Help with homemade washing powder

sleepybookworm7

Hi,

I have started making my own washing powder (borax/washing soda/soap flakes). It's been fine on colours but my whites still come out grubby (ooh, I sound like my mum!) especially the collars. Any tips on how to combat this without resorting to commercial products?

Thanks

SailorSam

Suggests in the recipe here to add vinegar.

http://www.makingyourown.co.uk/make-your-own-washing-powder-and-fabric-conditioner.html

tessasmum

You would probably class it as a commercial product but the people who make the borax substitute (Dripak?) also make a powdered laundry bleach which I add to the home made laundry powder when I do a load of whites. Only about a tablespoon.

Hope you let us know what works best for you.

sleepybookworm7

Thanks to you both

I've tried adding vinegar but it didn't make much difference. May have to go for an Ecover type laundry bleach. Just trying to save the pennies and the environment at the same time!

sleepybookworm7

tessasmum wrote: »

You would probably class it as a commercial product but the people who make the borax substitute (Dripak?) also make a powdered laundry bleach which I add to the home made laundry powder when I do a load of whites. Only about a tablespoon.

Hope you let us know what works best for you.

BTW do you use the Borax substitute? If so, is it effective?

SpikyHedgehog

I use laundry gloop rather than powder, but I add a squirt of star drops to white loads, or a scoop of soda crystals. Works ok unless DS2 has been using his school shirts as napkins, cleaning cloths for black pen on the white board, etc... But if I soak them overnight in biotex or soda crystals, they come up better.

tessasmum

sleepybookworm7 wrote: »

BTW do you use the Borax substitute? If so, is it effective?

Yes, I haven't been able to buy "real" Borax so I use the substitute in the powder mixture I make and it gets the clothes clean!

sleepybookworm7

tessasmum wrote: »

Yes, I haven't been able to buy "real" Borax so I use the substitute in the powder mixture I make and it gets the clothes clean!

I get mine from here

http://www.thesoapkitchen.co.uk/

415SanFran

Would you be against napisan? I think they still sell it.
Used to bring the nappies up nice and white.

john257

Washing powder business is the popular business in the world. Mums are the target customer of this business. old mums like old fashion of cloth washing. My friend start this business last year and got handsome turnover.

tessasmum

415SanFran wrote: »

Would you be against napisan? I think they still sell it.
Used to bring the nappies up nice and white.

Yes, I agree, and I have used Napisan as well - it still does whites very well, but it isn't that widely available. Sometimes you have to go in to the health and beauty aisles and find the baby section, and other times it is with the laundry products! Other shops just don't stock it...