I have been through many homemade laundry detergents in the last couple years and nothing seemed to clean my laundry the way I wanted. I have tried the liquid detergent, melting soap into the boiling water and adding all the powdered extras. I've tried dry detergent, grating the soap in a food processor, then adding the powdered goodies. I've tried the liquid castille soap version and even done the soap nuts. Nothing seemed to satisfy all my desires for a good detergent: fresh smelling laundry, bright colors (most detergents were making them dingy) and a clean, not oily feeling.
After spending the summer experimenting I finally came up with a laundry detergent that fits the bill. I have been using this for two months now and I'm still a satisfied customer. As you can tell from my cleaning with no chemicals post, I love citric acid as a cleaner, so I decided to ditch the soap and replace it with citric acid. No more oily clothes and my laundry comes out smelling fresh and clean!
The Recipe
Mix all the ingredients together with a wire whisk. I let the bowl sit overnight to dry the essential oil out, if you put it in a sealed container right away it will harden. I went through many versions of this detergent before I figured that one out. If it does harden, just break it apart and throw the chunks of detergent in with the laundry, it will still work great. Once dry and powdery, place in a container (glass works best) and use 1 Tbsp. per load if you have soft water or 2 Tbsp. per load for hard water. I also pour vinegar into the water softener section of my washer (or use an herbal infused vinegar) with a few drops of lemon essential oil and use an herbal laundry sachet in the dryer instead of using dryer sheets.
1 cup Borax
1 cup Super Washing Soda
1 cup Citric Acid
1/2 cup salt
30 drops essential oil (bacteria buster oils)
1 cup Super Washing Soda
1 cup Citric Acid
1/2 cup salt
30 drops essential oil (bacteria buster oils)
As a Dish Washer Detergent
Through my experimenting I found that this works really well as a natural dishwasher detergent, just fill the detergent compartment and start. I also discovered that when my water softener went out so did the cleansing properties of the detergent, so this will work well IF you have soft water.
Where to get these ingredients
Mountain Rose Herbs will carry all of the ingredients you need to make this detergent, except the Super Washing Soda. Borax and Super Washing Soda are usually sold right next to each other in most stores on the laundry aisle. I have also purchased citric acid from Bulk Apothecary and Amazon.
