How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent With Bar Soap and Washing Soda

Fast Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Here’s how to make a basic natural homemade laundry detergent recipe that is easy to make, and will get your clothes fresh in no time.

There are a ton of reasons to make your own homemade laundry detergent.  Personally I’m not a big fan of soaking my clothing in a bunch of chemicals that I don’t really know what they are.

Another reason I am starting to steer clear of store bought laundry detergent is it seems to me like so much detergent needs to be used compared to homemade detergent that it seems like there must be some fillers in there.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of paying for filler. Another reason many people might be looking to make their own homemade laundry detergent is that some laundry detergents can irritate some peoples skin.

This laundry detergent recipe is much less chemical laden and might be less irritating for those with sensitive skin.  There are other reasons to not buy store bought detergents but as for me, those are the ones that have driven me to try and make my own homemade laundry detergent.

Time: 10-20 minutes

If you are looking for diy laundry recipes then check out my post on using soapnuts for laundry detergent as well!

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make your own homemade laundry detergent:

• bar soap (Dr. Bronner, Fels-Naptha, Zote, or Pure & Natural)
• borax (Twenty Mule Team Borax)
• washing soda (Arm & Hammer Washing Soda)
• a cheese grater, or
• a food processor

Step One

Fels Naptha

So the first thing you’re going to want to do is shred your bar of soap.

Liza was nice enough to comment and let me know that Fels Naptha can, after extended use (I’ve not yet had this problem personally), yellow your clothing. She instead suggests using Dr. Bronner bar soap, which I’ve recently just started using to wash clothes while traveling, and it has worked great so far.

So, instead of… I’ve chosen to use Fels Naptha for my laundry detergent. Try using Dr. Bronner for your homemade laundry detergent instead.  

Other soaps that work well are ZOTE, and Pure & Natural.  Both Fels-Naptha and Zote are called laundry soap, meant specifically for cleaning clothes.  Of course you can use your own homemade bar soap too if you want.

Shredding the bar soap with a food processor is the easiest way to do it, but using a cheese grater works just as well.  

Shredding by hand will probably take for ever, buts its worth it to make your own laundry detergent. I know that the Fels Naptha looks like cheddar cheese, but it’s not, so don’t eat it.  Or maybe it’s just me that was tempted.

Step Two

1 cup borax

Next you will add in 1 cup of borax to the shredded bar soap. The purpose of Borax in homemade laundry detergent is as a detergent booster.  The borax helps to get clothes cleaner, and brightens and deodorizes clothes.

Step Three

1 cup washing soda

Then add 1 cup of washing soda and mix. Washing soda helps to clean the clothes, and also to freshen, and fight odor in you laundry.

Step Four

Mix it up

Then stir the bar soap, borax, and washing soda together.  Stir it all up for at least a couple of minutes to ensure that everything is mixed well. Or, if you have a big enough container you can just shake everything together.  I’m really good at making messes, so shaking everything together in a sealed container makes it a lot harder to make a mess.

Using Your Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 tbsp per load 1 tbsp should be enough for your average load of laundry.  However, if you’ve got a big load, extra dirty clothes, or just can’t believe 1 tbsp is enough to clean you clothes then use 2 tbsp, and that should be more than enough.

Storing Homemade Laundry Detergent

Keep it dry

You want to make sure you keep your nice new batch of homemade laundry detergent dry.  I personally like to use air tight glass jar so that I can easily see how much I have left.  Put in an air tight container so that no moisture can get in.  For good measure you should also keep it in a dry place just to be safe.

Does It Work?

For my first time making this homemade laundry detergent, I think it turned out really well.  After having used the entire batch of detergent I can say that it has been getting my clothes completely clean.  

There’s no oily feel, smell, or anything else unpleasant left after washing.  My clothes are left smelling fresh and looking great after several times through the wash. After using this homemade laundry detergent for a few months I am still super happy with how well it works!  

I haven’t seen any sings of yellowing in my clothing, but just the possibility is worrying enough to steer me away from using fels naptha for washing laundry on a regular basis.

-Lance