Homemade Laundry Detergent Part 1

So. I name this "homemade laundry detergent part 1" in the optimistic hope that eventually there will be a part 2. Only time will tell.

Two weeks ago Daddybeast did laundry at the local (well, semi-local, it's a few miles away and there are others that are closer but I digress) laundromat. We live in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. We don't have washer/dryer hookups and that's really not a big deal--we have a dishwasher. In my first apartment I did not have a dishwasher. I had a sink full of dirty dishes. I hate doing dishes. I hate doing dishes a lot.

Anyhow.

We don't have a washer/dryer because there's nowhere to put it and because of that, we go to the coin laundry that offers "free dryers" (fuck yeah!). Now, free dryers is relative. The owner basically looks at what washer you used and puts a certain number of quarters (there is a chart) in the dryer for the type of washer you used. It usually doesn't get the clothes all the way dry, but it helps and it's more than other places do. The place is pretty nice too. There are tables and chairs, those little laundry carts, folding tables, drink machine, food machine, 2 video games, and a bathroom. It's always awfully hot in there because of the dryers but in the winter it's not too bad.

Back to the Daddybeast. He did laundry last weekend and then came home and told me, "The next time you go with your mom to Sam's club, please get another big thing of All. We ran out and I had to use the cleaning vinegar to get some of the clothes clean. I know Bunnyworm is allergic to the stuff they sell there so I didn't get any of that." (Bunnyworm is allergic to Cheer brand laundry detergent). So yeah. The clothes were "clean" for a given value of clean. I discovered on Sunday just how clean the clothes were. There were 2 new pairs of blue jeans my mom had bought for me and they still reeked of the chemicals they process those things in. And I got a rash from wearing them and sweating in them at work all day. I did not have any issues with any of the other clothes (and the vinegar dissolved the deodorant stains on Daddybeast's work shirts).

I have seen a lot of recipes for laundry soap and some of them (the liquid ones in particular) looked like huge pains in the ass. I settled on this recipe from DIY Natural for my first attempt because 3 ingredients? I can do that.

Today I took my mom to Publix and since I was there I went ahead and got me some Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55oz ($3.19), 20 Mule Team Borax 76oz ($3.19), and a bar of Fells Naptha soap 5.5oz ($1.19). I already had a bar of White Zote Soap 14.1oz that I have had for years and I have no idea how much I paid for it (I bought a bunch years ago to wash my clothes in the bathtub--a NIGHTMARE).

So. I got my large cloth diaper washing bowl (I still wash those by hand most of the time) and my fine grater and I sat down and got to grating. And grating. And then? More grating. I probably will not be able to move either arm in the morning. That's a lot of grating. I've read of a method where you can zap the soap in the microwave and it makes it puffy then you can drop that mess in the blender. I've read that putting the bar in the freezer for a while makes it easier to grate. I didn't try either. I just sat there and grated the fells naptha bar first. The smell is strong, but the soap is pretty waxy so it comes off in chunky curly peels (make sure you use a fine grater--otherwise you might wind up with left over soap on your clothes--I've read of people complaining about this. If you don't have a fine grater, you can put one of the other dry ingredients and the soap in a blender and chop it finer to prevent chunky soap residue). It didn't give me or my asthma any trouble. I measured out my cup of Borax and my cup of Washing Soda and mixed it. It looked sad and alone. It wasn't much in the bottom of the large bowl.

I wish I'd just sat down and congratulated myself. I might not have strained my arms as much as I have. But I didn't leave well enough alone.

Oh no.

I grated the bar of Zote Soap.

It is NOT smooth and waxy. It is dry and powdery and if you breathe it, you will sneeze a lot. If you have asthma it might just give you an asthma attack. After two hits on my rescue inhaler, a shower, and snorting hot water in the shower to clear my sinuses (it hurt, but it worked) I was able to breathe again. So. Yeah. Wear a dust mask if your soap is dry. If in doubt, just wear a dust mask.

Also, there is a lot more zote soap in a bar than there is soap in a fells naptha bar. Almost 3 times as much. And the soap is harder so you get less scraped off with each pass. It took forever. Daddybeast would not get near the stuff. He walked into the room I was working in and said "holy crap that stuff smells strong" and walked out.

Wafflecat and The Diva and stupid Bjorn all walked up to see what I was doing (and maybe try to climb into the bowl). Wafflecat stopped dead about 3 feet from the bowl, squinted up his eyes, his ears went back, and he slunk away. The Diva sniffed the side of the bowl, sneezed, and walked away, foofy tail out and up *foof*. Stupid Bjorn tried to jump into the bowl (he is so stupid).

 Anyhow, I made the stuff. Thursday Daddybeast will go up to the coin laundry and we will see how this stuff works. He will probably go ahead and put vinegar in with the wash simply because that gets the deodorant smell out of the clothes (not to mention the cat pee smell out of anything Wafflecat decides to pee on. Damn cat pees on everything.)

So. Here is what I used to make my laundry detergent.

1 bar Fells Naptha Laundry Soap
1 bar White Zote Soap
4 cups Borax
4 cups Washing Soda

Grate the soap. Add the Borax and the Washing Soda, stir vigorously. You might want to blend or process the soap and a bit of the washing soda if you have large clumps of soap. It will make it very uniform. I didn't so I will have to make sure I stir the stuff before I use it.

Store this stuff in an airtight container. I used a 5 gallon bucket from Lowe's. It filled the bucket maybe 1/3 the way full so a 2 gallon bucket might work just as well. Another container that might work out is one of those party sized ice cream containers. In fact, next time we have one, I'm going to save it and wash it so we can store some of the detergent in it and we won't have to drag that 5 gallon bucket around.

As for using the detergent, from what I've read this stuff is really concentrated. 1 tbsp should be sufficient for most loads, with 2 or 3 tbsp for heavily soiled or very large loads. If you are concerned about using a dry detergent you can mix your tbsp or so with a warm glass of water to start it dissolving. If you are able to, let the washer start filling with water before you add your detergent and then add the clothes.

Adding vinegar to your wash would be done when you would normally add fabric softener. There is a place for the stuff in the washers at the laundromat but I usually just add it to the clothes before the start of the cycle (the washers lock after they start).

Anyhow, Thursday Daddybeast will be going to the coin laundry and testing out the detergent. I will hopefully follow up with a part 2 to discuss how well things go.