READ THIS Before Making Homemade Laundry Soap.
Homemade laundry detergent is aaaalll over everywhere these days. Have you noticed how many tutorials on Pinterest there are for DIY laundry soap? It’s crazy. I mean, it makes sense why these homemade detergent recipes have become so popular—it’s dirt cheap! Laundry detergent costing $0.02 a load? And with simple, natural ingredients that have gotta be way safer than the store-bought laundry detergent! Ahhh. Sign me up, right?
Well, you might want to read this first before you head to the store to buy the ingredients for one of these homemade laundry detergent concoctions. And if you’re already using one, please take a few minutes to consider what I’m about to share with you.
Homemade Laundry Detergent: What’s in it?
Recipes for homemade laundry detergent usually consist of three things.
- Water softeners: Borax, washing soda, or baking soda (which actually doesn’t effectively soften hard water, but that’s what it’s intended for in some recipes). This generally makes up the bulk of the homemade laundry soap recipe.
- Soap: Fels Naptha is commonly recommended, as are castile soaps, homemade soaps, or even more mainstream soaps like Zote and Ivory. The soap is either grated up, or melted in the DIY laundry detergent recipe.
- Boosters: Sometimes laundry boosters like OxiClean or OxoBrite are recommended in homemade laundry soap recipes.
Two of the three of these categories are actually perfectly reasonable things to add to your laundry. In fact, many laundry detergents contain water softeners, to counteract hardness in the water and prevent minerals from depositing on fabrics, which prevents them from getting clean.
The biggest problem with homemade laundry detergent recipes, however, is the soap category.
Why you actually CAN’T make homemade laundry detergent
Let’s talk about the differences between detergents and soaps. Soap is made by mixing fats or oils with an alkali base, such as lye. The fat is saponified in a chemical reaction that takes place in this process. But it’s a simple one, that can be made in your own kitchen at home, if you chose to. (I totally am jealous of you if you make your own soap in your kitchen, btw. Crunchy goals.)
A detergent, however, is made with surfactants which are created with much more complex chemical reactions than soap, at very high temperatures and processes that you would never be able to replicate in your own home. We’re talking, converting hydrocarbons to alcohol, and then reacting the fatty alcohol with an ethylene oxide, and perhaps further reacting that with a sulfur-containing oxide. Oxi-what? Yeah. I don’t think any of us without a degree in chemistry and a lab are going to be able to DIY that.
There are synthetic detergent surfactants which are entirely artificial and not natural, and then there are plant-derived surfactants made from natural sources. Soap has surfactants, too, but they are oil-based and function very differently.
A surfactant, by the way, is an ingredient with a molecule structure that decreases water tension, and is partly hydrophilic (water-soluble) and lipophilic (fat-soluble), meaning it attaches itself to dirt, but also to the water used to clean, allowing the dirt to be washed away. Surfactants in detergents are formulated to trap soil and suspend it in the water, which allows it to rinse cleanly and carry the dirt away along with it. Soap does not do this, as it needs a lot more help in the rinsing-away department.
Why DIY laundry soap isn’t good for your clothes or machine
Soap works very well at cleaning non-porous, smooth surfaces without a bunch of crevices or texture, because it requires more mechanical action to be fully removed and rinsed away. That’s easy to do with a nonporous surface that you can scrub. The smooth surface of our skin is great for soap, but fabrics with all kinds of tiny little microscopic loops and holes and texture, are not effectively cleaned by soap. That is, unless you are scrubbing it off with a high degree of friction or agitation, such as with a washing board. Before washing machines came around, laundering with soap was okay, because it involved so much elbow grease and friction to remove all of the soap residue.
Modern washing machines, however, work differently than washboards. They simply do not agitate as harshly as washing with a washboard, which is a good thing since they are much gentler on your clothing. (And also a lot easier to use, thankfully). But washing machines are designed to work with detergents, not soaps—detergents are formulated to clean textured cloth and rinse cleanly without leaving any residue behind, even with a minimal amount of agitation or friction. Soap that doesn’t rinse clean and doesn’t get scrubbed away attaches itself to porous surfaces like the fabric of your clothes. Even when it’s just a small amount of soap, that residue builds up more and more over time.
When soap residue is stuck to your clothes, it traps bacteria, dirt, and other grossness inside, and it also makes mineral deposits in the water more easily attach themselves to the fabric, furthering the trapping of dirt and preventing the fabric from getting clean.
Soap residue also gets stuck to your washing machine, and can cause irreparable damage over time. Think of bathtub ring—built up soap scum around the tub, which just sits there until you scrub it off with a brush. Well, soap scum from homemade laundry soap gets into the parts of your washing machine that you can’t reach to scrub out even if you wanted to. That’s a big risk to take, considering your washing machine is a very costly investment, and could be completely ruined by homemade laundry soap.
Why homemade laundry detergent doesn’t work
Not only does DIY laundry soap contain the wrong type of cleaning agent (soaps instead of detergent-type surfactants) for laundering with a modern washing machine, it doesn’t contain nearly enough of the soap to actually get your laundry clean.
The whole, nasty-soap-scum-trapped-bacteria-in-all-your-laundry thing aside, the soap in homemade laundry detergent is the only actual cleaning agent in the recipe. Remember, the other main ingredients in the homemade detergent recipes are simply water softeners. They do not have any cleaning properties.
From what I have seen, the typical DIY laundry detergent recipe looks like this: 4-5 parts water softeners (borax, baking soda, or washing soda) to one part soap.
And then, the directions for using the homemade laundry soap are generally to only use 1-3 tablespoons of the mixture per load of laundry. But taking into consideration that only a small percentage of the homemade laundry soap is actual soap, it becomes a minuscule amount of actual cleaning agent that you’re using.
In fact, once it’s in the water in your machine (even a high-efficiency one that uses less water), you’re actually only using about one twelfth of ONE teaspoon of soap per gallon of water! You honestly may as well not be using any soap at that point. That simply is not enough cleaning agent to have any measurable effect.
If you were to use an amount that actually could feasibly clean your clothes, say, a cup of homemade laundry soap or more, well, then you would just be building up that soap residue on your clothes and machine super fast. You’d probably actually notice it, whereas when it’s such a tiny amount as you’d use with the recommendations from the homemade laundry detergent recipes, it can take a long time before you ever notice there’s a problem.
Proof that homemade laundry detergent isn’t working (even when you think it is)
I know there are some people reading this who are thinking, “Lady, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve used my homemade laundry soap for years and have never had a problem! It works great!” Well, I’ve got some things to share with you.
I’ve tried homemade laundry soap before. I thought it was great. It cost pennies to do a load of laundry! And hey, the clothes went in smelly and came out clean, so it worked!
But then I learned the truth about homemade laundry detergent when doing a ton of research on how to properly wash cloth diapers (more to come on that subject in the future). There’s a lot of misinformation out there, but the science about how things actually get clean is pretty clear, and homemade laundry soap just plain doesn’t make scientific sense.
So I knew not to use the homemade laundry soap on my new baby’s diapers, but I learned that I needed to switch to a real detergent to do the rest of my laundry with, too. I also learned that if you had ever washed cloth diapers or clothes with homemade laundry soap, there was a way to “strip” away the soap residue buildup—and all the dirt and bacteria embedded in the fabric—so you could salvage your gunked-up laundry and start fresh.
I stripped a load of sheets and towels that had been washed in my DIY laundry detergent, and the results absolutely horrified me.
Why does it seem like my homemade laundry soap works fine?
Before I continue, I want to explain why everyone thinks their DIY laundry detergent actually works, even though it really doesn’t.
There are three basic elements to getting something clean: water, surfactants, and agitation. If you use one of those elements, you can make something at least somewhat cleaner. Use more of them, and the cleaning effectiveness increases.
So even if you used no detergent or soap at all (which you basically ARE NOT when you use a couple tablespoons of homemade laundry detergent), your clothes are still going to be somewhat cleaned just by having been swished around in water and agitated by your washing machine. It might seem like it’s doing the job, but what you’re not seeing is the dirtiness that’s not getting cleaned by water and agitation alone, and is trapped in the fabric where you can’t see it.
What happens when you strip away the soap
So, after less than a year of using my homemade laundry soap, I “stripped” a load of laundry in my washing machine. This involves soaking the laundry in a highly concentrated mixture of mineral removing agents, which loosen the soapy grip of the grime on your laundry.
I stripped a load of CLEAN sheets and towels which had been previously washed in homemade laundry soap. I let it soak in the stripping solution for four hours.
Enter, Exhibit A.
See that disgusting, murky, brown water? That was what was pulled out of my CLEAN LAUNDRY. Yes, this load was “CLEAN,” or so I thought, before doing the strip. So all that nastiness? Was hidden in the fibers of my sheets and towels. YES. I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures of the actual sheets and towels, too. It was unreal. I had no idea how dingy and disgusting they were until doing this!
Don’t believe me? I’m not alone. Here is a whole collection of absolutely disgusting evidence that homemade laundry soap does not work. These are people who previously used homemade laundry detergent, then stripped their “clean” laundry, and took pictures of the strip water, just like I did above. If you want to be completely, totally repulsed, head over there to see the pictures.
There are also instructions on that site for how to “strip” your clothes so that all the nastiness your DIY laundry soap has built up in your clothes over the months or years can be thoroughly flushed away. You can either do a mixture of washing soda, borax, and Calgon water softener (not the most “chemical-free” thing out there, and you can instead add more of the washing soda and borax, but people report the best results from using all three), or use GroVia Mighty Bubbles, or RLR. Be sure to follow the instructions on the site carefully.
Once you strip, you can start fresh and wash your laundry with detergent that actually works, from here on out.
How to choose a good, safe detergent that works
Believe me, I feel bad even writing this post, because I have many blogging friends who have written tutorials and recipes for homemade laundry detergent, all in an effort to keep toxic ingredients out of homes and empower people to do things their own way. (Blog buddies, you guys are awesome and I really am sorry!)
I wish I didn’t have to totally denounce the idea of homemade laundry soap and tell you not to use it. But I hope you can see by now why I wrote this and am trying to pass along what I’ve learned. I wish you really could DIY a safe, effective laundry detergent.
My little crunchy hippy heart completely understands the appeal of using such a simple, “chemical-free” homemade laundry detergent, instead of the ones you buy in the stores with all kinds of scary-sounding ingredients.
But the reality is that sometimes, a little science and chemistry is a good thing. We simply cannot DIY the types of cleaning agents or detergents needed to effectively wash our laundry at home, and buying laundry detergent from a responsible company that makes an effort to create a safer, more natural product is a good thing. Cleaning your clothes and keeping your laundry hygienic while keeping your family safe is the goal, and you can do that without the typical synthetic laundry detergents.
What you want to look for is a plant-based detergent from a reputable company with a history of transparency and responsibility with regard to what they put in their products. Check the ingredient lists, and make sure they contain effective cleaning agents as a proper detergent should, while not containing things like fabric softeners (oy, that’s a story for another day), optical brighteners, or other ingredients you’re looking to avoid.
Here are a few popular plant-based detergents that are an effective replacement for your homemade laundry soap. They all have good reviews on Amazon and I made sure to check the ingredients for effective cleaning agents. Click on each of them to check them out:
[Note: Be aware that there are several “laundry powders” on the market which, as with homemade laundry detergent recipes, contain mostly water softeners and very little actual cleaning agents. I’m also seeing several “natural” laundry soaps popping up from small businesses selling on Amazon, and they are very similar to the homemade laundry soap recipes. And DO NOT use Charlie’s Soap. Please. I’ll tell my horror stories about this stuff another day, but read this article for the details of why this product should be taken off the market as it is not safe. Especially if you cloth diaper!]
Many eco-friendly or plant-based natural detergents often still contain synthetic fragrances, even if they say they are scented with essential oils. This is because a large portion of essential oils are adulterated with synthetics somewhere along the supply chain—so by the time the laundry detergent manufacturer gets them and adds them into the detergent ingredients, they might not even know that the “essential oil” they purchased is totally fake.
I can tell you that I have bought and used several plant-based detergents that contain “all natural” essential oils as fragrance, and I am a THOUSAND percent certain that they were riddled with synthetic chemical fragrance. That “lavender” that scented my clothes was anything but. I’ve been to a real lavender farm and oil distillery where my essential oils come from, and my nose now knows the difference between the real deal and the imposters.
And you should also be aware that just because a detergent is labeled plant-based, that doesn’t mean that it’s entirely naturally-derived. In fact, in order to be USDA “Biobased certified,” like the new “natural” Tide detergent, only a “significant part” of the product needs to be composed of biological or sustainable materials. The “plant-based” Tide detergent only contains 65% “bio-based” ingredients. Better than 0%, I suppose, but I find that type of labeling to be deceptive and a little scammy.
The nontoxic detergent I personally use in my home
After trying many, many different types of bio-based or plant-based detergents, I was so thrilled when this new detergent I got my hands on last year came onto the market. I had high hopes that since it was made by Young Living (where I get my essential oils and just about every other personal or home care product I use), it would be really good. And wow. It did NOT disappoint.
Thieves Laundry Soap is plant-based and is as pure and natural as a detergent is going to get—plus it contains the most powerful essential oils on the planet that not only make it smell amazing, but really help to get things clean. I mean, I use Thieves for cleaning literally everything in my house, and now they’ve made the best detergent I’ve ever tried out of the stuff.
This little compact bottle does 64 loads of laundry, instead of your typical 32. It’s 6x concentrated, so a little goes a long way. I love that it’s not so cumbersome like those giant jugs of detergent, and doesn’t take up a ton of space in your laundry room. And IT. WORKS. Stains come out, whites don’t get dingy, dirty little toddler clothes actually come out CLEAN. I can’t believe how well it works with only needing to use such a small amount. Like, it is bizarre.
Let me walk you through all the ingredients, which they clearly label on the bottle, by the way—I didn’t have to google a safety data sheet just to find it out.
I’ve also included each of these ingredients’ ratings on the EWG Skin Deep site—this is a database where thousands of products and also individual ingredients have been rated for their safety or toxicity. The ratings are on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the least toxic and 10 being the most toxic. A score of 1-2 is considered the lowest possible hazard and very safe. Every single one of these ingredients found in their database ranks in that very safe category.
- Water: Obviously some amount of water is necessary to make a liquid. 😉
- Decyl glucoside: A plant-derived nonionic surfactant (cleaning agent) that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
- Sodium oleate: Derived from olive oil, an ingredient that helps control suds/foaminess. Biodegradable and rated a 2 on EWG.
- Glycerin: Used to stabilize the natural cleaning enzymes. Rated a 2 on EWG.
- Caprylyl glucoside: Another plant-derived surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
- Lauryl glucoside: Another plant-derived surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
- Sodium chloride: That would be simple table salt. It affects the viscosity/thickness of the liquid.
- Sodium gluconate: A plant-derived anionic surfactant that biodegrades easily. Rated a 1 on EWG.
- Carboxymethyl cellulose: A plant-derived thickener and stabilizer. Rated a 1 on EWG.
- Alpha-amaylase, Protease, Lipase: These are all natural enzymes, which are very effective at breaking down organic particles that make up the stains and dirtiness on your clothes. Without enzymes, your clothes won’t be getting nearly as clean. These enzymes are 100% naturally-derived and are completely biodegradable.
- Citrus Limon† (Jade lemon) peel oil, Citrus aurantium bergamia† (Bergamot) peel oil (Furocoumarin-free), Syzygium aromaticum† (Clove) bud oil, Citrus limon† (Lemon) peel oil, Cinnamomum zeylanicum† (Cinnamon) bark oil, Eucalyptus radiata† oil, Rosmarinus officinalis† (Rosemary) leaf oil: All the beautiful, purer-than-pure Young Living essential oils that were carefully chosen for their cleansing and purifying properties. Also, they smell unbelievably DELICIOUS.
What it DOESN’T have:
- Optical brighteners: These are chemical ingredients that are added to most laundry detergents. They reflect light in a way that makes clothes appear brighter and whiter. It’s basically an optical illusion, that comes at a price. Optical brighteners can survive the waste water treatment plants and make their way into lakes and streams, polluting the water and causing harm to algae and fish, where they can bioaccumulate. Optical brighteners may also cause skin irritation and an allergic response in some people.
- Sodium laurel sulphate (SLS): You’ve probably heard of this ingredient before, as so many companies are now claiming their products are free of this potentially carcinogenic ingredient. In my research of ingredients in other supposedly “natural” laundry detergents, I found SLS in MANY of them—actually in ALL of the other plant-based brands I listed above. They claim that it is plant-derived and therefore safe, but the laws are so loose on what can be considered bio-based, that I don’t know if this is trustworthy or not. If you try to avoid SLS in your home, I’d highly recommend Thieves instead.
- Artificial fragrance: Duh. Of course the only fragrance in Thieves Laundry Soap is Thieves and other pure essential oils from Young Living. Synthetic fragrances can contain hundreds of chemicals with unknown toxicity and potential carcinogens.
- Water softeners: I noticed that the Thieves Laundry Soap doesn’t contain any mineral-based water softeners. So, if you have moderately-to-significantly hard water, you probably want to add a simple water softener like Borax to prevent mineral buildup. It’s cheap, effective, and totally natural.
Wait a minute, isn’t this soap, too?
I know it says laundry “soap,” not laundry detergent, but I think this was done in an effort to make the name more appealing and “natural”-sounding. It doesn’t mean that it’s made of soap in the way that a DIY homemade laundry soap is with grated up bar of soap in the recipe. I was concerned about this initially, but after thoroughly digging into it, I’m certain that you are not in danger of scumming up your machine or of soap residue building up on your clothes, like you would with homemade laundry soap, when using Thieves Laundry Soap. In fact, one of the ingredients, sodium gluconate, is a chelating agent that is actually designed to remove soap scum!
The FDA’s regulations say that a product can be labeled “soap,” even when it is not by definition soap—which is “the ‘alkali salts of fatty acids,’ that is, the material you get when you combine fats or oils with an alkali, such as lye.” The formulation of the Thieves Laundry soap does not meet this definition, but they are still allowed to use the common term of “soap” on the label, instead of detergent, as a matter of choice. I thoroughly researched each of the ingredients and found that the surfactants used in Thieves laundry soap are highly effective, washing-machine-and-fabric-friendly surfactants that are unlike those used in typical fat-based soaps.
I was also able to find all of those surfactants on other “green” laundry detergent’s ingredients lists—and those products were labeled “detergents” and not “soap.” But, who knows how or where they sourced their plant-based surfactants. Some plant-based cleaning agents are sourced from GMO corn—and I know Young Living would never in a million years allow something like that into their products!
Where to get Thieves Laundry Soap
You of course don’t have to use the Thieves soap, as there are other plant-based detergents out there (like the ones I suggested earlier) which may not be 100% natural but are still a million times better than homemade laundry soap. But after trying so many others, I have found Thieves to be our favorite choice.
To get your hands on the Thieves Laundry Soap, you need to either purchase as a retail customer with Young Living, or you can choose to sign up as a wholesale member in which you’ll get a 24% discount on whatever you buy.
You get to enroll as a wholesale member by choosing an essential oils starter kit—I always recommend the Premium Starter Kit since it comes with 11 bottles of the most popular essential oils, a diffuser (you get to choose which one you want), samples and other goodies as well as learning literature. It’s got everything you need to start using and loving essential oils right away, plus gives you 24% discount on any other Young Living products you want to try, including the Thieves laundry soap.
Click here to learn more about what you get with the Premium Starter Kit, and if you’re ready to just dive right in, head to the ordering page at Young Living HERE.
By the way, when you sign up as a Young Living wholesale member with me, you get personalized support from me and my team, exclusive access to our private Facebook groups with tons of free resources and education, classes and live workshops, a bunch of giveaways and freebies only for our team, and a whole lot of fun. I can’t wait to have you join us!
Well, I hope no one gets too mad at me for exposing the bummer that is homemade laundry detergent not being the best idea. But I’m sure they will. Cue the angry comments. ? (And if you actually appreciated the information I shared here, please let me know, too! You’ll make my day.)
Happy non-scummy laundering. 🙂
Emily
I’d love to hear how you stripped your clothes and cloth diapers. I have struggled to get my cloth diapers really truly stripped and would love to be able to use them for baby #2!!
And thanks so much for sharing all this info! We are YL users too and I think I need to look into the Thieve’s Laundry Soap!!
Hi! I edited the post for a bit more info on the stripping—but check out the site I linked to for the instructions. Actually, for diapers, you want to go to a different site (has the same info for stripping, but more info on diapers—the two sites are somewhat affiliated with each other). http://www.fluffloveuniversity.com/
I grew up on home made laundry soap the kind we would make with lard and lye. Mom was allergic to everything… we had a 1950’s washer you know the kind with the wringer that when you put socks in between the rollers sometimes your fingers got caught and you got lifted off the step stool you were standing on. We only used our home made soap, we always rinsed in warm or hot water, and the grey water (very grey water) went out the window not into the pipes. Because if you put it down the sewer it will clog your pipes. When the machine eventually died of old age. Mom got a regular machine and we had to use detergent, and ended up having to add 2 rinse cycles for my moms clothing so she didn’t break out. Our clothing was clean but I suspect the old style wringer washers agitated the clothing much more, we did have a wash board for the bad socks and collars. It took forever to do laundry but it also was a fun time to just talk to my mom or sister or brother who ever was on “keep my fingers out of the wringer” duty for the day.
Sounds a bit like a ploy get people buying a particular laundry detergent…..
Yep, that’s me—just a big ol’ scammer out to con people into buying the laundry detergent I like. 😉 If only I could be like all the other bloggers out there who NEVER make recommendations for products to their readers!
Dearest Emily,
THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you so much for this article. I am a crunchy DIY mama whose shamefully went back to chemical laundry products after multiple attempts of making my own and buying other “chemical free” alternatives. I thought I was going to have to turn in my Crunchy Mama card. I mean what health conscious, chemical free mom doesn’t brag about the effectiveness and frugality of homemade laundry soap at some point, right? I would wash my clothes and after a few washes would notice dinginess, stinkiness, and dirt. My hubby and kids are hardworking sweaty people (we live in Texas) so desperate times call for desperate measures. I even tried soap nuts to no avail. After much soul searching I decided to restore peace in my home and went back to the commercial stuff. I tried the Thieves detergent and was impressed, but after “being burned” by the natural stuff for so long, I didn’t reorder because I thought, like all the rest, it would “quit working” too. After reading this article, I now understand that it was the soap buildup I was fighting. So I will start the process of stripping my clothes and celebrating the fact that I am no longer a crunchy mama failure. I can still have effective chemical free laundry soap THAT WORKS!!!
No longer hanging my head in shame,
April
Oh, April! It’s not you, it’s the DIY laundry soap! ?
Goodness, the things we torture ourselves with in the name of crunchiness! Totally been there, in many other ways! Haha!
Now I’m excited for you to get super grossed out by all the stuff that was stuck to your clothes, and to have gloriously crunchy-friendly detergent in your laundry room once more. 😀 You are so awesome, friend. <3
I’m curious about how effective soap nuts are? After reading this I’m afraid it’s the same soap issue and not rinsing the gunk out of our clothing?
Yes, unfortunately you are right! Soap nuts are what they say they are—soap. Totally natural soap, which is kind of cool that it can just be formed in a plant, but yes, not the best choice for laundry. 🙁
Actually, soap nuts are a natural surfactant, not a soap. And you can still add a drop of EO for a fresh scent.
I don’t think you’re quite understanding what I mean. Soap nuts contain natural surfactants, yes. The same ones found in natural soaps. It’s still going to cause the same issues as using soap to wash your laundry with—soap buildup, trapped soil and bacteria, and other problems mentioned in the post, when used in a washing machine.
What about the salt and vinegar technique does it wors?
I’m not sure I know of the “technique” you’re referring to, but using vinegar in the wash isn’t a good idea. Another crunchy cleaning myth that I discovered when researching this! 🙁
Vinegar has the potential to damage the rubber seals in your washing machine. It also alters the pH of the water, and detergents are formulated to work at a specific pH, so adding vinegar can reduce their effectiveness. It can also be harsh on your clothing and cause more wear and tear. Vinegar is so great for so many things, but I leave it out of my laundry room now!
I have used homemade for about 10 yrs…but also use white vinegar in place of bleach..and in fact, every load. On the surface everything looks and smells clean except bath towels I occasionally need to bleach…but generally Purification in with detg and lemongrass in with vinigar helps tremendously.I guess my question is wouldn’t the vinigar counteract the soap scum?
Unfortunately, no, vinegar won’t be enough to prevent soap from depositing onto your clothes and machine and causing buildup and other potential problems.
Vinegar itself has the potential to damage your washing machine by eating away at the rubber seals, so I keep it out of my laundry for that reason, alone. But it also changes the pH of the water, which can reduce the effectiveness of detergent, since they are formulated to work at a specific pH.
Love using Purification in my laundry too! Although since switching to Thieves, I rarely add it to the wash since I don’t think it needs it. I like adding it to dryer balls though!
I make a home made fabric softner using white vinegar and YLEO’s. Reading what you’ve said about the.vinegar having a potential to ruin the seals in my washing machine scares me! I love my fabric softener.
Yeah, when I learned about the potential for damage from the vinegar, it bummed me out! I used to do the same thing, with the white vinegar and added oils. But, I have found that using wool dryer balls gives me all the “softening” I need, plus it helps with static. I also make sure to pull out polyester items before they get over-dried, because that seems to cause the most static.
How about Ecos laundry detergent? What do you think of it?
Ecos is a fine plant-based choice, but it contains an ingredient (sodium cocoate) that does build up on fabrics which causes repelling. Totally fine to use on clothing, but not a good choice for cloth diapers which need to remain absorbent. Just wanted to point that out for the cloth diaper people reading! I also wouldn’t want that kind of build up on my towels, personally.
Well, I thought the beginning of your article was very interesting, but then you went into an ad for YL, which now makes your entire article suspect. You also did not address the concept of Soap Nuts, which is what many people make their laundry detergent with.
This is a personal blog, and my readers want my personal opinion. I shared what I personally use and why. I also suggested four other detergents as options other than the one I recommend.
I don’t recommend soap nuts, either. Thanks for bringing this up—I’ll write up my reasoning and edit the post to add it.
What is your opinion of the company Molly Suds?
That unfortunately does not contain ANY surfactants whatsoever. The ingredients are sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, magnesium sulfate (heptahydrate), unrefined sea salt, and peppermint essential oil. I really don’t understand how they think this is going to clean things!
So, you wouldn’t be in any danger of soap scum build up, but you also definitely wouldn’t be cleaning your laundry. And would be wasting your money on really expensive baking soda and other minerals. :-/
I was just about to ask about Molly’s. I just looked back over their ingredients and was wondering, where’s the cleaner? I should do better researching!! I was just excited that they got an A on EWG!!
Oh wow! Well sure, EWG—it’s not toxic, but that doesn’t mean it actually works! They’re not exactly in the cleaning science biz, though, huh?
Have you used Thieves laundry soap on your diapers? That’s the sole reason I haven’t tried it yet. I have been through the horrors of stuff messing with my diapers when I tried something new and I don’t ever want to go there again. LOL.
I do not use the Thieves on my diapers because I have a very tricky water situation. The hardness in my water supply changes as frequently as week to week. So, I would need to test my water hardness and adjust the amount of water softeners I add, before each and every load of dipes. Eek.
Because of this, I actually have to use a synthetic detergent on my diapers which doesn’t require extra water softeners. I use the Kirkland brand from Costco. Bums me out, but, making sure my diapers are properly cleaned is the biggest priority! I use Thieves for everything else.
Hi Emily! I am encouraged to hear the science behind all of this! This has been my experience with homemade laundry detergent and my son’s cloth diapers. I had to strip them and we now use Seventh Generation Laundry detergent without a problem!
I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing some of the sources where you found your info? I am a research-aholic and health nerd, too and would love to look a little deeper into this 🙂
Hi Bethany! So glad you were able to figure out a solution for your diapers! It’s frustrating to me how much misinformation is out there about this. Babies’ bums are at stake, after all!
I love that you want to look into the science stuff more. 🙂 I really should have done a better job jotting down the sites that I read and learned from, but a couple good ones to look through if you’re interested in learning more are this one: http://www.cleaninginstitute.org/clean_living/soaps__detergents.aspx which delves into cleaning science and chemistry quite well, and also the site I linked to that has the gross pictures of strip water and the stripping instructions: http://www.fortheloveofclean.com/ That site (and corresponding facebook group, as well as the Fluff Love site/group), was developed by a group of really awesome independent researchers, many with backgrounds in the scientific field. I’ve learned so much from them. They’re not exactly the crunchiest bunch, but they do accommodate those of us who want more natural options, too.
So this whole article is a bait & switch?
It’s like you want to instill fear and disgust over soap (really?)… But wait, the author isn’t here just here to be helpful….she’s here (and even apologizes for it to her friend/competitors) to profit from solving the problem SHE presented you. Yes, here’s a solution that you can buy from HER….?
Author…Did you REALLY just make a gratuitous grab in this blog? Wow…
LOL. Wow. Yes, because I shared what I personally recommend (along with several other brand suggestions), everything else I said is a LIEEEE!
Please put down your pitchfork and understand that this is a personal blog, readers want my personal opinion, so I gave it, along with all the information I spent hours researching to put together for you, for free.
Nasty woman just read the information and move on if you don’t believe it
If you just change soap do you need to strip the other clothes. This all makes sense to me because my husband would always complain of his clothes stinking when he would start to sweat and his whites never stay white. I thought making homemade soap was good it sure helped with the budget
What about soap nuts??
You don’t have to strip your clothes if you don’t want to, and just switching detergents will at least prevent any further build up or damage to your machine, but I’m not sure that it would fully clear away all the gunk stuck to your fabrics. If you have a top loading washer, stripping isn’t that much of a pain, but if you have to do it in a bathtub, then it kind of is!
I’ll have to edit the post and add in some info about soap nuts, but the gist is, they are what they say they are—soap. That will lead to the same problems as the soap in homemade stuff. 🙁
regarding the homemade laundry soap. What can you use it for just to use it up (not laundry.)
Ooh, that is a great question! I am the same way and HATE to waste anything. After my horrible experience with the Charlie’s Soap, I still couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. But I discovered it actually makes a great toilet cleaner! Lol! So I used it for that.
But the DIY laundry soap…gosh. If there were a way to separate out the soap from the water softeners, you could definitely make use of the water softeners! But I’m not sure you could fully filter out the soap particles.
I’m kind of stumped on this, but there are a lot of really smart people who read this blog and I bet someone will come up with a solution for what to do with it!
Just curious, my DIY laundry soap is made of borax and washing soda, as well as Fels; which if I read correctly, you do not recommend. If the stripping method uses 2 of those ingredients, why wouldn’t they serve the same purpose in the detergent? Seeking clarification so I can make an educated decision. Thanks!
Such a great question! I wondered the exact same thing when I was looking into this.
The reason why the borax and washing soda don’t do enough to counteract the soap when using it as a homemade detergent is because of the concentration in the water. It’s not strong enough to have the stripping effect. If you strip a full load, filling the machine or tub up fully, you need over an entire cup of the water softeners, but when using the homemade soap mix, you’re only using a couple tablespoons. And when you keep adding soap to every load, even with the water softeners, it continues to build up slowly over time and cause problems.
And yep, Fels is a soap that won’t work effectively to wash laundry. I’d guess that it would fine to use as a stain treatment by just rubbing over a spot here and there (and following up with a real detergent), but not as the cleaning agent for every load of laundry. Hope that helps!
Why is Fels called a laundry soap then. You have seriously crushed my world and I’m in denial that my magical soap is harming and not helping.
Oh nooo! I hate being a magical-world-crusher! ? Haha. I really am sorry. I felt the same way when I learned about this!!
Fels is intended to be used with laundry, but more as a stain remover. You can definitely rub a little on a spot, wash with a real detergent, and should have no troubles.
I have a question the striping method calls for washing soda and borax, but that is what is in the DIY laundry soap that you are saying does not work to clean clothes?
Great question but someone beat you to it! 🙂 See my answer to the comment by Gretchen.
I just saw the post above that answered my question, Thanks.
I haven’t made/ don’t use homemade laundry soap… and what you’re saying does make sense. But I am curious about one thing:
When you did the first “strip” of your CLEAN sheets that resulted in the horrifying murky water, was that also the first time you had put the stripping solution in your washing machine?
If so, could it be possible that at least part of the murkiness was from the residual soap and dirt from the machine itself and not necessarily allll coming out of a load of otherwise clean sheets?
Really insightful observation! I think it’s possible that some of the murkiness was lifted from the machine itself, however, if you click the link to the gallery of other people’s strip photos, you’ll see that many of them are done in a bathtub, which doesn’t have all those hidden places that you can’t clean. I’m sure the tubs were clean before they did the strip.
Also, before and after pictures of laundry stripping often show a really noticeable difference in the clothes/laundry itself. I WISH I would have thought to take before and after shots of what I stripped!
Oh, and yes, that was the first time in that machine, but I stripped other loads, and saw the exact same murkiness come out.
This is all very interesting, but like Terri (who commented below), I would be interested to know what would happen if you stripped laundry that had been “properly” washed with detergent. I understand it’s your personal blog and I’m not saying you shouldn’t put in the sales pitch, but it does add some skepticism. I would be more persuaded if the same test for cleanliness (stripping) was done on both diy laundered clothes and thieves laundered clothes.
You’re free to experiment with that yourself, I suppose! I didn’t come up with the stripping idea, and if you check out the site I linked to, you can see a lot more information about why it works, why clothes can develop buildup (washing with untreated hard water, even with a proper detergent, can produce similar results), and many other photos of other people’s experiences.
The information I presented is basic cleaning science and chemistry. You can look into it further and you’ll find the same information and facts from sources other than myself.
Agree. In a test where you are switching from one product to another, both should be tested. It would save you some grief from spectators if you could SHOW how thieves works.
My main point in writing this is to explain why using grated up bars of soap and water softeners as a DIY laundry detergent doesn’t make scientific sense. It really wasn’t intended to be an in-depth scientific experiment on the effectiveness of different detergent choices. I just really am not that passionate about detergent to devote the time and energy needed to do that! ?
And it also wasn’t my intention to try to prove that Thieves is absolutely superior to all other plant-based detergents. It’s just what I happen to like, and with the current special going on right now where you can try it for free, I wanted to give a bit more info on it and my own opinions from using it.
Someone just recently tried to tell me I should make my own detergent. I wasn’t planning to do it, but I do find your article interesting!
Showing the dirty water after stripping is very powerful evidence. BUT, I would like to see what the water looks like if you stripped something that has always been washed with detergent. Something tells me that the stripping is going to get dirt out of anything.
Maybe I’ll have a fit of ambition one day and I’ll strip some of my sheets, lol. If I do I’ll share the pictures.
How about Boulder detergent from costco? I have been using that and happy with it. I also use YL and havent used the detergent yet. I would add it to my ER, but the boulder is so much cheaper.
I haven’t tried that one, personally, but after a quick look, it’s plant-based and sounds fine!
A reader sent this to me to ask for my opinion. I was reading the article, and understanding most of your points (although I don’t agree that Borax and washing soda are just water softeners), but then I realized why you actually wrote this towards the end…to sell a Young Living product. I don’t normally comment on stuff like this, but I think this is really poorly done–a bait and hook article to convince others to purchase a product so it can sell better you and make a commission.
Good grief. Yeah, that was the entire point, to bait-and-switch-ya, and sell you on a product. I didn’t intend to actually educate anyone on this issue at all—all I’m out for is your money.
Come on.
I suggested several other detergent brands, which are all perfectly fine to use. It’s a matter of personal opinion and choice. This being a personal blog, my readers want my personal recommendation for what I have found to work the best for me. That’s kind of how this whole blogging thing works.
Emily I’m glad you are very thick skinned with people who always think they are being taken advantage of ,either buy it or not,I’m a young living member and very cautious about where I spend my money and I just love young living products.You have to use the product to really appreciate and to just love using them
Agreed. If you push a product, show it’s performance. Then, even if there were those who disagreed with your sales pitch, they couldn’t argue with the results. They would speak for themselves.
Like Kristin, I also had readers sending me this article for my opinion. I appreciate the honesty about who you are as an author, which is different from me, so I took that into account while reading. I think the main issue (at least for me and it seems others as well) is that at the beginning of the post, the argument is that borax, washing soda, and soap cannot clean your clothes. However, further down, the ingredients to strip the laundry of grossness are… borax, washing soda, and Calgon. After reading the comments and responses, I see that a larger concentration of each is required for the stripping. But I think the dramatic build-up of fear and disgust of homemade laundry soap turned into a major letdown when readers were instructed to use the same ingredients to…clean their laundry. Personally, I thought to myself, “OK, so I’ll just soak my clothes in higher concentration once in awhile with the same ingredients and still save hella money.” I enjoyed the detailed information and explanations of the ingredients (science, research, and whatnot), but jumping from homemade laundry soap to a 32 oz bottle of detergent for $37 threw me for a loop. But like I said, I am viewing this from a completely different point of view, so this information isn’t necessarily geared towards me or my life.
This comment is for the people who felt Emily’s post was a little too sales-pitchy: I, too, used to just be a blog follower, but for the past 18 mos I have worked as a virtual assistant for a blogger. Before starting this job, I had NO idea what went into running a blog. It is by no means just someone throwing out a few bits of knowledge trying to make a buck off of you. It is actually quite astonishing what goes into writing a blog post…especially one like Emily’s that is well written and researched. It can be quite time consuming!
Then on top of that, you have maintenance issues on the blog itself, things to maintain, error pages to correct and things breaking down that only a computer specialist can fix at $150 an hour. For some bloggers, running their blog is barely a break even deal because of the time they spend on researching blog posts, paying people to fix things, etc. Learning all this as someone who now works behind the scenes, it has shed a whole new understanding on why I see my favorite bloggers suggesting products. It helps them pay their bills. I’ve been on enough blogs the past few years to know that pisses people off because apparently they believe bloggers should work for free, but I can’t think of any job where someone should have to spend all their own time and money to provide information and not get compensated for it.
If you don’t want to buy YL products then that is your choice, but don’t begrudge Emily the opportunity to make some extra cash so she can keep her blog running, continue to inform you, and provide for her family.
Great post, Emily! Very informative! 🙂
I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate this. Thank you SO much, Susan! Something’s gotta pay the bills. 😉
Emily, I totally agree! Plus, she is recommending what she herself uses, what ALL of us do ALL the time.
I’m not a big blogger at all and just came across this article posted in a YL Facebook group. I’ve been doing homemade laundry soap for years using fels naptha, borax and washing soda. Thanks for the info not only on why we use what we use, but for giving options. I think we should support products we find beneficial to our family and health, even if there is criticizism. You put a lot of effort and research into helping people, it’s appreciated!
Great Susan just loved your protection of others
How does thieves do with cloth diapers!? That would be what’s most needed to be natural for us…the detergant we use on the diapers!
I have heard of people using it with success, however, you’ll find that people in the Fluff Love group will tell you not to use it because “it’s soap” (it isn’t, as I clarified in the post). I highly recommend the information on their site but I do feel they missed the mark with this. I’m fairly certain it would work just fine for diapers—however, you should use at least 1.5 times the normal amount for any plant-based detergent, wash on hot, and add water softeners, when using for cloth diapering.
I do not personally use it for my diapers as I explained in another comment—we have a difficult situation with our water hardness, so I have to use a synthetic detergent to wash diapers.
I have been using it on our cloth diapers for months now (we have very hard water) and haven’t had any issues. Like Emily said, the fluff diaper people will say no because it’s a “soap” but I don’t think they’ve really looked at the ingredients. I do still use calgon in the second wash cycle because of our hard water but I haven’t noticed any build up or smell. We have GroVias, some pocket diapers, and G-diapers
Thank you for this wonderful and informative information!! I love that you gave several options of good detergents/soaps but I completely agree with the YL one being amazing! It’s so nice to read all of the research you’ve done on the ingredients and I feel even more confident in using it in household. I’m sorry that some people are being so negative to you about this but like you said, it’s a personal blog and you wrote about a product YOU like. Thanks again 🙂
wow, makes me want to go strip some of my clothes and see. I appreciate all the HARD work, time and energy you took to write this blog post! To all the people making negative comments: Emily mentioned other products that she recommends and her favorite that she personally uses. How horrifying! I cant believe she would recommend a few good products for you to try. Now I am jaded. Every time a friend recommends a place to eat, a movie to watch, car to drive, clothes to wear or anything else I am going to think they are out for my money because they must be getting PAID big bucks to tell me these things! UGH Thanks alot you guys!
? Haha!! Oh goodness, you’re awesome. Thanks so much, Ruth!
I am a YOUNG LIVING OILS advocate also as they have changed my and my family’s lifestyle. I use all their products and am removing chemicals & toxins from my home – yay! I did tried the detergent but I didn’t find it cleaned that well. Perhaps you could suggest something I could add. My husband told me to go back to chemicals!
My guess that your water hardness is to blame. You may need to add a water softener (borax is a good choice) for any plant-based detergent to be effective in even moderately hard water. That would be my suggestion, hope it works for you!
Where are the diapers that you stripped that were washed in detergent? How do we know that the water won’t look the same or worse?
I’m not quite sure I understand what you’re asking. I stripped my diapers after washing them in Charlie’s Soap. The load that I showed in the pictures isn’t diapers, it’s sheets and towels that were washed in homemade laundry soap.
Sorry, but your third ingredient, sodium oleate, is saponified olive oil, aka soap.
That doesn’t mean that the entire product is a soap. Yes, it’s a saponified acid, used as an emulsifier and foam control agent. In the context of this formula, it does not function as a soap. You can find sodium oleate in many other detergents, labeled as detergents.
What’s your opinion on Oasis detergent?
Not familiar with this one, sorry!
So couldn’t you just add those “stripping” agents to the DIY soap to get the same effect??? I see that washing soda is one of the stripping agents you listed. That is often in DIY soaps as well.
This is a good question but has already been asked a couple times. See my answer above. 🙂
If washing soda and borax are so good at stripping the built up dirt, why not just use them as your “detergent”….. without the other soap? I used to make the homemade stuff with washing soda, borax and fels but got lazy and cut out the fels and then just started using plain borax, (occasionally adding in washing soda for a softener) which I found worked much better anyway. It seems the real problem is the bar of soap.
You need surfactants to clean. All the washing soda and borax are doing in the strip solution is loosening the grip of the minerals which are stuck to the soap residue and all the other grime. They remove minerals, that’s all.
You’re definitely right that the biggest problem with these homemade detergent recipes is the bar of soap—but just washing your clothes in water softeners isn’t going to do enough to keep them sufficiently clean. And depending on how little you’re using, the amount of water softeners in the load may not even be enough to do the job of keeping mineral deposits away from your clothes. Mineral deposits alone will trap bacteria and soil as well.
I am washing my diapers as we travel from lots of different water sources and I don’t have the resources to test the water every new place. Do you have a recommendation for a plant based detergent I could use? I have used the Kirkland free and clear before but right now I have ecos ( and it defiantly doesn’t seem to work very well)
I definitely recommend looking in this index: http://www.fluffloveuniversity.com/how-to-wash-cloth-diapers/detergent-index/ It’s such a great resource! Without knowing your water hardness though from the traveling, you might be better off going with a synthetic detergent for your dipes. That’s what I had to do because of our water hardness changing from week to week.
I’m curious as to what you think about Pink Solution (you can google for ingredients). I’ve been using it for a lot of my clothes washing lately and it works well for everything except whites. I still use regular laundry detergent on whites. My daughter gets hives from a lot of detergent and any fragrance gives me headaches so natural is important to me.
Are these the ingredients?
“Coconut Oil, Sodium Alginate (seaweed), Sodium Carbonate (washing soda), Sodium Silicate and Sodium Tallowate (natural soap compound).”
This is not a detergent. I don’t think washing clothes in primarily coconut oil and gums (the seaweed ingredient, which is more of a thickening agent than anything else), with some soap and washing soda thrown in, sounds like the best way to go, unfortunately. I hope you find something that works for you!
What are your thoughts on soap nuts?
Soap nuts contain soap, which will lead to the same problems, unfortunately.
I would believe you if you post a picture of stripping your laundry after using your recommended detergent for a year to show there is actually a difference in the residue left behind.
Haha, yeah… I don’t have time for that, sorry. I’m really not that desperate to convince you about all of this.
I went to the site to see how exactly to strip my clothes. It suggests a do-it-yourself home recipe using none other than Borax & Washing Soda. It also mentions Calgon but says if you do not have all 3 ingredients you can just use more if the 2 or even 1 that you do have. So, how is it the Washing Soda & Borax can strip soap alone but not when added to the Felsnaptha in the wash? In your article you make the case that Borax & Washing soda are merely water softeners, not detergents. So, again, I’m confused how they can strip bacteria, etc when used alone but not in my home made laundry soap. I am not being sarcastic. I sincerely want to understand. Thank you!
I’ve been over this in the comments a couple of times. The difference is the concentration and the amount used. The water softeners in a DIY mix would also not prevent the soap particles from depositing onto clothes in the first place.
Do you know about Shaklee Laundry Detergent?
I haven’t looked into that, but if it’s just a normal plant-based detergent, then it will be much better than using a homemade laundry soap.
Wow.. my mind is a little on overload right now from all the info and all the comments I just read! (Well to be honest I skimmed the last few!) I have been using homemade laundry soap for a little over 2 years. My bridesmaid made it as a wedding present when I got married. Using the tablespoon recommendation the amount she made lasted me almost an entire year! Then my husband and I made a little bit in a hurry which lasted a while. And then we made another batch that was larger that lasted from January 2016 until a little bit ago. I can’t even begin to describe how much money we have saved not buying laundry soap! I was in love with that aspect! However , after a few months of using it I realized my clothes always seemed dull and smelled weird. It wasn’t necessarily a bad/dirty smell, just weird. Except the towels, those did start to smell bad…anyway, I recently had a baby at the beginning of June. As a gift my mom signed up for the Honest company’s monthly bundle deal and always gets their laundry soap for us. I was originally just using it on my son’s clothes. But when my homemade soap ran out and I haven’t had the time to make more, I’ve just been using the Honest company’s laundry soap. So far I’ve like it a lot, the clothes seem cleaner then before, not as dull. However there is no scent, so they still have that lingering weird smell, probably a residual smell from the 2 years of homemade soap! I am a Young Living Oil lover myself, but haven’t tried the detergent. Budget is tight now that I am no longer working and am a stay at home mom. With being a single income house I haven’t been Ordering as many YL products as I’d like to! Cherishing every drop of oils in my stash right now! I say all this to say that I am heartbroken that my penny conscious soap is no longer going to cut it, but thankful that now I know it’s not really what I thought it was! Honest Company is supposed to be an all natural company, I’ll have to look into the laundry soap! (And a few drops of essential oils always works for a scent booster with this soap!) But I probably need to strip my laundry…not looking forward to what I’ll find. Thanks for the info! Even with the sales pitch 😉 lol, just kidding 🙂
Nooooooo!!! I use Charlie’s soap and have about six months worth stored up. I can’t wait to hear your horror story. I haven’t noticed any problems with it, though maybe it is causing my sons eczema?!?! Ah! Now what?
Oh no… please read the article I linked to about it. It’s really, really bad news. 🙁
Okay, so I contacted Charlie’s Soap and they emailed me back the very same day. They sent me their data sheet and according to them, C12-15 Pareth-2 is an acid buffer and the Ph of their product is 9.5-10.5, not the 10.5-11 stated in the article. I tested a load of my own laundry with a Ph strip and it tested at 9. I don’t know what your experience was, but it seems that as long as Charlie’s is rinsing clean there shouldn’t be any problem. I have used it for over two years and never had a problem. I have stripped my son’s clothes and the water was clear as could be. However, I do plan to go ahead and try another detergent and see if his skin does improve because perhaps there is residual detergent irritating him, but I figure I won’t know unless I try. I purchased a bottle of the Seventh Generation detergent you suggested and its Ph tested at 7 with a strip, so I will try it for a while and see if it makes a difference.
If I switch to something besides Charlie’s, would I need to strip our clothes first?
Because of your little’s eczema, yes, I absolutely would if I were you. At least his clothes. So sorry!
Part of this logic is faulty. I’ve read many times that soap AND detergent both leave buildup on clothes. If detergent is superior and does all that you say- why couldn’t you just use it to “strip” the things you’ve previously washed in homemade soap. My guess is that if I used whatever mineral concoction you spoke of I could “strip” my sheets as well with the same result ( murky water) and I use Tide.
Detergent does not build up. That is a myth.
http://www.fluffloveuniversity.com/cloth-diaper-myths/the-myth-of-detergent-buildup/
If you are using Tide, I can just about guarantee you that if you were to strip your sheets, very little, if any (my guess is none at all), dirt or murkiness would be in the strip water. Tide is an extremely effective detergent.
I used to make my own laundry stuff, too. I really didn’t think it did a great job and I didn’t like the smell of the Fels Naptha. But, trying to eliminate toxins for my family, I was trying to just deal with it. But when YL came out with their laundry soap – I switched to that and haven’t looked back. Love it! Great job with this extremely informative article! I appreciate the time and effort that you put into it to educate the rest of us!
Hi! Just some clarification–stripping the laundry involves borax, washing soda, and calgon. But the ingredients that don’t work are borax, washing soda, and baking soda. Is the difference here in the additional soap or baking soda vs. calgon? I read that and it seemed as if you were saying that borax and washing soda don’t work, but you used them for stripping. I just wasn’t sure if I was misunderstanding. Thanks!
I actually just re-read the comments and saw my question was already responded to from someone else’s question! Thanks!
Great article. I recently became a chemical conscious consumer and I use Norwex Ultra Power Plus detergent. I have found it works great on my clothes and helps my daughters sensitive skin issues tremendously. Do you have any feedback on Norwex?
I have not tried it myself but it looks to be a perfectly workable choice. Not recommended for cloth diapers, since the amount they recommend to use is very small and wouldn’t be enough to clean human waste. If it’s working great for your regular clothes though, good for you!
Emily – did you do the research yourself or is the information something Young Living has put out?
I’m not sure which research you’re asking about, can you clarify?
This was a very interesting read and this definitely help with my uncertainty about DIY soap and convinced me to keep using my current laundry soap! I currently had a friend encouraging me to make a DIY soap, the ingredients are water, borax, fels and washing soda, which appears to be the basic. I currently use BioKleen and have for over 13 years with no issues. I’m SO glad I didn’t take the time to make the other.
I really appreciate your time and research of this topic and even though I’m not planning to change laundry soap, it was nice to see other brands listed that are safe effective cleaners. And if I want smell on my clothes when they’re clean, I just put a few drops of good quality EO (I use RMO) into the rinse cycle and everything comes out smelling wonderful!
Thanks again for info that saved me from this train wreak! ?
I was very interested in this article because I have been making my laundry detergent for a year. And I use YL so I want what is best for my family. I decided to do a test. I put a clean sheet in the bath tub just like you suggested with Borax and Washing Soda but I did not have the same results. My water was slightly cloudy but not that dirty looking water in the pictures you had posted. I am wondering what the difference is? I also had a friend do the test on a load of clean clothes and her results were pretty much the same as mine. I”m just trying to wrap my mind around it and figure out the difference. I appreciate your article.
Did you follow the directions I linked to for stripping? How much borax and how much washing soda did you use? They do recommend the mix of borax, washing soda, and Calgon water softener to get the widest variety of minerals removed. And they also do say on the site that the results of stripping are not always brown, murky water. Sometimes it’s more clear, but the results can still be seen on the clothes by the dinginess going away.
Thanks for the extremely informative article! I have made my own detergent some in the past, but have not for several years because it seemed too time-consuming. I’m glad now that I did not continue it!
I actually use borax and a capful of Thieves cleaner for much of my laundry and love the fresh-smelling results. Do you have any idea how this would compare with the new Thieves laundry soap–both in effectiveness and cost?
I’ve heard of people using the household cleaner in laundry but haven’t tried it myself! And I haven’t done the math as far as how that would compare cost-wise, since I’m not sure how much you’d need to use of the household cleaner. But if it’s working for you, great! Maybe try out the laundry soap and see which you prefer? I’d love to hear if you try it and compare the two. Thanks for your comment!
Emily, I just want you to know that I posted this to my Facebook page hoping to hit my hard core DIY friends who have been doing this for a while. I’ve done some, not consistently, and used pink solution, with detergent, I’m just not consistent, I use what’s on hand with my detergent as a back up. I’ll be stripping today to see what lies in my clothes!
As disappointed as my friends are, they’ve stripped, were disgusted, showed their pictures (Eww!) and have said goodbye to the soap, with no ill will toward your YL plug. So thank you, for your public service. 🙂
Oh wow! I wanna see their pictures too!
Thank you so much, Shani! I really appreciate your support. 🙂
Emily, thank you so much for your research. I have been plagued by weird smelling “natural” laundry for months and finally know why. I’ve got some stripping to do – which makes my hubby very excited. Finally clean-smelling laundry 😉