# So I made laundry soap



## Aemilia (May 27, 2010)

with ivory soap, borax and washing soda. It cleans fine, but the ivory soap pieces are still bunched up / separated / floating in the solution. Is that what it should look like or did I mess something up? I used the liquid recipe here.


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## simplelife01 (Oct 18, 2010)

We have a recipe that uses Gels Nafta. It would be used in place of the ivory, and we don't have any particles in it at all. If you would like I can post the recipe.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Mine has done that before ... I just put it in a jar with hot water (tap hot) gave it a good shake before putting it in with the wash.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

The purpose of making this soap is...what? Less chemicals? I'm all for that! It doesn't sound like it would be cheaper or a good after-TSHTF soap, since you need to buy the things for it. If a person is stocking up on laundry soap anyway, would it be better to stock these ingredients and make the soap down the road, as opposed to buying other laundry soap? 
aemilia, didn't you make some goat-milk soap once? Was that bath soap? Can a person use bar-soap like that for laundry soap too?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I've been making the Fels Naphta laundry soap for a year now and it cleans my clothes really, really well--as in it got out some old set in stains from some of my shirts.
I like the smell and the cost is the big factor here.
I add 1/2 bar of the soap grated and one cup of the baking soda, 1 cup of the washing soda and one cup of the borax. I know that I worked it out on another site and the cost per load is about .79¢ I'm not paying for the water that the company adds. And since you have to buy the big boxes of washing soda and the borax you can end up making gallons and gallons of the stuff. I just buy about 4 or 5 bars of fels at a time and you have the makings of laundry soap for a couple years.(if I can find the post where I calculated it all out I will get it and put it here so you can see what I mean, if I could find Zote soap it would be even cheaper)
I even use the bar of the fels for spots- just put the other half of the bar of soap in the bathroom with a small toothbrush(tell everyone what it is so they won't brush their teeth with it lol) and get the toothbrush wet rub a bit of soap into a foam and put on the spot!
If you get into poison ivy use cold water and fels soap and it will remove the arushiol oil and if your lucky no rash(I am not allergic but I have friends who are, but you have to get it off before it starts to rash up).

Now as for using home made soaps- if you can buy that lou-ann type coconut oil and make soap from that it is really good for washing your clothes as it is a bit "harsher" and "less foaming" than other oils for soap making. Don't use your really good coconut oil that stuff is too good for using for soap making!


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

What is "lou-ann" type coconut oil?

I buy organic food-grade coconut oil in one-gallon buckets for a decent price through our local food co-op, and I let one of my daughters have about a pint of it to make some bath soap for me. 

I'd love to find a cheaper type of coconut oil to buy for soaps.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

It is in the cooking aisle right along with the nasty ol' crisco stuff! it is hydrogenated so it is not as good for you as the natural press coconut oil. It doesn't even smell like coconuts it is so processed but I have used it in soap and that is how I found out it is low foaming and a bit harsh even tho I aged it for about 4 months.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

I don't think hydrogenated is bad if you're using it for soap. I wouldn't ingest it, since I try to avoid hydrogenated stuff. I'll have to look for it next time I'm in a supermarket. Thanks for the info, Emerald.

You mention it doesn't smell like coconuts, but neither does the good organic food-grade coconut oil we buy. Doesn't taste like coconut either. 

When you say it's "harsh", in what way? I assume you don't mean the exfoliating-type of harsh, since that would be somewhat desirable in a soap, and even in a laundry soap it might work to help remove dirt from fabric? 

Now I'm exposing more ignorance...what does aging the soap do?


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

One must age/cure soap to complete the saponification (did I spell that right) and less the risk of "free lye".


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

"saponification"...:scratch

...:dunno:

...off to google I go... 



Brought up another screen and went back and forth:

"Saponification is a process by which a fat or an oil is converted into a soap."

Thanks, andi!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Well by harsh I mean it really drys out your skin and can sometimes cause a rash in some.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

gypsysue said:


> "saponification"...:scratch
> 
> ...:dunno:
> 
> ...


Sorry to leave you hanging there ... I should have added more to the post but the phone rang ... and one thing and another I just hit submit. (sorry )


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## pdx210 (Jan 8, 2010)

soaps are poor cleaners relative to modern synthetic detergents

here's a link you can buy a wide variety of cleaning chemical & components

The Chemistry Store.com - Serving The Soapmaker, Hobbyist, Student, School and Industry


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

gypsysue said:


> It doesn't sound like it would be cheaper or a good after-TSHTF soap, since you need to buy the things for it. If a person is stocking up on laundry soap anyway, would it be better to stock these ingredients and make the soap down the road, as opposed to buying other laundry soap?


I have started making our laundry detergent also (there is a thread on that here somewhere). The cost breakdown for making your own, depending on your cost for ingredients, breaks down to about .01 to .03 per load. I can not buy pre-made detergent for that price.(Note: these figures I gathered from the web, if I find my receipt, I'll do my own breakdown)

The Borax and washing soda do have other uses for cleaning around the house (kitchen, bathroom, carpets, etc) according to the boxes, which makes them multi-tasking items. I can always use more items that I can use in multiple ways. Less stuff to have to store! And the boxes are easier to stack then those odd shaped bottles:flower:


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## Aemilia (May 27, 2010)

It's supposed to be much cheaper, and I wanted to try it. When we were first married we played musical-laundry-soap (aka whatever was cheap) and one of us (hubby I think - ha I'm getting O*L*D) ended up reacting to it. So we stuck to the fragrance free stuff, which has gotten expensive (IMHO). I also like to know exactly what is in the soap.

I will look for the fels naptha soap next time. I was hoping to find everything locally and in one store. (That didn't happen, but three stores later we found the washing soda. Yay for the grocery store beating the super wal-mart!)

I tossed a dirty cloth diaper in there, and it came out clean, so I'd say the homemade stuff is as good as the commercial stuff I bought.

What product on the chemistry store were you recommending? It looks like they do body care. I didn't look to closely, the colors seem hard on my eyes today.

Oh, and I made the goat milk soap, which was a bar soap for skin. That was a nice, easy recipe: goat milk, coconut oil, lard, water and sodium hydroxide (lye). I need to make some more.


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## pdx210 (Jan 8, 2010)

Aemilia said:


> What product on the chemistry store were you recommending? It looks like they do body care. I didn't look to closely, the colors seem hard on my eyes today.


this makes a good basic laundry cleaning solution

sodium Laural sulfate and triton x 100 each at 1% solution so 2%

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

Triton X-100 at Wholesale Prices

sodium citrate at 7%

Sodium Citrate by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

sodium perborate at 5%

Sodium Perborate by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

meaning that most laundry detergents are 80% or more water

if you really want you can add methyl cellulose like store bought formulations to thicken it making it seem like its more concentrated than it is, the cellulose does help suspend soil in water . the only thing chemistry store doesn't have is enzyme additives for cleaning

Methylcellulose by The Chemistry Store.com Inc


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## testhop (Dec 20, 2009)

i have used oction soap fels naptha and ivory( only one of these at a time)
with washing soda and 20 mule borix.the way i do it is i put a big pot of water
on to boil while i use a food grader to shave the soap down when the water
is boiling i mix stir in the soap soda and the 20 mule .
stiring till the soap is desolve
then i mix it with enought water to fill a 5 gal bucket
use 1 cup per a load


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## carolexan (Dec 28, 2010)

I make my own soaps,(got some curing now) detergents, bath and body too. A friend of mine who is a latina introduced me to Zote soap years ago for use as a clothes detergent and whitener. I recently ran across some here in the states and bought the large bars at two for a dollar. This stuff is great to add to your homemade detergent recipes.


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

i am almost out of soap and need to make a new batch.
everyone around here doesn't keep red devil lye!!!! 
grrrr


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

lhalfcent said:


> i am almost out of soap and need to make a new batch.
> everyone around here doesn't keep red devil lye!!!!
> grrrr


I find mine at the hardware store ... in the plumbing section.


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

*Andi said:


> I find mine at the hardware store ... in the plumbing section.


yeah you would think so. but our hardware stores won't keep it in cuz people use it to make meth!!!!
grrrr
i got some hardwood out back and think i might get my little outdoor fire pit going and burn some wood then run it through melted snow. it should work. just been a really long time since i used wood lye.


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## Lonewufcry (Jul 26, 2010)

I got frustrated when I couldn't find red devil either so I did like you’re about to and fired up the wood and made my own. I have been reminded to make sure I do it right since it’s been so long ago. lol anyways we have around six to eight tubes curing now and we are gearing up to make some more.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

To make lye, don't you burn hardwood, then put the ashes in a pan or kettle or bucket or something, with a small hole or a few small holes in the bottom, and pour water into the ashes? The stuff that leaks/leaches out of it is lye? 

I've never done it, but an older guy once described it to me. It's been a lot of years though. 

Can someone describe the process?

And is there a certain type of container one should or shouldn't use, such as certain metals, plastic, ???


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## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

gypsysue said:


> To make lye, don't you burn hardwood, then put the ashes in a pan or kettle or bucket or something, with a small hole or a few small holes in the bottom, and pour water into the ashes? The stuff that leaks/leaches out of it is lye?
> 
> I've never done it, but an older guy once described it to me. It's been a lot of years though.
> 
> ...


That's how I remember my grandma doing it ... but I have no idea what kind of pot she used ... only that it was dedicated to lye making and nothing else.

Here's a pretty detailed description of the process ...

How to Make Lye

I am wanting to give this a try this spring because I will have lots of oak ash from the fireplace by then.


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

i was scoping the internet for lye for soap making and found this site....think i will order the 2lb bottle of lye beads.
anyone else use these guys??
Sodium Hydroxide LyeTech Grade NAOH


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## BadgeBunny (Nov 2, 2010)

lhalfcent said:


> i was scoping the internet for lye for soap making and found this site....think i will order the 2lb bottle of lye beads.
> anyone else use these guys??
> Sodium Hydroxide LyeTech Grade NAOH


You know ... that is one of the things I like about this place. I am real big into learning skills but also stocking things that will make life easier while I practice those skills ... I didn't even know they made "lye beads".

thanks so much for the link!


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

BadgeBunny said:


> That's how I remember my grandma doing it ... but I have no idea what kind of pot she used ... only that it was dedicated to lye making and nothing else.
> 
> Here's a pretty detailed description of the process ...
> 
> ...


 We done it, pretty much like the link and used the raw egg ... to test. (Oh so long ago.) You will let us know how it works.

The last time I found it at the hardware store ... I did buy all four that they had, so I'm good for a while yet.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

lhalfcent said:


> i was scoping the internet for lye for soap making and found this site....think i will order the 2lb bottle of lye beads.
> anyone else use these guys??
> Sodium Hydroxide LyeTech Grade NAOH


Always good to have a back up :2thumb:

Thanks for the link.


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

finally found lye!!! picked up a jug of cheap olive oil too and gonna make a huge batch of soap today. lol


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

The Ace Hardware near us carries lye. 

I'd still like to learn to make it myself, since it would be a good thing to know in the long-term.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

gypsysue said:


> The Ace Hardware near us carries lye.
> 
> I'd still like to learn to make it myself, since it would be a good thing to know in the long-term.


I found it in our local Ace Hardware too--not even one funny look when I picked up a bottle.. Also there I found the big boxes of strike anywhere matches! .99¢ a box of 250(maybe 300 I can't remember now)


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## carolexan (Dec 28, 2010)

Today I went to Ace to find lye as I was on empty. I had to show my drivers license, sign for how many I bought and that it was not for illegal purposes. I was floored. We are going to make some in the spring from the hard woods we burn. I like being self-suffient.


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## lhalfcent (Mar 11, 2010)

carolexan said:


> Today I went to Ace to find lye as I was on empty. I had to show my drivers license, sign for how many I bought and that it was not for illegal purposes. I was floored. We are going to make some in the spring from the hard woods we burn. I like being self-suffient.


wow. well Janet Napolotano is now saying there needs to be more scrutiny over common household chemicals cuz some terrorist might get an idea. sheesh
pretty soon we will have to show our ID for chapstick!


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