Anyone make their own detergent? - Page 2

[wendy1221]

I make handmade soap (you know, from oil and lye). So I've made a slightly lye heavy (very basic, basic cleans better for laundry. Borax and washing soda are bases) 100% coconut oil soap for washing clothes before and it does a good job. Unfortunately our water is too hard here so we can't use it. Oh well. Dr. Bronners soap is not real castile soap (castile soap actually means a nearly 100% olive oil soap. DB calling their soap castile is a big pet peeve of mine), but is actually very high in coconut oil, which is why it's so good at cleaning laundry. But that's also why people w/ very sensitive skin may have problems w/ it. High coconut oil soap tends to make people w/ sensitive skin itchy.

[willowsmom]

I make my own too...just using washing soda, baking soda, lavender oil, and tea tree oil.

Most of the time I just use Baking Soda and the oils. In fact...that's what I've been using all day.

[sarah_bella1050]

So, I've been looking up recipes and trying to get started on making my own laundry detergent. While looking for washing soda on the internet I came across this article http://www.cutofcloth.com/article_bakingsoda.asp . It pretty much says that baking soda is better than washing soda, and I'm wondering if I could make the switch in a recipe I found? The recipe uses Fels Naptha, washing soda, borax, and essential oil. Any help I could get on this would be greatly appreciated.

[ekblad9]

You can substitute the baking soda for washing soda. The detergent won't "gel" and will remain a liquid. Kind of watery but works all the same. HTH.