bar soaps to use in laundry soap recipe?

[chewie]

i want to make my own laundry soap using that recipe with borax and washing soda. of course there is no fels soap around me. i have currently a ton of caress soap, and a bar of plain lye made with water. i now make my own soap iwth goats milk, so i no longer need either of these others, which were both store bought.

seen one person using 'pure and natural' soap, someone used ivory, and yet one said they even used lever 2000. just want to know, what bar soaps can be used and what should be avoided? thank you.

[lickcreek]

I, like WIHH, have also used whatever I had on hand, from my homemade soap to some soap we were gifted that never seemed to get used. All seemed to work about the same to me.

WIHH ~ I'd be interested in knowing why you "especially liked Irish Spring." What was different about it?

[ChristyACB]

Right now Ace Hardware has Fels Naptha, in a 24 bar case, for about 30 dollars and they will ship it free to the closest Ace hardware to you. That is one option for a big load of it. I'm doing it for that recipe...

[shellyr44]

I've read where ivory soap is a good replacement. Saw a posting somewhere about using washing soda versus using an oxygen product like Oxyclean. They were discussing that washing soda can leave your whites looking dingy after awhile that using an oxygen product in your own laundry soap is better. They used the same amount of the Oxyclean as they would use the washing soda in the recipe. They used a generic brand so the cost of making your own would still be acceptable.

[chewie]

i think i will try adding some of that oxy stuff too, i remember seeing something about that.

i will see if our local ace has fels. otherwise, i'm hacking up the extra bars i dont' need since i started making some that i like showering with better.

[fransean]

I hot process a lard based soap with 0% lye discount that I use in my laundry soap. My laundry doesn't need to be "soft or moisturized"

[netandtim]

To make our laundry soap, I use "ZOTE" soap. Found it in Big Lots and it's about 80 cents a bar. I grate up a bar and let it dry for a few days before grinding it into a powder to mix with my other ingredients.

After a few months of use, hubby said his white T-shirts didn't seem as white, so we started using white vinegar in the rinse. Problem solved....

[minnikin1]

Why are you making your own laundry soap? If you are doing it strictly to save money, then most of the above suggestions would be fine.

But if you're looking to control the kind of substances you bring in your home and subject your family to --
most bar soaps that are sold in the typical supermarket or walmart store are full of detergents and sythetic fragrances - petroleum derived. There isn't much of a health benefit if you go that route, IMO.

An aside: when I was a teen, I worked in a fancy boutique one summer. We sold a very expensive line of health and beauty products. One day I came in and the boss was in a panic pulling products off the shelf
- the manufuacturer was recalling a batch of soaps and lotions.

The items had made it out of the plant before the "cover" fragrances were
added.

Out of curiousity, I started opening bottles and sniffing. Talk about an eye opening experience. Those products stink to high heaven because they HAVE to cover up the petro-chemical smell. They smell like a refinery!

For me, it was a fortunate learning experience. I swore from then on that I would always take the trouble to find real soap, and naturally-derived products.

It wasn't long after that when I noticed I couldn't stand the stink from just walking down the soap aisle in the market... instant headache. Once I started avoiding that junk, my sense of smell completely changed - for the better.

OK, done.