My previously posted recipe for homemade powdered laundry detergent calls for Fels Naptha soap along with borax. It works well but I have heard the following concerns from wonderful visitors.
- I just can’t find Fels Naptha soap
- I would prefer a recipe that does not use borax
Before I continue, I want to share with each of you some information I have learned about mixing Dr. Bronner’s liquid peppermint castile soap with vinegar. It can produce disastrous results if you are planning on making a liquid cleaning product that mixes these two ingredients. Learn more here.
Anyway, I searched the internet for an alternate recipe and found a great resource page here from tip nut. I took recipe #10 and adjusted the amount of washing soda and baking soda. It seems to work well but I prefer my fels naptha/borax/washing soda recipe. Here’s my non-borax/liquid castile soap recipe.
Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent w/o Borax
Ingredients:
1/4 cup liquid castile soap
1 1/2 cup baking soda
1 1/2 cup washing soda
1 cup white distilled vinegar
Directions:
Measure out 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap and pour into a large bowl. (Wash your measuring cup so it is clean when you measure out your vinegar.)
Next, measure out 1 1/2 cups each of baking soda and washing soda. Mix well with the liquid castile soap so that it is completely incorporated.
Slowly add your white vinegar to your bowl.
It will foam up so add a little at a time and stir.
Your mixture will slowly go from a goopy mess to a powdered detergent. I stirred and then let it sit for 5 minutes and then stirred again. I repeated this process 4 times.
This recipe ended up making 5 cups of detergent and I used approximately 1/3 cup for a regular load of laundry. I would you 1/2 for a larger load or heavily soiled load.
My laundry has come out clean using this detergent. It is just takes more time for all the ingredients to completely mix and dry out. I am an impatient person at times and so I prefer my original recipe since it takes much less time and cleans well.
I hope this recipe gives you some options when preparing your own laundry detergent!
4you
The Better Baker
I love this idea! Homemade is always best. Would love for you to stop by my blog and link this up…and any other favorite recipes….to Weekend Potluck. I’m a new co-host!!! Enjoy a great weekend. http://thebetterbaker.blogspot.com/2012/04/invitation-party-potluck-yall-come.html
BigPlansLittleVictories.com
Wow, this looks like a fun recipe to mix up… and I love the idea of a homemade detergent, especially with a new little one in the house and all the laundry we’re doing. Thanks for sharing!!
Divine Bird
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I have been trying to get that stupid stuff to turn to powder for TWO HOURS. Finally I Googled around a bit and found your blog…my shoulders hurt after all the stirring from before but now there is a weight that has been lifted from them. I am going off to fix my laundry soap right now. Thank you, thank you!!
Anonymous
this looks awesome I have been looking for something like this – Borax is a poison and I really didnt want to keep it in the house! Thankyou for sharing!
Anonymous
Just wanted to let you know that you are mixing acid and base together, so you are getting a product that is not going to do much!! (Reread your link above about mixing Dr. Bronner’s castile soap with vinegar!!)