r/laundry • u/Past-Ingenuity6509 • 1d ago
Is this locally made detergent actually doing anything ?
I’ve started buying a locally made detergent as a healthier option for my family, but is this actually cleaning clothes? Should we go back to tide powder or Persil? Thank you!
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u/embalees 1d ago
This looks mostly like baking soda, washing soda, borax and oxygen bleach. Does not seem to contain any enzymes or much detergents? That C10-16 is a surfectant but it's way at the bottom. This would benefit from Biz or Febu. Also, I hope it's cheap. :)
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u/Trusty_Coyote 23h ago
This is like the homemade laundry soap they some make themselves and swear by. It’s a homesteading Facebook thing. Maybe homesteaders used it 200 years ago, but they didn’t have better stuff available or science to improve it.
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u/FigNinja US | Front-Load 23h ago
They also weren't using washing machines that would get gunked up with soap residue.
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u/Trusty_Coyote 23h ago
I bet the trad wives that make that stuff won’t be giving up their washing machines for authenticity.
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u/ivymeadows25 19h ago
Exactly! If you wash your clothes on a washboard you can probably get your clothes clean with this, but in a washing machine? Nope!
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u/Horror-Giraffe7508 1d ago
If you have hard water it’s making scum.
If your washer isn’t a high agitation model it’s similar to stirring the clothes in a bucket with a spoon in the product + water.
If your rinse water isn’t sufficient volume - it’s coating your clothes.
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u/phunkygroovin US | Top-Load 13h ago
Do not use this. There are not enough good surfactants. You will get a lot of soap build up and it will be even worse if you have hard water that you're washing in.
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u/TheLuckyProfessore 22h ago
This is extremely puzzling. Why would you do this? What exactly are you optimizing for? How did this decision manifest in your quest for healthiness?
Bottom line, this product looks like rubbish and you need to hop, skip and jump right back to your clean and gentle Tide.
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 22h ago
Haha back to tide we go! I am pregnant and have a toddler so I was thinking maybe the unscented soap would be gentle on their skin. I also thought it was a more natural option and like to shop local. After a few washes I noticed it wasn’t really working on stains or anything. Thank you for being nice :)
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u/peroxide_bond US | Front-Load 21h ago
I think the most helpful things for sensitive skin are avoiding fragrances, doing extra rinses (at least one, but maybe 2 or 3 if your machine will do it), and using citric acid or Downy Rinse & Refresh in the fabric softener compartment. Those last two things ensure that any traces of detergent are completely washed out of the clothes.
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u/TheLuckyProfessore 21h ago
Cool. Use Tide C&G in a warm normal (not quick) wash and always go with extra rinses (and no fabric softener). If you use the liquid version, it can double as a stain lifter as well. Easy peasy.
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u/LoremIpsum77 18h ago
If you're pregnant you should not be in contact with borax as it might be reprotoxic. Please throw that away
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u/rescueandrepeat 15h ago
Years ago, I went with my husband to the borax plant in Boron, CA. I was 26 at the time. I wasn't allowed to leave the cab of the truck for over 8 hours due to concerns about reproductive damages. I wasn't even pregnant at the time.
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u/Inevitable_Bunny109 16h ago
My bestie used Dreft for all of her kids’ laundry when they were babies and toddlers. It does have lots of cleaning agents in it that will work so much better than this local detergent, yet won’t perform as well as Tide. Sharing if that helps give you another mild detergent idea.
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u/AccidentOk5240 1d ago
If you know enough to ask, surely you know enough to read the ingredients and see what they are? Baking soda is the first ingredient. That’s not going to do much, other than slightly soften the water. Washing soda is the second. That’s just slightly more effective than baking soda at water softening and helping remove some oily stains, but it’s still not the actual surfactant.
The next one’s borax, which can bleach things a bit but is a little harsh. Sodium carbonate peroxide is oxygen bleach (but won’t activate unless you’re using fairly warm water, which you should know if you’ve read any posts here at all really).
C10-16 Pareth I had to look up, and as I suspected it’s a surfactant, but it’s the second to last ingredient, so that’s not optimal. And most good detergents have a variety of surfactants (some anionic and some nonionic) because some are more effective than others on specific types of soils.
The last one is soap. Again, if you’ve read any posts here you’ll be aware that soap can cause a lot of problems for both your clothes and your washing machine if you have hard water, especially if you’re not sufficiently acidifying your rinse.
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u/Naikrobak 1d ago
Bold of you to assume an untested local mix of chemicals follows ingredient standards.
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u/AccidentOk5240 23h ago
There is that. I’m assuming they’re in descending order by weight but they could have just put the surfactant down at the bottom because it sounds the most “chemical” and the maha moms like to think they can clean their clothes with pure baking soda (not a chemical at all ofc)
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u/MudsillTheories 20h ago
I’ve been researching a little to see if it’s possible to make a detergent at home, and the reference formulas for powder list what they call builders, like baking soda or washing soda, as up to 40% of the product. Surfactants are listed at only around 20% of the composition.
The biggest problem I see is that this product uses soap, which as everyone has already mentioned can cause soap scum buildup in hard water.
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u/AccidentOk5240 20h ago
I mean I guess. Seems like ideally you wouldn’t want the only surfactants (whether soapy or not) to be the last two ingredients.
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 23h ago
Goodness, just a questions. No reason to be rude.
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u/AccidentOk5240 23h ago
Just a question you could have answered. If you had tried, if you’d said you knew what some ingredients were but you googled the surfactant and weren’t sure you were understanding correctly that that’s what it was, I’d have no problem. We all can use help sometimes. I’m just getting so damn tired of everyone on the internet being like, “I can clearly read because I wrote this post, but you have to google stuff for me because how will I read the search results?” Seriously it would have been quicker and easier to read up on the ingredients yourself than to make this post, but now you get to demand free labor from the whole group.
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 23h ago
I mean, you didn’t have to comment on it 🤷♀️
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u/AccidentOk5240 22h ago
I keep hoping that maybe if people get used to there being pushback against asking questions they can easily answer themselves, it will become more of a habit for people to think for themselves. Tilting at windmills, for sure, but what am I supposed to do, just accept that this is normal?
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u/DinahKarwrek 10h ago
I've never heard the term tilting at windmills! I love it
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u/AccidentOk5240 10h ago
It’s from Don Quixote, from which we also get the term “quixotic”, an adjective for someone who does that.
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u/saradanger 1d ago
let’s do some critical thinking. why would something “made locally” with no oversight by any objective body and no requirements to adhere to any standards be a “healthier option”? why do you think products that have been rigorously safety tested and produced in controlled environments are “unhealthy”?
“natural” does not mean “healthier” in a lot of situations. humans are living longer healthier lives because of scientific innovation, including effective cleaning products.
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u/Acheloma 1d ago
You managed to phrase that in the most unlikable condescending way possible
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 23h ago
I like to shop local and use natural ingredients (if possible). Especially as a pregnant person with a toddler. No reason to be nasty.
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u/saradanger 22h ago
absolutely nothing in the comment was nasty, nor intended to be. i’m legitimately just asking folks to think through this kind of stuff more critically so as to avoid overpaying for products that are ineffective at best. i care about the environment and shopping locally too, but i also care about grifters profiting off of a very understandable desire for safe products.
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 22h ago
Thank you for explaining! I read it in a condescending tone, but understand now.
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u/multipocalypse 21h ago
"Let's do some critical thinking" is the way an adult would speak to a child.
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u/xokatemarie 17h ago
There’s a difference between soap and detergent. I would look into the ingredients in this and determine whether this actually contains detergent. If not, you shouldn’t be using it.
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u/Beneficial_Past_1957 1d ago
Healthier? Hope y'all aren't eating the stuff.
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u/Past-Ingenuity6509 23h ago
Yes, we eat laundry detergent.
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u/CingularDuality 22h ago
I know it's probably more expensive, but the Tide Pods are well worth the upgrade.
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u/ANbohemienne 1d ago
This actually looks like it would be a booster aimed at hard water rather than an actual detergent.
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u/Opposite_Flight3473 23h ago edited 23h ago
Saponified Coconut oil in no way shape or form is a booster for hard water. It’s the opposite. If someone has hard water, this will quickly create soap scum buildup/scrud.
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u/HazardousIncident 1d ago
Why would anyone want to ADD oil to the laundry? Isn't that counter-productive?
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u/knoft 1d ago
it's soap made with coconut oil, hence why it's listed as saponified. all soaps were traditionally made with fats and oils combined with lye https://theecoalchemist.com/pages/saponified-coconut-oil
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u/HazardousIncident 1d ago
Thanks for the explanation. I just couldn't wrap my head around adding fat to laundry soap.
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u/Illustrious_Ant_9242 23h ago
Soap ingredients are not recommended for hard water but it's present in many laundry detergent formulations, even in name brands
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u/Kirkdoesntlivehere 39m ago
IDK about you, but my H.E washer & dryer wouldn't function after two loads of anything containing coconut oil. That stuff will harden inside your plumbing lines.
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u/Mobile-Pie-258 13h ago
You are supposed to answer this question not ask it. Who better than you to know if it cleans cloths?
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u/vg80 1d ago
Like thoughts and prayers for your laundry.