Homemade Diswasher Detergent

So yesterday I made some laundry detergent.  The results were fantastic, BTW.  Who knew you could achieve such cleansing results on 2T of product?  Well, I didn't know.  Reading that article is a good primer for this one as the recipes are similar.

Read it here: Homemade Laundry Detergent

With dishwasher detergent we use the same basic principals of softening the water, raising the pH, and using a surfactant to displace organic matter.  There are some differences, though.  Dishwashers do not provide any built in way to provide an abrasive cleansing action like the motion of fabric against itself in a clothes washer.  We've got to add an abrasive to the recipe.  We may also want to get the pH a little higher, to assist in loosening the organic matter.

Kosher salt is the abrasive I've decided to use.  You don't have Kosher salt!?  Get some!  Use it.  Do you really want to ingest iodized ANYTHING?  The salt will wash down the drain just fine, it may even help keep the jet nozzles and drain clean.

To assist in raising the pH, I've chosen to use chlorine bleach since it has some amazing disinfectant powers anyways.

For a rinsing agent, I've filled the container with cider vinegar.  Why cider?  Personal preference.  Vinegar is an acid and will neutralize the washing environment.  Sort of like the fixing agent in a perm.  No, I've never had a perm, but the process is similar to a dishwashing cycle.  Raise pH for a time, do your thing, lower the pH back to neutral.

Here's the recipe for liquid dishwashing detergent.

1/4 part grated soap (I used Irish Spring since that's what I had available)
1 part bleach
1 part BORAX
1 part soda ash
1 part Kosher salt

Close the cap and shake shake shake!

I put this in an empty liquid dishwasher detergent jug.  For a load of dishes, fill the reservoir about half way.  Don't forget to try vinegar as a rinsing agent.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

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My pits react poorly to just about every deodorant or antiperspirant on the market so I once made homemade antiperspirant which had a nice lemon/mint scent.  As I recall, the ingredients included alum, corn starch, baking soda, coconut oil, and a drop or two of essential oil.  Not satisfied with the consistency, it was too mushy to work in a recycled stick container, I haven't made another batch.  But hey, it worked and it wasn't patchouli scented!  Give me some credit.

Today I'm trying something different; laundry detergent.  There are a number of reasons to make your own laundry detergent which range from economics to environmentalism to skin irritation like the problem with my pits or my son's eczema.  The only reason I can see that someone would not want to do this is lack of time.  It takes about 15 minutes to make this stuff and all the ingredients are available at your local big box mart.

You're going to need to some tools to make this stuff.  I know, I know..  What did you think you'd do for the 15 minutes you'd be making this stuff?  Anyways, the tools follow.

Cheese Grater

The first tool you'll need is a fine cheese grater.  A cheese powderer would be best, but it will increase your labor.  Now, I don't think you need a cheese grater specifically for this purpose, the one in your kitchen should do.  Just make sure you wash it before you use it on food again.  I use something like the picture to the left.  

Coffee Can

The next tool is a vessel to hold the finished product.  I use a 27.5 ounce coffee can, but the recipe only fills this up about half way. Use your imagination. Get fancy. Use an urn! A friend of mine uses a sugar canister.  The thought of a sugar canister holding a white powder intended to wash laundry frightens me.  I'll stick with a coffee can.  I doubt I'll ever be so bleary eyed as to mistake the laundry detergent for coffee, but you never know; I have placed the milk in the pantry instead of the fridge before.  What's that smell?

The third and final tool is a 1 tablespoon sized scoop.  That's right.  1 tablespoon.  Do you need a picture?  1 tablespoon.  This is to scoop your detergent into the washer.  One load of laundry requires 1 tablespoon of homemade detergent.  2 tablespoons if you have children.  Did I mention the scoop needs to be 1 tablespoon in size?  Shocking, I know.

Now for the ingredients.  This can get a little confusing so I'll provide proper chemical names for some of them since the common and brand names can be hard to find.

20 Mule Team brand BORAX

BORAX (sodium tetraborate or disodium tetraborate) is the first ingredient. It's purpose in laundry detergent is to soften the water, pushing calcium, magnesium and other chemicals out of the way so the detergent can do its job. It's usually found in big box mart with the laundry detergent at about 3 Dollars for 4 pounds.  Now, don't confuse this with the chemically related product, boric acid.  Boric acid is CLOSE, but usually used to cause dehydration in insects.  I wouldn't put it in my laundry, but in the highly unlikely scenario that I would have access to boric acid and not borax I may be tempted to experiment.  Borax is cheap.  4 pounds for about 3 Dollars.  It's also an ingredient in my next homemade product: dishwashing detergent.

Soda Ash

Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is needed as well.  Don't confuse this with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), they are not close enough in alkalinity to work well in a detergent.  This is the source of our base to dissolve light organic matter (stains) from the fabric, though it's not so strong as to dissolve the fabric itself.  You would need a LOT more baking soda than soda ash to raise the pH enough for cleansing.  Anyways, you can find this in two places (of which I'm aware) in big box mart; in the laundry section as washing soda and in the swimming pool section as pH UP.  Now, if you choose to use pH UP, READ THE LABEL.  It MUST be sodium carbonate.  If it says caustic potash, caustic soda, lye, sodium hydroxide, or potassium hydroxide, put the bottle down and walk away.  That stuff is drain cleaner and will give you a nice chemical burn before it ever makes it into your washer to dissolve your clothes.  I used pH UP, and it's really affordable.  I purchased 5 pounds about 5 years ago for about $3.50.  I just used the last of it, so I'll be buying a new jug of pH UP soon.

FELS-NAPTHA Laundry Soap

Last but not least, we need soap.  Lye soap, to be exact.  Just say no to glycerine "soap" and Dove.  They aren't really soap.  Look for the word, "SOAP" on the label.  Ivory is good.  FELS-NAPTHA and ZOTE are recommended and cost about 1 Dollar per bar.  Despite the name, FELS-NAPTHA contains no naphtha.  That would be bad.  FELS-NAPTHA and ZOTE can be found in the laundry section of big box mart.  If it's not there, use Ivory or Dial or something like that, so long as it's really SOAP.  Soap acts as a surfactant, allowing water, which has been softened by the BORAX, to displace the organic compounds loosened by the soda ash.  Now doesn't that all make sense?

Okay, now for the fun part.  Mix equal parts BORAX, soda ash, and grated soap into your vessel.  One bar of FELS-NAPTHA grates to 2 cups, so I did 2 cups of each ingredient.  

Wasn't that easy?  It took you less time to make the stuff than it did to read this post!  Don't you wish I'd just said that at the beginning?  What fun would that have been?!

When washing, add 1 tablespoon of the mixture to a load, 2 tablespoons if the load is large or soiled.  If you have hard water, you may want to add another tablespoon of straight borax per load as well.

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Follow up: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Finally

Looking back, it seems that every winter I decide to do something with Neatojet. I log in, change the template a bit, and post SOMETHING. Well, this year it's for real. I've got some open ended ideas for this Internet presence and my mind is finally churning again now that some long-standing family issues have begun to to improve, re-opening my world and the possibilities I'm able to see.

There's going to be a jumble of items here covering a wide range of topics and purposes. I'm currently working out a way to provide organization for the presentation and evolution of these items in a flexible but coherent way. I need something more than the TAG system already in place. What does this mean? I'm creating a menu! I just don't yet know how it will be organized. Once it's in place, it will likely change often until I'm satisfied.