How to Make an All Natural Laundry Powder (Only Two Ingredients!)

 

I have been making my own laundry soap for quite a few years and like many, I got started off in with the recipe for a concentrated liquid using the Fels Naptha, Borax, and washing soda.  Through the years I started changing up the recipe, at one point going to a thick paste that looked rather like mayonnaise. The thing I liked about it then is it took only a tsp at a time and used up so little space in the laundry cupboard.

Then three things happened.  The first was that I finally caved to my suspicions and did a little research into Fels Naptha and was not pleased with what I found.  Not 100% natural and had a rather poor rating for toxicity.  This did not surprise me but I was still disappointed.  This was one of the catalysts that spurred me into learning to make my own all natural bar soap so that I could make a truly natural laundry soap from it.  I will be doing a post on that in the near future as well but onto the second reason I changed things up.

When I started working with different non electric ways of washing clothes for those times in the year where our solar power collection is low and we may not have public power to fall back on, I found that the sauce method did not mix well at all with the water and realized I needed something more suitable. 

The final reason was that I also did research into borax, and again was not pleased with what I found.  Plus, borax can be very hard on elastic which explained why the elastic in all my underthings was degrading quickly. 

The recipe I came up with only takes two ingredients with an optional third: all natural bar soap, washing soda, and if desired, essential oil of your choice.

If you do not already make your own soap, one that I recommend for this is Dr. Bronner's Bar Soap.

Start by grating or cutting your soap of choice into small bits.  I often add whatever flakes I gathered up from my homemade herbal soaps as well.  That is what is shown in the measuring cup to the left.  The white soap is my plain, homemade lard soap that I find best for using for in the laundry, making hand soap, and in my liquid dish soap - something I am still trying to perfect so no recipe to go up at this time.  Lard soap just seems to clean better than the other fat based soaps and why I choose it for such purposes.

When making the laundry soap, I use one part of the grated or chopped bar soap to one part washing soda.

You could choose to change these ratios to suit you but I am pretty happy with the half and half blend. 

Add one part of each to your blender and process on high until fine. You can choose to add a few drops of your favorite essential oil at this point and process just long enough to blend it in. My favorite is NOW Foods Lime. 

I find it best to only do a half cup of each at a time in my blender but you may have a fancy blender that can handle more so you have to find out what works best for you.  Mine will clump around the blades if I get too much then not properly blend.  

Pour into your container of choice, which for me is a quart mason jar.  Repeat until your jar is filled.  I always have two jars at a time so it is easier for me to stay ahead.  When one jar is emptied, I start on the next and then make a new batch to fill the empty jar. 

Here is how your powder should look when it is done:

I use about a Tablespoon for each load of wash but when I have a large or extra dirty load, I may use 1.5 to 2 Tablespoons.  

This soap has worked best for both my electric washing machine and my off grid set up

I truly hope you found this to be educational and helpful and just another step into being more natural, frugal, and self sufficient. 

Thank you so much for your time! ~Heidi

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