quick question on homemade laundry soap...

[sammysmammy]

I'm going to be making my first batch of laundry soap today.I have Doc Bronner's liquid lavender castile---could I use that in place of the flaked bar soap?If so,how much of the liquid castile would you say?i'm basing this from the recipe stickey'd here,by the way.If I should instead use bar soap,what kind do you recommend...I'm wanting this to be as "pure"as possible,yet effective!I have a bar of Fels Naptha...is that not a good idea or would it be suitable yet safe?(as far as the "pureness" factor)I've never used Fels Naptha.I usually wash ds's cloth diapers in Borax....but in searching these forums about the laundry soap I read where one mama said Borax is really hard on fabric.I'd never noticed it wearing down my dipes,but I don't want to be using something harsh,either.Any thoughts on Borax?
We have a large family and I don't have a lot of time to be pre-treating for stains and such---so I hope this recipe is going to work effectively!

Thanks mamas

[sammysmammy]

[alexisyael]

When I was making my own laundry soap, I used 1 cup of Dr B's liquid soap to 1 cup washing soda to just a little over a gallon of water. I have no idea if that's the "correct" proportion, but it worked for me...

(I did switch to buying Seventh Generation laundry detergent b/c my DH for some reason thought the handmade stuff made the clothes smell like vinegar. I have no idea why, since there was no vinegar involved...)

[Ruthla]

You can definitely use the fels naptha in the homemade laundry soap- in fact, the first recipe I ever saw for homemade laundry soap called for fels naptha and I had to go searching for it! It's supposed to be really great as a laundry soap- based on what I've read online, I've never put enough energy into laundry soaps to notice a difference.

The fels naptha has got to be more "pure" than typical commercial laundry detergents.

I'm sure the laundry recipe would work fine with either the fels naptha or the castille soap. What did you end up using?

[sammysmammy]

I ended up making the laundry soap last night..my DH found a bar castile soap yesterday so I flaked it and used it.I didn't end up using the Fels Naptha this time(should've checked my replies before i started the soap )So,I used the bar castile,washing soda,a bit of Borax,about 5 drops lavender EO.I haven't really gotten into it and stirred it up or anything,but when i got up and looked at it this morning it just looks so funky!I guess I expected more gel-ing to take place.We'll see how it works,though!Thanks for the input!