Posted by RChel on 1/30/2019 to How To
Homemade Laundry Soap is simple to make, cost effective, and great for families with members having sensitive skin. The ingredients can be found in your local grocery store. If you do not have extra handcrafted soap to shred, we sell 100% olive oil Castile which has been aged for at least 4 months (most for over a year) which is perfect for this project. We specify handcrafted soap because it is natural and does not contain synthetic detergents like commercial bars.

This is a recipe I came up with in the early 2000's because I've had a detergent sensitivity since I was a child (much to the dismay of my Mom who really wanted her daughter to wash dishes!) It was less of a challenge to create an effective laundry soap recipe than to find a commercial product that didn't leave me with patches of dermatitis wherever my clothing touched my skin.

Ingredients you'll need:
  • 3 cups of shredded handcrafted soap
  • 2 cups Washing Soda
  • 1/2 cup citric acid
  • 3-6 mL lemongrass or lavender essential oil (optional)

You'll also need
  • disposable plastic pipets for measuring the essential oil
  • grater
  • measuring cups
  • a 1/2 gallon sized bowl
  • either 2 gallon zip seal bags, or an air tight container/lid combination
  • a permanent marker for labeling your laundry soap bag/bowl
  • nitrile gloves (optional)


Grated Handcrafted Soap prepping for Homemade Laundry Soap
How to:
  1. Wear gloves if desired.
  2. Grate the handcrafted soap until you have 3 cups. Once grated, continue to crumble the soap shreds until they are as small as possible.
  3. In the bowl, combine shredded, crumbled soap with the washing soda and citric acid.
  4. Mix, mix, mix, mix, mix.
  5. Add essential oil if desired.
  6. Mix, mix, mix, mix, mix. Voila! Homemade Laundry Soap!!
  7. If using zip seal bags, put one bag inside the other. Yes, use 2...you'll thank me when they don't burst like a single bag most likely will. ;)
  8. Put the laundry soap into the bags, or into an air tight container.
  9. Label your Laundry soap.
  10. Use it and enjoy your amazing Laundry Soap!



Homemade Laundry Soapd ready for useYou can utilize your Handmade Laundry Soap in HE machines. We use about 1 tablespoon per load in ours. It is appropriate for hand washables, too. If you need a bit more of a boost for extra greasy, dirty laundry try scrubbing it into the stain with a brush and hot water and possibly adding a bit more washing soda directly to the stain and scrubbing. Let it sit for awhile (but not so long the wetted area dries out), and then launder as usual. Check the stain prior to drying.

Thanks for reading!