10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes Here is a nice stack of different recipes for making homemade laundry detergent that I’ve collected over the years. Do they work? Yes, I’ve had good luck with them. At the time I was using them, we had a relative who was in trade school living with us. Every day he was mechanic grease from head to toe–the clothes still cleaned up nice! Making your own is a discipline and it’s not for everyone, but it definitely saves money–sometimes just costing pennies a load! For the bar soaps required in the recipes, you could try Fels-Naptha, Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, and Zote. Here are ten different recipes you can try, I’ve also added a very useful Frequently Asked Questions section at the bottom of the page. 1 quart Water (boiling) 2 cups Bar soap (grated) 2 cups Borax 2 cups Washing Soda Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. Hot water 1 cup Washing Soda 1/2 cup Borax 1 Soap bar Grate the bar and add to a large saucepan with hot water. Ugh!
SAY NO TO PALM OIL Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) CSPO represents the certification process where palm oil growers must commit to real credible sustainability standards through time-bound plans. There is an increasing demand for palm oil that is sustainably certified in Europe and North America, including big names such as Walmart, Unilever and Nestle. As of 2011, CSPO represented over 10% of the global palm oil market but this has increased in recent years and is projected to increase in coming years. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) The RSPO is a multi-stakeholder organization that was founded in 2004 as a response to pressure from the negative attention the industry was getting for its environmental and social impacts. The Good: The RSPO is currently the best sustainability and social impact standard that exists around the palm oil industry.
Hot Process Soap Making - The New-Fangled Technique? I visited a craft fair a few days ago. I always find it very interesting to wander round and chat to the sellers. One of the soap makers had a lovely range of cold process soaps, I have recently been working with soap making using the hot process, so I asked if they had ever used this technique. I was very surprised to find that they hadn't even heard of the process, despite the fact that they had been making soap for many years, and from the tone of our discussion they obviously considered themselves experts. As the conversation continued it became apparent that they considered the hot process a "new fangled" way to make soap, so it was quite pleasing to be able to set them straight Hot process soap making has been used for centuries, there are several reasons for this... - It is much less reliant on quality ingredients, historically this was crucial, because ingredients of the purity that we now take for granted were simply not available when soap was first made.
Homemade Laundry Detergent Making your own homemade laundry detergent can be a great way to save on an ongoing basis. Here’s recipe that a HBHW reader submitted. Be sure to also read through the comments section below. We have quite a bit of good discussion on the topic going on and there are many questions that came up and have been answered below. What you need: All ingredients can be found at your local grocery store in the laundry isle. 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, shaved4 cups of hot water to melt the soap3 gallons of hot water1 cup of borax2 cups of washing soda1 cup of baking soda1 large Rubbermaid container about 4-5 gallons size Here’s what you do: Grate the soap into a saucepan. Add 4 cups of hot water to the pan. Add borax, washing soda and baking soda to the hot water. Add 3 gallons of hot water to the large container. Further Reading – Keeping It Clean This is a 3 ebook series that will help you spend less time and money on your laundry. Grab your copy today at
'Palmed Off': Is Your Dinner Killing Orangutans? When I found Max, he couldn’t walk. He was disorientated and terrified, and the burns to his feet and body were severe. He was one of several hundred orangutans displaced by forest clearing outside Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park in 2006. He had become separated from his family after plantation workers cruelly herded escaping orangutans back to the burning jungle—and away from precious plantation land. No more than one year old, Max had fought successfully against the trapping, hunting and forest clearing industries that endangered his short life. Palm oil monoculture is “palming” off orangutans in giant numbers, pushing the once abundant species closer than ever to extinction. These same scientists predict the species could be extinct by 2023. Palm Oil: The Other Kind of Oil Spill Palm oil plantations are used to harvest and process palm oil, an edible plant oil derived from the fleshy middle layer of the fruit of the oil palm. Will you stop using products that contain palm oil?
Making soap: 5 tips for homemade soap Until around 1916, making soap at home was commonplace. Using wood or plant ashes and leftover animal fats, families produced their own soap for cleaning their clothes and themselves. During World War I, when animal fats were in limited supply, German scientists developed synthetic detergents — and commercial soap was born. Homemade soap became less of a necessity, and gradually the practice dwindled. In recent years, back-to-the-landers and simple-living adherents have revived the homemade soap-making process — but it’s not only in favor with those who leave the big city for rural life or those with an anti-commercialist bent. For anyone interested in living as self-sufficiently as possible, it makes good sense to make your own soap. Homemade soap is good for your wallet: you can make big batches of soap from scratch for less than it costs to buy bar after bar at your local drugstore, and you can reuse leftover bits to make new soap. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. More resources: Photo credits
Butter and oil ingredients for making soap, bath, body, and spa products Vegetable and nut oils as well as some butters are used in soapmaking and spa products, they are also used as additives to hand-milled soaps to produce a superfatted soap, lastly they are used as bases for your soap or carrier oils for Essential and Fragrance oils. We use the oils and butters as they carry and dilute the concentrated essential and fragrance oils making them safe to use on the skin. They inhibit evaporation and act like a fixative, helping the essential Oils to be quickly absorbed into the skin, or holding the fragrance oils on the skin for lasting scent. Most oils especially those that are liquid at room temperature should be kept in the refrigerator or well below room temperature for the longest shelf life, and refrigeration is always recommended for hemp seed and flax seed oils. It is fundamentally important that your oils are protected from air and light which causes rancidity especially in areas of high humidity. Calendula Oil: Sooths sensitive and irritated skin.
Save The Orangutan Indonesia - Habitat for Survival Project - Rainforest Rescue ShareThis Rainforest Rescue’s Orangutan Habitat for Survival Project is working in partnership with the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in North Sumatra to save the Orangutan by restoring and protecting critical Orangutan habitat in the Gunung Leuser National Park . This is being achieved through the planting of rainforest plant species, the removal of illegally planted Oil Palms, and the prevention of further clearing of the rainforest. Our project is also educating the local community on the importance of the rainforest and threats to Orangutan survival , as well as providing alternative and sustainable employment through rainforest restoration.
Important Soap Safety Instructions On this page I'm going to explain essential soap safety instructions that every soap maker must follow. Please, don't ignore these guidelines. Trust me; this fun craft can become somewhat dangerous if you're not careful. Scared yet? Well, don't be. Free Soap Making e-Newsletter Plus instantly receive one of my own personal soap recipe formulas using a combination of sweet almond oil, avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, castor oil and shea butter scented with an intoxicating essential oil blend. Here are the basic rules that I personally follow for soap making safety: Understand the dangers of lye... The number one reason why people don't try to make soap at home is because they are afraid of the potential hazards. Soap making is just like anything else... whether it's using bleach around the house or frying chicken with scorching hot oils, there are always slight risks involved. Return from soap safety guide to how to make soap Return to the soap making resource home page
Distilled Water and Soap Making You're probably curious as to why I would recommend using distilled water. The soap making process works best with water that is soft and doesn't contain excess minerals or other impurities. If you have soft water or have access to some, use it! You can tell that your water is soft if you feel like the soap doesn't rinse off when you wash. Want something a little bit different? Add the lye to the reduced amount of water and cool to about 90 degrees F. or 32 degrees C. Many other liquids can be used in place of water as well.