Friday, November 4, 2011

We've Got Homemade Laundry Detergent!

Our 3 Laundry Detergent Ingredients.
Our Linda's Laundry Soap Bar. (unable to find Fels-Naptha)


Mixed the 1, 9.5oz bar with just over 2 cups each of Borax and washing soda. Original recipe from DIYNatural called for a 4.5 oz bar with 1 cup each of Borax and Washing soda so we adjusted for our larger bar of laundry soap.  Making the entire batch took no more than 5 minutes.  We decided to try it without using vinegar as the static guard and instead used the anti-static dryer balls (linked to amazon but available at many dollarstores) we purchased for $1.00 at our local Dollarama.  So far this has proved to be successful!  Our clothes are clean and we have yet to have any static cling issues.  I think the true test will be over the weekend when we clean the kids clothes.  We had previously been using Method laundry detergent  which we liked but it often left the kids clothes with stains that needed to be treated.  Using just 1 tbsp. of homemade detergent per load is such a cost effective way of doing laundry!  With a laundry detergent that cleans well with only 3 ingredients, what is the deal with these commercial detergents that have 15+ ingredients?  Boggles my mind!

If we compare homemade laundry detergent with 3 commercial detergents what do we get:

Homemade Laundry Detergent:  ARM & HAMMER® Super Washing Soda (100% sodium carbonate), Linda Laundry Bar Soap* (next batch will be my own homemade soap) and Borax (100% sodium tetraborate), and thats it!  (Totaling 3 ingredients)


*If we assume the Linda Laundry Bar contains similar ingredients to Fels-Naptha; this is the Fels-naptha ingredient list on their package: Cleaners, soil and stain removers, chelating
agents, colorants, perfume.  As for the Fels-naptha MSDS info the only hazardous ingredients are soap dust (obviously) and  "Hydrocarbons, Terpene processing by-products CAS# 68956-56-9"  (It no longer contains Stoddard solvent, a skin and eye irritant which used to be found in the bar).  With this now known, I will be making my own all natural homemade laundry bar for our next batch; I already have a recipe.

Method (our old detergent):  Natural Alcohol Ethoxylates, Coco Methyl Ester + Sulfonate, Secondary Alkane Sulfonate, Bio 1,3-Propanediol, Alcohol, Vegetable Glycerin, Purified Water, Calcium Chloride, Dipropylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether, Glycerine Carbonate, Protease, Amylase, Cellulase, Carboxylate Polyester, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Distyrylbiphenol Disulfonate, Fragrance Oil Blend (not used in free + clear).  (Totaling 17 Ingredients or 16 with Free + Clear)  

Tide Free and Gentle Powder:  Sodium Aluminosilicate, Sodium Carbonate, Alkyl Sulfate, Water, Sodium Sulfate, Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate, Sodium Percarbonate, Sodium Polyacrylate, Polyethylene Glycol, Protease, Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonate, Silicone, Silicate, Ethoxylate,Cellulase.  (Totaling 15 Ingredients)
 
Tide Origional Liquid Detergent:  Alcoholethoxy Sulfate, Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Sodium, Hydroxide, Borax, Ethanolamine, Ethanol, Alcohol Sulfate, Polyethyleneimine Ethoxylate, Sodium Fatty Acids, Diquaternium Ethoxy Sulfate, Protease, Diethylene Glycol, Laureth-9, Alkyldimethylamine Oxide, Fragrance, Amylase, Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonate, Diethylenetriamine Pentaacetate (Sodium Salt), Sodium Formate, Calcium Formate, Mannanase, LiquitintTM Blue, Dimethicone. (Totaling 26 Ingredients)

These commercial detergents range from 15 ingredients up to 26!  If you are not into making your own detergent, Method is definitely the way to go but the Free + Clear ("Fragrance" in an ingredient list can be any number of chemicals).  They may have 16 ingredients but they are far more natural and eco-friendly than the other products out there I have found.  Tide Free and Gentle is better than the Original Tide but still contains way too many chemicals for my liking... it is only free from dyes and perfumes; it is NOT chemical free.  Aaron had been bugging me for a long time to make our own detergent and I am not sure what my reservation was but I am glad I got on board.  

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