away. I have heard that sometimes the berries can stain if left sitting on some clothes for a while.

I also use their soap nuts shampoo. I have long, easily tangled hair. The soap nuts don't really get the tangles out, but, when used in combination with an ionic brush, my hair is always soft and clean and doesn't smell like chemical shampoos. The ionic brush goes right through my long, thick hair easily and I can even brush my hair when wet. I need to get another because my whole family keeps stealing my brush! My husband even loves to brush his beard with it. The ionic brushes are inexpensive and you can find them at places like Walmart.

Anyway, I plan to grow my own soap nuts once I get my greenhouse built.

[Seq]

I've used soap nuts before and made this form of laundry detergent as well.

Somethings I've found:
1. a friend told me that soap nuts work better in hot water than cold. This, to me, defeats the purpose of
an alternative form of soap as it uses so much energy. I didn't notice much difference in my clothes, but
then again, supposedly agitation cleans almost as much even without adding soap....sooo.....yeah.

2. the laundry detergent is awesome. I've used it several times and added essential oils sometimes, and
put it into plastic water gallon jugs to reuse them and to avoid having the detergent dehydrate a bit in the
big five gallon drum. I did notice after I used it a bit that I started having some reactions when I ran out
and an ex picked me up some Tide-- so while I don't think it's great that it can encourage you to have reactions
to conventional detergents, it does call to mind that there is a huge difference in chemicals and whatnot between
the home made detergent, and the storebought.

[Anianna]

Somethings I've found:
1. a friend told me that soap nuts work better in hot water than cold. This, to me, defeats the purpose of
an alternative form of soap as it uses so much energy. I didn't notice much difference in my clothes, but
then again, supposedly agitation cleans almost as much even without adding soap....sooo.....yeah.

I can tell you this, I have two kids who pee the bed and they're old enough that it stinks like the dickens. When I was using store bought detergents, the perfumes covered it up. When I bought the perfume-free detergents, it didn't matter how many times we washed them, their clothes and sheets still stunk of urine. There was a period of time we didn't use anything because I had become so sensitive that I just couldn't stand to use anything and their clothes and sheets really stunk just washing them in water with no detergent. As far as I'm concerned, the detergents weren't washing, either. If something stinks, it's not clean and the only way their stuff didn't stink with detergents is if the detergent had a perfume to cover it up. Once I started using the soap nuts, there was no more stink and I frequently use cold water to clean clothes like pants that you wear over undies. Even the pants they peed in finally smelled clean. I'm sold on soapnuts after all that.

I'll agree with you that store bought detergents clean only as well as just agitation, though.

[Darxus]

The homemade stuff is literally three ingredients. I sincerely doubt she'll be allergic to it.

I wish. Fells-Naptha says "INGREDIENTS: Cleaners, soil & stain removers, chelating agents, colorants, perfume." I looked around some for alternatives with fewer ingredients. Kirk's soap might have been a good option. But EllenDee's suggestion of making your own soap out of fat or oil and lye sounds appealing. But a lot of work.

I'd love to see an instructional video of somebody taking a freshly killed deer (fat) and some wood (ash -> lye) and making soap out of them.

"To use the following numbers, take the amount of fat you plan to use in your recipe (in ounces) and multiply it by the decimal number assigned to that type of fat. The resulting answer will be the amount of lye needed (in ounces).
...
Tallow, Deer (Venison): Old: .138 Milder: .131"
- http://millersoap.com/soapdesign.html (random google hit on: deer soap lye)

Heh, bear soap. That would be fun.

Ah, good, there are some soap making threads here:
http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... f=6&t=2412
http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... 39&t=27289
http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/view ... 39&t=83137

[Sledgecrowbar]

I used a potato peeler on the Fels-Naptha for lack of a cheese grater. I figured it would come off like slices of cheese, but (possibly because it was an older bar) it crumbled as I peeled like powder, which was perfect. Careful that you don't let it bunch back together in the pot, next time I'll have the water already nice and hot. Adding the Soda and Borax to the cook pot *will* make your brew froth over faster than you can turn the heat off. I kept filling the measuring cup and cook pot with more clean hot water before pouring it into the bucket from there, this project just about scrubs and rinses itself. Too bad my cordless drill battery was dead.

All I have is cologne and massage oil, anyone have advice on whether these will work as essential oils? I wouldn't mind smelling (very subtly) like Old Spice without actually having to be That Guy at work.

[Sledgecrowbar]

Well, of my Old Spice, either I didn't use enough or it evaporated out. Or I just can't smell it. Either way, the soap works great and nobody at work has complained one way or the other. Here's to free money!

Is there any way to keep it from gelling so much that it won't pour? I did thin the first gallon down half again after the five-gallon bucket mix, but it still gets like jello and I can't get a stirrer into the Tide bottle. Maybe leaving it on top of the hot water heater, cap screwed on tight to keep it from drying out would keep it thin? It doesn't get hot enough to worry about the bottle bursting. Otherwise, I'm looking at making "jello shots" that I can just pour into the machine, one per load. Kind of more effort than I was hoping for, but the price is right.

[AwPhuch]

Wife uses zote

She also uses a carrot peeler to cut up the soap to dissolve in water..this way you don't have to work your arm off trying to grate it (the heat from the hot water melts it pretty quick)

We bought one of those high efficiency washers so non-foaming soap is a must now

[Pondo_Sinatra]

Gonna have to gear up soon for batch #2. 11 months into the first 5 gallon batch and we're getting low. I DID occasionally use store-bought detergent from time to time, and I've been living alone for most of the year, but still, 11 months out of about $3 worth of materials, I'm ok with that...

[SoilSpinach]

Just wanted to say that this the ingredients measurements are just suggestions. Seriously.

When I make mine, I use any regular bar of soap I have on hand.
For the borax and washing soda, I just pour it in the bucket until it feels right, which is no more than 2 cups, usually.

To make give it more cleaning power, sometimes I add any of these to the washing water:

-Vinegar
-Baking powder
-Essential oils known for their anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties (I use tea tree, but origanum is probably the best, although it's kind of funky smelling. If you just use a bit of it, it shouldn't make a great difference
-Hydrogen Peroxyde
-Lemon juice

I've never used them all at once, and I don't always use them, but they're great additions.

[forest]

Well, I, like some others, couldn't find washing powder. So I used baking soda and upped the amount of borax, and have been busily washing away since. Granted, the beta test isn't optional. My young cat, whom I rescued from a hoarding situation, has some . . . behavioral issues. When I came home from a weekend away, she promptly rewarded my absence by peeing on the bed. So the linens and pillows have been soaking in homemade soap and hot water, with occasional rinses. The smell seems to have gone away completely.

[forest]

Report on beta test: Well, with plenty of hot water and agitation, the sub-optimal version of homemade laundry detergent gets the clothes (and bed linens) clean. However, there are two drawbacks. 1) No matter how many times I rinse, the fabric feels like there is some sort of weird residue on it. The dirt and other stuff is out, but something feels like it is left behind. 2) I don't like the smell of Fels-Naptha.

So, upon finally finding washing soda in, of all places, my local Schnucks, I've decided to implement version 2.0. Also, I plan to use Kirk's Castille ("original coco!") instead of Fels. Further results forthcoming.

[congochris]

If you're searching for soaps, I've posted that we use Ivory and it works perfectly well as a substitute that's easier to find, and generally available in bulk packs for the cheapness.

[Nyx]

However, there are two drawbacks. 1) No matter how many times I rinse, the fabric feels like there is some sort of weird residue on it. The dirt and other stuff is out, but something feels like it is left behind.

Have you tried an extra rise? Sometimes it's just too much soap still stuck in the fibers of the material. In the future you may want to cut back on how much you are using.

[Sledgecrowbar]

My first bar of Fels-Naptha was so old that it had no scent, even when peeling it. I haven't had a gelling problem with the second batch at all, which I just finished tonight. It does separate, though, so it's nice to keep the spare cordless drill on the stirrer and leave it all in the bucket with the battery on charge next to it. I give it a meaningful stir at the start of a big washing session, my measuring cup is a little Pyrex so the handle sits right on the lip of the bucket, too, and it couldn't be easier. I wash my workwear twice (maybe it's the HE machine, but it doesn't seem to have the wallop my old one did for getting the bad funk out of work clothes), so the second run gets some Tide to give it the right smell for me. Other than the five-gallon bucket in the kitchen, I'm really glad I tried this. Pondering trying to put it in empty Tide bottles now that I've figured out the gelling.

[LyraJean]

My husband does the laundry. We currently use liquid detergent. I'll see if he prefers the liquid or the powder and see if I can convince him into trying this.

[gunzip]

Apparently this is catching on ; my local wally world has all the ingrediants in one spot on the laundry isle . Fels-naptha was under a buck for a bar.

I made up my first batch mixing the fels with ivory , hope it comes out all right as my wife is 'skeptical' to say the least

[FlashDaddy]

My girlfriend made our first bach of laundry soap today. It smelled nice "cooking". She added some lemom balm from our garden and used our empty countainers to hold the new stuff.

[Pondo_Sinatra]

My first bar of Fels-Naptha was so old that it had no scent, even when peeling it. I haven't had a gelling problem with the second batch at all, which I just finished tonight. It does separate, though, so it's nice to keep the spare cordless drill on the stirrer and leave it all in the bucket with the battery on charge next to it. I give it a meaningful stir at the start of a big washing session, my measuring cup is a little Pyrex so the handle sits right on the lip of the bucket, too, and it couldn't be easier. I wash my workwear twice (maybe it's the HE machine, but it doesn't seem to have the wallop my old one did for getting the bad funk out of work clothes), so the second run gets some Tide to give it the right smell for me. Other than the five-gallon bucket in the kitchen, I'm really glad I tried this. Pondering trying to put it in empty Tide bottles now that I've figured out the gelling.

Something I do with my work clothes is put a little shot of Pine Sol in with them (Maybe 1/4 cup). Works for me, but I like the smell of Pine sol so YMMV.

[Guiltyofbeingtight]

I read through most of the thread but if I missed this being mentioned, my bad. But, if you are still having trouble finding washing soda you can make your own out of baking soda.

Heat oven to 400 F. Spread out your 1-2 cups of baking soda into a baking sheet, pop into oven for 30 minutes. Stir it around once or twice while it bakes. Now you have washing soda.

[Silent Kube]

Just got around to making a batch. A little tip for grating the soap. Get one of these types of graters.

http://www.amazon.com/Zyliss-11375-Rest ... ese+grater

It's the kind they use at olive garden to grate cheese onto your food. Cut the soap into two or three pieces and it works like a dream. I had the whole bar grated very fine within five minutes. Bucket is cooling right now. Can't wait to see how it turns out.