Laundry soap - long reply

[Guest guest]

,

To answer your question simply - You're not doing anything wrong! The

nature of laundry soap made from 'regular' NaOH (lye) soap is frothy scum.

If you make liquid laundry soap from a KOH based soap, you probably will get

a different result. Anybody ever try it?......

I've made laundry soap from all different kinds of NaOH based soaps, with

superfat, without superfat, with exotic oils, without exotic oils, etc., but

they all do the same thing - froth. Some separate occassionally, but

usually a good shake gets it back together again. I used to really get the

soap boiling - not quite to rolling, just enough to get it turning on

itself, but not enough to create lather. I'd say, just shake it up before

each use and you're good to go. (You can check out my proportions for

recipes on the Soapmaking 101 recipe page under Misc. soaps - I think it's

still there - don't remember the URL, though.)

Here's my opinion on the subject:

The best laundry soaps I believe were made by our grandmothers and early

pioneer soap sisters - the soap tended to be lye heavy, which is great for

getting out dirt and oil, but hard on today's delicate fabrics. We usually

make soap today with extra fat. Any extra fat in the laundry soap will

stick to your clothes. Vinegar seems to help to rinse this away, but

personally, I've gone back to regular detergent for now because my clothes

were getting " sticky " and dingy and I didn't like it.

HTH,

> I don't know if anyone can help me or not. I made some liquid laundry

>detergent this weekend. 1 cup soap flakes, 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda

>and 1 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup vinegar. I covered the dry stuff with the

>liquid stuff, simmered until it melted and it seems to be incorporated.

>But once it cools, I get a frothy scum on top and a liquid on the bottom.

>Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong??

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