I was making my own homemade soaps for many years, I really enjoyed designing my own soaps and had great fun making different shapes and sizes with herbs and other ingredients. The only problem with making your own soaps is dealing with lye. Especially if you are making large batches the smell can be too much and it is quite dangerous, if you have small children running around.
But since a regular reader of this blog insisted that I post on how to make laundry detergent at home, I was very excited to do it because I had to make Castile soap for the recipe. I still miss making soaps on a regular basis and had great fun making this detergent. Making our own homemade laundry detergent can save us of lot of money and the best, best thing about this detergent is it can be used for people with very sensitive skin too.
It is easy to make the regular laundry detergent but the challenge is to make it for people with very sensitive skin. I know many children are allergic to harsh detergents and for them this kind of homemade detergents without any harsh chemicals will be very good. I did not want to make borax based detergent, as it might not agree with everyone. The main ingredients for making this homemade laundry detergent are washing soda, baking soda and Castile soap.
All these three ingredients are amazing cleaners that are very gentle on the skin. Each one has their preference when it comes to mixing these ingredients and I prefer the ratio given, as it effectively cleans the clothes. Castile soap is a cold pressed soap made with only olive oil as a base and is very very gentle on the skin. You can easily order it online and it is not very expensive.
I made a small batch of Castile soap for making the detergent, nowadays good quality cold pressed soaps are marketed in small fares in India mostly by small business owners and homemakers which are very good, you can try those soaps too. All you have to do is mix all the ingredients along with some good quality citrus essential oils for fragrance and your homemade laundry detergent is ready to be used!
How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent?
METHOD:
1. Take a block of Castile soap and shred into small pieces or grate it using a grater. After mixing, I felt my Castile soap pieces were quite big, as I used a knife to shred it. It is better if you grate it.
2. Measure out the baking soda and washing soda.
3. Mix the grated soap, washing soda mixture and citrus essential oil and store in an airtight box.
NOTES:
- You can also skip the essential oil, if you don’t want any fragrance. But adding fragrance make the clothes smell nice and choose the essential oils that you prefer.
- You can double or triple the recipe for making huge batches.
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Hey this is amazing.Post my baby I had been hunting laundry detergents for sensitive baby and had been using Mee mee brand too.Its so simple to make at home. Thank you for the article.
Thank you Ramya I am only asking this receipes to u.can I use this detergent for 5 months baby cloths
Jega, You can safely use this for washing the baby's clothes….
Thank you. From where can I source castile soap online? any specific brand?
Hi Manpreet, You can order it through Amazon or Ebay. I have always made my own Castile soap, so I don't know which brands are good….
Thank you for posting this. What is washing soda? I'm in USA.
Washing soda is sodium carbonate that is widely used for washing laundry as it is a fabric softener and removes stains effectively….
Ramya, can you find washing soda in the market easily? Also how do you make castile soap at home?
You can find washing soda very easily in the markets. Castile soap is usually 100% olive oil soap made by mixing olive oil and lye. I was regularly making soaps before but for the past 2 years I have stopped, will try making and posting it in the blog…
Ok Ramya.please also provide detergent bar and bathroom cleaners,castile soap
Ramya.please reply for this comment.can u share the detergent bar and bathroom cleaners ,castile soap
Jega, I will try my best to make the products that you mentioned. Meanwhile try the bathroom cleaner recipe in the blog…..
You can also make washing detergent with ashes
Hi! Was looking for this for a long time!! Thanks for the . Can you also share how to make Castile soap at home? those avl online seem quite expensive!
Hi.. thanks for the info! Can you also share how to make Castile soap?
Sure, I will post about Castile soap making in the blog soon….
Hi mam can i use this detergent powder in washing machine is it safe to machine and please post the recipe for castile soap and homemade bathing soap
You can use this detergent powder in the washing machine and I will post the recipes soon….
Hi Ramya loved reading your blog.Especially to know that you live in a village and enjoy living there. We are in the process of o moving to a villageI would be glad to know how to make castile soap..especially understand as to where to get the raw products like lye etc and actually see how to make it. .. we have shifted to hour recently
Hi Suchi, I am glad that you like the blog 🙂 Castile soap is in my to do list for quite some time now, I will make and post it in the blog as soon as I can…
Hi Ramya. I love your blog. I use homemade soap, too. My mom taught me. My advice is to put more essential oil. It smells fantastic. Thank you for sharing your article. Best regards!
hi. I just love your blog. pictures and detailed information. superb excellent. can you post how to make castile soap and essential oils at home.
It is in my to do list for a long time, I will post about it very soon…
Hi Ramya,How much of this detergent would you recommend for one wash in the machine (say 6 kg load without heavy stains) ? A couple of table spoons? Also if I want to make this into pre measured blocks, would you recommend increasing the oil so that I am able to hold the shape (Just like you are preparing your home-made toilet cleaner) or some other wet base that helps to hold shape. I understand water makes the soda foam and fizz. Please confirm.Thanks Subashini
I would suggest 1/4 cup of the detergent. If you want to shape them I would suggest adding essential oils like you mentioned (citrus essential oils will work well)and then you can shape them using cookie cutters….
hi ramya, Thanks for your effort to bring us on natural way product. i have question. it hard to find castile soap in chennai. is there any alternative to it or can buy and use castile soap base from online. ??
Hi I am very sorry for the late reply. Here is the online source for Castile soap: amazon.in
This is very useful. Thanks you for sharing with usHousekeeping Products in Chennai
Do this powder can be used in washing machine?
Hi RamyaThanks for all your information.Would like to know if this soap can be used for cleaning utensils.
This recipe is not for washing utensils….
Tried your laundry recipe and it turned out very well. Thank you so much.I have been waiting for your recipe for body soap. In the meantime I tried it with – Coconut oil 2/3 cup, Olive oil 2/3 cup, almond oil 2/3 cupLye 1/4 cup dissolved in 3/4 cup water.Will be very grateful for your advice on the following -1. The mixture even after 25 minutes of using the hand mixer was not as thick as it should be in a trace. Is the proportion of the ingredients correct?2. In spite of this after 24 hours I could loosen the soap in glass bowls with a knife and remove them fairly easily, and the soap is well formed. However the soap in a small rectangular hard plastic container just refuses to come out even after I put it in the freezer. Where did I go wrong?