0 So I'm a mixologist now...

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Not the bartender kind...I have started mixing up my own hair care and house hold products.

After looking online and doing some research on ingredients and DIY cleaners, I have found that most cleaners have the same base. Most of the ingredients you need to make your own products are probably in your kitchen or bathroom cabinets!

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I think that even if you don't make your own products, knowing how to make them is a great asset because you never know when you may get into a crunch and not be able to make it to the store or if you just want to be creative one day! Learning how to do for yourself is something no one can ever take away from you.

As I find them, I will be sharing recipes that would be great bases, you can add your own oils, fragrance, powders, etc. Here is one for....



Laundry Detergent:

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1 bar of grated/ finely chopped soap
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. If your bar soap flakes aren't very fine resulting in a chunky powder, you can put the whole mix in the blender for a few minutes. Add your oils and give it one last mix.

Tips:

• To avoid causing soap buildup in your washer, make sure you use a all natural bar of soap that has very little oil. A soap like Dove or something wouldn't work. 
• You can eliminate the bar soap altogether if you use something like OxyClean. You just mix in 1 cup OxyClean in the place of the bar soap.
• If you clothes aren't coming out as bright as you would like you can add salt (1 cup) and or baking soda to your mix. A recipe of salt, baking soda and bar soap will also work well as detergent.
• To help the soap dissolve in cold water, make sure you grate the soap into very fine pieces or blend it for a few minutes.
• To make liquid detergent from this, just boil 3 or so gallons of water and pour the mix in, let it sit overnight and in the morning you should have thick liquid detergent. *for this you must use bar soap

Look up some videos on youtube to see different recipes.  Here are some that I found useful:

Pinkyhasabrain- Homemade Powdered Detergent

Tsdvideos- Liquid Detergent (does comparison)

If you're hesitant about making your own detergent just remember that most detergents have the same basic ingredients, so just tweak it and add what you like and experiment. Also, keep in mind that people have been washing clothes before there was Gain, Tide, Sun, OxyClean, etc. if they could do it and make it work so can you!

*I haven't tried this recipe yet, I plan to try one later on today with salt, baking soda and a bar of soap. I'll let you all know how it turns out. I'll be using on my daughters stanky (yes, stAnky) onesies...if it can clean those it's a keeper!