My homemade detergent is eating my clothes!

[Tizzy]

Help! The majority of our wardrobes is cotton and unfortunately my homemade detergent likes to eat cotton! We are getting holes in EVERYTHING. I had such wonderful luck with the first recipe I used, it was liquid with borax, washing soda and grated bar soap. I messed up one batch and after that I decided to try the powdered version. It's borax, baking soda, washing soda and grated bar soap.

I don't even use as much as the recipes suggest because I find our clothes get clean with less.

At this rate I'll have to go back to buying detergent because it's ruining everything. Help!

[Abraisme]

Just a thought.. Are you sure it's the detergent or could it be your dryer? I know my dryer is older and tends to snag stuff and put holes in it.. Maybe something is stuck inside your dryer and it's just a coincodence?

[Tizzy]

I hang dry just about everything so I don't think it's that. I also haven't found any moths or other critters that would be eating everything - plus everything is stored in different places throughout the house (towels vs. kids clothes vs. socks. vs. my clothes etc.).

[Shellie]

What are the proportions of each ingredient and where did you get the recipe? I'm thinking maybe too much borax...I was using it often to brighten whites and I got a little carried away and started noticing holes and fraying.

[amber913]

Originally Posted by Shellie

What are the proportions of each ingredient and where did you get the recipe? I'm thinking maybe too much borax...I was using it often to brighten whites and I got a little carried away and started noticing holes and fraying.

My mixture is 1/2 soap, 1/4 washing soda, 1/4 borax, and i use 1-2 T./load.