Artisan at work: Handmade Watercolors

Homemade Laundry Soap

I made all natural, eco-friendly laundry soap! Actually, I’ve wanted to make it for quite some time. I started off with my all-natural castile soap (but you could substitute Fels Naptha ~ most commonly used ~ Zote, Ivory brands) grated fine.

SOAP serves as a surfactant to help loosen and wash away ‘dirt’.

Then I added all natural borax (a natural occurring mineral salt, sodium borate), also referred to as desert salt. It’s a crystalline powder, mildly alkaline, water-soluble, aides in softening water, loosening dirt & deoderizing ~ also found in the laundry section of your grocery store – look for 20 Mule Team brand.

Another key ingredient, a white powder is washing soda (sodium carbonate or soda ash ~ NOT baking soda which is sodium bicarbonate) to boost the cleaning and stain fighting powers without the damage of bleach. Look for Arm & Hammer brand in the laundry aisle at the grocery store.

Optional: OxiClean may be added to your ‘recipe’ for heavy-duty farm loads!

Best of all, home-made laundry detergent is skin safe, environmentally friendly & inexpensive!

LAUNDRY SOAP RECIPE:

1 bar castile/Fels Naptha soap, grated fine by hand

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Optional: 1/4 cup OxiClean

Mix all ingredients into a granular mixture. Use 1 tablespoon per load; 2 tablespoons for large or dirty load. BTW, you could add essential oil to your laundry mixture. Also, if you have the need for a laundry rinse, use 1/4 cup white vinegar  in the rinse cycle. It will remove any soap residue and reduces static on your clothes…and won’t leave your clothes smelling like vinegar!