Green Cleaning - DIY Laundry Detergent

This DIY cleaning series I've been planning on writing for the past couple of weeks has really been an eye opening experience for me. I've always been a closet label snob, I instinctively reach for the more expensive brands and have to force myself to buy value brands of things, like shredded cheese and butter. In my opinion, some cheaper products just aren't right, like bread and ketchup; but I'm just starting to realize that all products, cheap and expensive, just can't compare to homemade.

I've always had a problem branching out to the cheaper products for fear there's some flaw hidden by a fifty cent discount, there's always a small part of me that cringes over the irreversible damage these mystery ingredients are bound to create. That's what's so great about these green cleaning products, there are no mysteries or dangerous chemicals and it actually works well. The little pessimist in my brain has nothing to say! Plus, it opens a whole new range of possibilities; I can make my own shampoo and conditioner, soap, body scrubs, lotions, glass cleaner, all-purpose cleaner, "febreze" copy, carpet powder, laundry detergent, and more, I'm sure.

I was pretty nervous about the laundry detergent before we made it; I love soft, clean-smelling clothes and I wasn't sure these ingredients would be able to deliver. I used my search engine to find some recipes and after deciding I'd rather have a  powdered version, I gathered my ingredients and got started.

The recipe I used as inspiration was recipe #4 from this website.
http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

2 cups bar soap (finely grated)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 cup Baking Soda
Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use two to three table spoons per load.

I altered it a little by adding baking soda and I used whatever soap I had lying around, call me lazy, but I'm not interested in buying special products to make my "quick and easy" green recipes, thanks. The recipe says to avoid heavily perfumed soaps and suggests using Fels Naptha Soap, but I ended up using my husbands Old Spice bar soap and it works great. I'm hoping to eventually start making our own soap, so that'll solve that problem.

It's not a very messy job, but it is a pain to hand-grate the bars of soap (I used a bar and a half, one Old Spice and half of one Dial.). I would like to dedicate our current blender to non-food projects and upgrade! I'm hoping Santa, or hubby, figures out I want a Vitamix for Christmas.

The only gripe I have about this detergent is when I washed my large comforter with it, it left little balls of powder in places. I'm pretty sure I could solve that by putting the detergent in before the comforter or just washing smaller loads. I haven't seen any residue on normal sized loads. Also, this particular recipe makes a pretty small batch, as you'll see in the photo, so I'll probably make a triple batch so it will last for about three months. I'm guessing we'll use this much in about a month, but I may be way off, I've never been good at estimating. 

I know for a fact that this detergent works like a charm. It's amazing how when you want a batch of really dirty clothes, it seems like everyone must have wrapped themselves in bubble wrap and hid in a corner! Well, I found my super dirty clothes in the form of towels. Towels that were put underneath a leaking duck container. If any of you own ducks, you probably don't need any other description than that, but let me tell you, ducks are not clean birds. They like to make a little duck swamp of poop, food, and water. Imagine that soaked into three or four towels and your bathroom carpet. Yuck! We have since moved them to a different room with a different container, thank goodness! One wash and dry cycle later, those towels were good as new, and I'm totally sold.

Check back soon to see what we use for stain remover! I've been looking for set stains for weeks now, I even tried to create them by pouring chocolate sauce on old onesies, but they've all gone missing. I just need to pop that bubble wrap.

No poo!

I know the title may have you a little nervous, at the moment, but I promised to never write about poop, and I won't. I'm writing about using shampoo, or not using shampoo, actually.

This has been a fad for all the DIYer's and "green" families in Internetland for quite a while now, so I decided to give it a try. I know what you're thinking, "Ew, she doesn't wash her hair?" My hair is very clean, I promise. It is a little unconventional, but it didn't take long for me to feel like a dummy for spending so much money on hair products in the past.

The first time I used the "No Poo" method, I did it totally wrong, technically. The recipe I that I meant to use is from care2.com, which I found using my standard search engine. The link is on the bottom of the page if you'd like to check it out. This recipe suggests using one moistened tablespoon of baking soda thoroughly massaged into the only onto the scalp, rinse after a minute or two. Follow with a rinse of diluted vinegar all over your hair, one tablespoon to one cup of warm water, allow to sit for a minute and then rinse.

The article I looked at explained there would be a breaking-in period which your hair would need to adjust to the lack of chemicals and while the pH balance of your scalp returned to normal, so you need to give it at least a week or two before giving up. Well, this didn't happen for me. Maybe it was because I used to wash my hair every other day, or the fact that I dumped probably about two handfuls of baking soda on my head, followed with a straight vinegar bath the first time I tried the "No Poo" method, or maybe I just have super hair, I certainly can't tell you why. I can tell you that my hair is strong, soft, shiny, and it smells great.

I usually wash my hair every other day. I have a small travel bottle with maybe two or three tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water and a couple drops of essential oil that I leave in my shower. I don't know how long it takes to go bad, but it only takes 4 or 5 uses before I have to make a new batch anyway. I keep the vinegar in a small spray bottle and I'd say it's about half vinegar and half water. The point is, I don't bother measuring anything; if I did, it'd probably be different for you anyway. Everyone's makeup is a little different when you get right to it and it's not rocket science anyway, it's hair!

I want to warn you that washing your hair this way feels totally different than using shampoo. The wash doesn't foam, it feels gritty and dirty while you're washing it, basically like you took a handful of sand and rubbed it around on your head like a dirty monkey... Also, after using the vinegar, my hair tends to feel a little greasy, but it dries perfect, so I'm not sure why this is.

I was really impressed that this method works so well. I was a little skeptical at first, but it gets even greasy hair clean. Plus, it's so nice knowing exactly what I'm putting on my skin and hair, some of the chemicals and random ingredients companies use should be illegal, and so should the prices!! I hope you give it a try, please let me know how it works for you.

03/03/13 ~ Before first baking soda wash.

03/09/13 ~ No shampoo for 6 days.

03/12/13 ~ Taken after brushing my hair.

 These last two were taken about 10 minutes ago, 03/18/13. Honestly, I haven't even brushed my hair today, I threw it up in a bun after my shower.  It still looks so clean and shiny, if I don't say so myself. Here's the article I looked at when I first started.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/no-poo-get-beautiful-hair-with-just-baking-soda-vinegar.html?page=2