Comments on: Eco-Friendly Laundry Detergent

By: Theresa

Theresa — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:32:50 +0000

I’ve been using it for a while and there is very little scent, even after I added some. In my mind, I think that since it takes out added scents *I* put in, it must do a great job at taking out the undesirable smells too.

If you really want the scents (My laundry has a very CLEAN smell), you can use softener sheets in the dryer.

By: fatima bintul huda

fatima bintul huda — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:13:45 +0000

Eco really is green!
i always thought every detergent that said there NATURAL lied, but i had a science fair project where i got a 4 plants i put detergent in them and see whats going to happen, tide and sunlight was dead by the first week, eco was the winner!
nothing happened to the plant it just grew slow
it looked exactly like the one with no detergent, imagine we wear those chemicals every day that could kill a plant withen a week, know i ONLY USE ECO, thats the rule in our house.

By: Jaquon

Jaquon — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:13:53 +0000

I know i have tryed peperment to strawberry oils -_- …. its still not working, but i am still on the hunt !!

By: Flit

Flit — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:38:35 +0000

I don’t use a home-made laundry detergent – I use a some washing balls that basically contain a kind of clay.

However, the they do say that before switching to this method, you need to clean the washing machine first of previous commercial laundry chemical residues i.e. empty the drum, pour 2 cups of vinegar into the powder drawer, and run the machine on a hot wash (90 or 95 degree wash).

This cleans out all the pipes and gets rid of the laundry liquid and powder residues, and unblocks any blocked pipes. It also gets rid of any lurking bacteria. Blocked pipes and bacteria would both cause strange smells. Also, ordinary laundry detergents generally contain perfumes to mask the smell of aforementioned blocked pipes, powder build up, bacteria in areas that may not have dried out properly….

If this hot wash with vinegar isn’t done, prior to first use of the alternative laundry detergent (in my case the special clay) the clothes smell kind of musty and a bit strange. Clothes may also smell a bit strange and musty after the very first wash (but not subsequent ones) because they too will have old commercial laundry detergent residues in them, particularly optical brighteners, – especially from laundry powder in low temperature washes.

Once that’s done the clothes smell clean i.e. not sweaty, musty, and smell of themselves i.e. the actual scent of the fabric/fibres/dye etc – but not “clean”, if to you “clean” means “highly perfumed”.

I only offer this as a possible explanation for strange smelling clothes when switching from commercial detergent to perfume-free home made laundry detergent.

By: Sooshi

Sooshi — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:08:54 +0000

I’ve used home-made laundry detergent for years. It helps if you switch up the different recipes every few months – use a liquid detergent, then a dry detergent, etc. – keeps your clothes from getting soap build up. Also, you can just use baking soda alone for loads that aren’t heavily soiled. Works great!!

By: Mightyocean

Mightyocean — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:58:05 +0000

Definitely! They work great, and you can ”play” with the scent(s) you like and come up with your own unique aromas for your soap and your clothes!

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:28:12 +0000

Did you make the liquid or powder version?
It sounds like your soap is super concentated, did you add enough water? If you made the liquid version, make sure that you followed the receipe to the tee and don’t use too much soap in one load. I recently tried to add more detergent thinking that my clothes would get more cleaning action, but instead the grated soap bits did not dissolve as well. Also, if you don’t add fragrance to the batch, your clothes won’t smell clean. I dealt with this issue and started to add lavender essential oil. The clothes now smell fresh, but they don’t smell ”Tide” clean. Also, I found that when shredding the bar of soap, I used a grater that shreds the soap very fine and this helped alot in the cooking process as well as considerably reducing any traces of soap on my clothes. I hope this helps, because the soap receipe is quite good.

By: Anita

Anita — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:28:33 +0000

Do you have hard water? I wonder if that would make a difference.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:00:57 +0000

I have used this for over a year. The clothes get heavier and heavier. The whites are dingy. All the dirt collects and the ends of the clothes leaving stains. The clothes never smell clean. Often they smell musty. I keep having hope with each batch that i did something wrong and THIS time it will work. It doesn’t. Ever.

By: rstephens

rstephens — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:07:45 +0000

20 Mule Team Borax is in just about every grocery store or discount store.