Being a gluttonous consumer of information, and being desirous of things that work "right", and having strong opinions about "smells added to stuff," lead me to research and develop my own detergent several years ago; principally based on a couple of ye-olde practices and a couple of modern chemicals. Not only does my mixture work much better, but costs about 1/2 of "Tide" and about 1/4 of "Cascade" per pound!

"Detergent" is a mixture of chemicals, unlike soap which is saponified fat (want a clean as pure as Ivory, gotta be 99.44% pure PIGFAT reacted with lye, yielding sodium tallowate, they always leave that part of the "purity" off though!). Soap "lubricates-off" dirt whereas detergency relies on ionic interactions attributed to the selection of materials going into the "bath" to attract the dirt and transport it, reduce it.

After moving to Asheville, I found that practically no detergent was useful due to the ultra-softened urban hard-water, which has low potential for ion exchange shown by its weird "not washing stuff off" characteristics. This meant that nothing got cleaned, and dishes got "dirtier" for being washed! What gives?

Having a new baby helped push me along, for I wanted no scent (mountain fresh!), or free-radicals...just truly fresh™ clean clothes and clean dishes. Research showed that commercial detergents, like Tide, are "watered down" to about 50% strength with either, ahem, water for liquid detergent, or calcium carbonate for powdered detergent (chalk, cheaper than dirt and more inert). Even ultra-premium "eco brands" are selling this nonsense...it's called "Greenwashing" in a plastic bottle by "7th Generation" PTUI. The same nonsense is applied to dishwasher formulae: A profit taking move costing 2x more in packing and transportation while halving the effectiveness of the product! Maybe you've had dishes that have the "chalky-scum" or clothes that "itch-ya"?

Considering this, my formulation for detergent is actually quite a bit more economical (4x to 8x @$2/lb) than buying it at the big-box grocery. I know this: when we run out at the homestead, it is a panic situation!

So what is the magic formulation?

Well... our great-great ancestors relied on pretty much two ingredients: Soda ash (fire ashes from vegetation)--- and Pigfat-soap "slivers". Soda ash was formerly known as "warshin soda" and is simply sodium carbonate. The soda was mixed with slivers from a large soap bar, and often salt, urine or bicarbonate. Guess what? These formulations are excellent cleansers.

I use just 3 primary chemicals and one soap in a variable ratio:

non-sudsing (dishwasher)
-----------------------
Sodium carbonate (ion exchange) = ~50%
Sodium sulfate (buffer) = ~25%
Sodium percarbonate (*high power oxidizer) = ~25%
-----------------------
sudsing add (clothes washer)
-----------------------
1-3% Cocosulfate (coconut soap)
or
~1% Lauryl Sulfoacetate (coconut soap)

--
That's it! Try it for yourself. It's easy to mix in a clean 5 gallon bucket, lasts forever and stomps any "premium brand" stuff you're paying way too much for!

*Billy Mays' "Oxiclean" is actually 1/2 watered down sodium percarbonate, the other 1/2 is chalk! The chalk is useless!

1 word - Dermographism. I've had it for 6 years now and have not been able to find the 'trigger'. I have always suspected a reaction to my soap, deodorant, or laundry detergent, but I've gone through practically every brand imaginable with no difference in reactions.

Please tell, I want to know!!

Very interesting Brain I always like it when you throw something new to the board especially when its applicable to me. CNC over my head Anyway. Can all these ingredients be purchase at a local store?

My clothes washer requires liquid detergent, if I use your non-sudsing formula and add water to it (assuming I use a electric paint mixer) will it turn into complete liquid? ...or will it retain some of the gritty feeling like Oxyclean does.

A guy here at work has that too, he never knew what it was till I sent him the link you provided.

Could you maybe put together a video tutorial the next time you mix up a batch?
In what quantities do you purchase the items?

My father can't use deodorant or normal clothes washing detergent and has been washing his clothes using OxyClean for years. He'll be happy to know he can do it for less.

I'd guess the grit in Oxyclean is the chalk Brain mentions. You can simply Google the solubility limit of each component to determine an approximate amount of water you'd need to solubilize the other stuff. They all must have reasonable solubility in water to be used in such a fashion.

Just for the fun of it I thought I would mention this...try it, it works very well.

Use white vinegar as a substitute for clothes softener freshener. The vinegar itself will act as a freshener because it destroys odors, and the action of the vinegar on cottons and such makes them pliable but not greasy like dryer sheets which are just soap on a sheet of gruff paper.

Trust me on this, You wont smell a lick of vinegar after they dry and they will smell like clothes are supposed to smell. The vinegar smell wont come back when they are wet and it can actually take the "old dog" smell out of clothes that have sat too long in the washer.

It will be pretty odd the first time you take your clothes out of the dryer and go "Hmmmm...these smell nice....wait a minute...these dont smell like anything."

I prefer my clothes unscented...and the vinegar is much cheaper than flowery soap soaked bounty towels.




It also makes a fantastic dishwasher rinse

Right, "Bounce" is simply a piece of polyester (plastic) soaked in tallow (beef/pig fat) and artificial scent. These products aren't necessary and actually hurt the laundry by "waxing the clothes" making them harder to clean! Plus if the clothes were clean to begin with, you needn't "mask the smell".

Vinegar also works excellently as a rinsing agent in the dishwasher. Mainly it removes the chalk they water-down the detergent with.

This stuff is just amazing me.


http://www.discountshoppingguide.com.au/ar...ning_products#6

I also found this:

Alternatives To Hazardous Household Chemicals For Everyday Use (A - Z)

Sweet, will have to give it a try! Thanks!

In a way, but you will pay much more for defeated goods.


Your washer is waterless?


Well, when I recently re-upped the household supply, I conceived of the notion that maybe someone else actually cared about this stuff and I made this post.





The "grit" huh?

It works on the power of prayer, we are still working on the detergent side tho.


The "grit" huh?

well, it has the consistancy of powered chlorine for your pool, except Oxyclean takes a long time and much agitation to disolve. I tried making a paste out of it apply to a carpet stain and it ....didn't work so well. I ended up vaccuming it out.

Ah yes. Percarbonate is also "gritty" and works best with warm or hot water to dissolve it. The additional chalk in Oxi-clean compounds the problem. The solution is to, well, get rid of the non-active ingredients, then start the washer on warm, add the detergent, swish it around and switch to the cold cycle if desired. I wash all of my clothes on "warm" and they never bleed. If they do, your temp is too "warm". This is easily controlled by reducing the ratio of hot water with the hot water supply valve going to the washer.

No way! You can use a computer printer, right? That's CNC...

When micRo goes on sale as a complete kit in the next 3 weeks, any 10 yr old school kid can have an industrial robot on their desk for "Christmas Present Pricing". After an easy, screw-together assembly which also teaches the simple concepts of motion control...a real robot emerges...not some R/C vehicle, not some "toy", not Legos, or something that will ever be disposed of. The software is programmed to run, the machine is built to last... so what is left except for your imagination?

Hmm I never thought of that, but now that you point it out it makes perfect sense. I guess the learning curve is the software. Great thats all I need another project to get sucked in. Now you got me wanting one, it sure would make "making" things a whole lot easier

Let me take some bite out of the software concerns: I've machined about 10 pieces this week driving RoGR JR by hand. Even if you never learn to use CAD/CAM, the machine is highly useful. We give you the machine-controller software pre-programmed with the machine parameters, so no worries there.

another thing about tide is it builds up in your machine. We have a small side business and one of the products we have is laundry detergent. Part of the product demo is a direct comparison to tide, the first time we ever did it ( practice here at the house) I was disgusted at how much filler is actually in tide. do this:

take a sock, fill it with a bit of tide. run the sock under water ( temp should be what you usually use for your laundry) for about a minute thats plenty of time to dissolve the actual soap and when your done the stuff that left over is like whats in a hankie after a bad cold. its nasty. Thats the stuff that builds in your washer machine.

a suggestion: Do a couple loads with out any cloths if you mix your own soap, it will help get the nasties out of your machine - other wise they just end up in your cloths anyway.

I'm considering trying this out for next year at college but I have one concern. Since you're using only around 1% of Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, how do you mix it to get an even distribution? With so little of it in comparison I'd hate to try it only to have one scoop be most of the sudsing agent. Or does it really even matter?

It definitely matters. I use a bucket that is 1/3 larger than all of my ingredients. After placing the lid, I mix the dry contents simply by moving the bucket around in 3d space for about 2 minutes. Every scoop, if poured and analyzed, has the same basic proportions of the ingredients. Since the mixing method is random versus centrifugal, good results are had.

Usually lurk on here but I love making my own soaps and household cleaners and wanted to mention that you can add the vinegar in the washer or you can take a rag or cloth and moisten it with vinegar and throw it in the dryer like you would a regular dryer sheet.

It has taken years to get my wife to stop using fabric softener or dryer sheets, my main argument is that stains are harder to get out and your clothes breath less which make you feel hotter...... Living in Houston, TX we definitely don't need things making us hotter.