My previous article, Homemade Laundry Soap: The Real Scoop, extolled the virtues of making your own laundry soap. I still stand by that article, (and the recipe in it) but I’d like to give an update and an alternate method that I’ve discovered for making laundry soap.
Many people find the preparation method to make the liquid, or gel-like form of laundry soap too time consuming, and many also frequently forget to shake the bottle before each use. This led to a search for a homemade powdered version of laundry soap. I wondered: If I’m melting these ingredients together, doesn’t it stand to reason that I could use the same proportions in powdered form, just reducing the amount used for each load? Wouldn’t the washer provide the necessary liquid?
Yes, it stands to reason. My real question lay in whether or not the powder would dissolve in the miniscule amounts of water my he washer used.
Here’s the recipe I used:
1 cup of grated Fels Naptha Laundry Soap 1/2 cup Borax 1/2 cup Washing Soda
See my previous article for an explanation of each ingredient.
Grate the Fels Naptha with the finest grater plate you have. My rasp-sided grater left a pile of soap that resembled freshly grated parmesan cheese. The finer you can grate the soap, the easier it is to dissolve in your machine.
Measure out 1 cup of the Fels Naptha into a ziploc bag, along with 1/2 cup each of the Borax and Washing Soda. Squish and rotate the bag to mix all ingredients well.
To use, add 1-2 Tbsp. powder to each load of laundry. Depending on the soil level of your laundry as well as the mineral content of your water, you may need to adjust this amount up or down.
Over the last five months of using this new powdered method, I’ve detected no discernable difference in performance, and have had zero issue with my LG Steam Washer dissolving the powder. The biggest difference is that I am unable to successfully add any additional scent to the powder, though this has not deterred me.
For those seeking a faster and less labor-intensive way to make homemade laundry soap, this is worth a try.