Can you use laundry soap in hard water?

[strmis]

Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but...

Can you use soap in hard water? If not, is there a way to do it without irritating the skin? DD has horrible eczema and I want to see if its the detergent. I keep reading soap is much milder, but dont want to spring for a water softener until I know it works.

[velochic]

I make my own soap (body soap) that I then used to make my own laundry soap.  We have hard water and it was not effective for us.  The clothes did not get clean and after a few washes, they were not smelling fresh.  It didn't make a difference with dd's eczema, either, so not worth it.

My dd has severe eczema, as well.  It becomes more severe if its allowed to get out of control.  Making my own body soap (just lye, lard and water) has shown the biggest positive change in her eczema.  By far, the #1 culprit with her skin issues, though, is her diet.  We eat no or almost no processed food (I cook 95 - 99% from scratch, the only things I don't make are bread, crackers, and potato chips, but these are all-natural organic).  If something is processed, it's minimally processed and I make sure all of the ingredients are whole foods and no chemicals.  She doesn't eat fast food at all and never has.  None of us do.  Dd is in charge of her diet now (she's 10) and she knows what causes issues and what doesn't.  She gets to choose if she wants the special treats.  For example, in Feb. she had 3 school birthdays (including her own) and 3 family birthdays (including hers and dh's).  She chose whether or not to eat the store-bought cupcakes, etc.  She chose to indulge every time and now she is suffering for it.  Her legs look horrible and her sleep is disturbed from scratching all night.  I hate to use it, but right now the only relief is hydrocortizone cream.

So, for us, laundry soap did not make a difference and we are able to control her eczema in other ways without bothering to make our own laundry soap.  Diet and body soap have been the keys for my dd.  HTH!

[laohaire]

I have no eczema experience, but I make my own laundry soap (not detergent) and we have hard water. It works just as good as commercial detergent for us (which we proved recently because after a few years of using homemade soap, we ran out during a very busy time in my life and I had DH just go buy a jug of Tide, and it wasn't any better than my own stuff).

Its effectiveness may depend on HOW hard your water is, and also specifically what is in it. Personally I would think it would be worth it to try once, without needing to try the water softener. I don't think it's a huge investment. It takes me about 45 minutes to make a batch that lasts about 6 months; it would probably take a little less (30 minutes?) to make a 2 month batch just to give it a shot. If it doesn't work, it's just a few bucks and a half hour or so down the drain. If it does work, it might really help!