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laundry without soap??

 
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hello everyone, this is my first post... i was wondering if anyone has done laundry without using any type of soap?? i do laundry by hand and it would be easier if i didn't have to put the clothes back through for the rinse. thank you
 
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Yes, a sock full of anti bacterial herbs, minerals, vinegar, and a touch of salt, use rare earth magnets instead of salt if you use a grey water system. Agitate with your sock tea bag. Use your favorite fresh aromatic herbs, lavender is also an anti bacterial, along with many others. Vinegar keeps your clothes soft.

Depending how often you do laundry, you can use the same water , or most of it over and over, its like a biological vinegar soap, just add more water and herbs. I am not sure if there is even a subject on this type of cleaning.... just something i have used. Never went rancid, always had a floral vinegar smell that would mellow out after drying. Did i invent something? Probably not.
 
mary jayne richmond
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THANK YOU CHAD!!! i will be using this in my next load
 
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I use baking soda and vinegar in a washing machine.
Presumably it could work by hand too.
A solution of hot water and baking soda. (I put a half cup into the washing machine)
When it cools down, do whatever you do by hand to 'agitate'.
Then put it in a solution of water and vinegar.
Give it a little while for the vinegar to get in there and do whatever magic it does (I think it mainly changes the ph and makes things softer that way).
Rinse with water.

I sometimes put in a drop or two of essential oil with the vinegar.
I have also added in borax sometimes with the baking soda.
 
pollinator
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There are commercial products that purport to offer alternatives to soap. Lots of information about them being a scam is readily googleable, though.

Several are listed here. http://inhabitat.com/is-it-green-the-laundry-ball/

I tried one on a farm that I interned at for several months. I think it was the Green Wash Ball. My experience, and the consensus of the other users there, was that it sorta kinda worked, a bit. I ended up using soap every 2nd wash or so, as it didn't do the greatest job. I don't think anyone did a comparison vs plain water. To be fair, we're talking filthy farm clothes, in really large loads of laundry; probably twice the size of what an average consumer washer would handle.


Chad, your system sounds good; can you elaborate on what minerals you use, and amount of vinegar per wash?
 
pollinator
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I would love to see some pics of your herbal vinegar soap water washing station and also some before wash and after wash pics, esp of clothes that you have been wearing and washing, over the past couple month.
 
steward
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You'd probably still need to rinse, but I use a mix of oxyclean (the generic stuff), washing soda, and baking soda for my cloth diapers. Cloth diapers aren't supposed to actually be cleaned in soap, as it builds up in the diapers. You could probably search for other cloth diaper detergent recipes for other soap-free solutions. Still, for not rinsing, you're probably much better off with one of the solutions mentioned earlier! (For instance, I wouldn't think you'd need to rinse the baking soda and vinegar laundry much, as the vinegar will neutralize the baking soda you washed with, all the while helping it clean, too, as the acidic vinegar reacts with the basic baking soda to make all sorts of fizzy fun that lifts dirt.) Speaking of reactions, Hydrogen pyroxide and baking soda do some fun stuff together, too, creating a natural bleach (pretty much the same as oxyclean). It's color-safe, too!
 
chad Christopher
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Dillion and bengi, i can definitely elaborate on my washing system. I need a few days, i will make a post. I kind of have a question about uploading photos. I know how to use a url. But i dont know what to use so i can display my own pictures, and i don't really feel like creating a photo bucket account or something similar. I will if needed, but if some one could drop me a pm, that explains a easy way. Please do.
 
Nicole Alderman
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chad Christopher wrote:Dillion and bengi, i can definitely elaborate on my washing system. I need a few days, i will make a post. I kind of have a question about uploading photos. I know how to use a url. But i dont know what to use so i can display my own pictures, and i don't really feel like creating a photo bucket account or something similar. I will if needed, but if some one could drop me a pm, that explains a easy way. Please do.



You can add pictures as attachments. When you're in your "reply" window, look down and there's a tab that says "Attachments." Click on "Attachments," and then click "Choose File." You can add three pictures per posts. This thread (https://permies.com/t/31696/tnk/posts-simple) is a "How To" of how to add pictures, videos, change fonts, etc.

I hope that helps!
 
chad Christopher
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Thank you, i never noticed that tab. I understand how to use that feature. Also thanks for letting me know it is a 3 picture limit. I will make sure to condense my photos as much as possible.
 
mary jayne richmond
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i can't wait to see your pictures Chad... thank you!!! i washed my last 3 loads of laundy with your method, and my results were.......1) my clothe are no cleaner then before.. BUT.. they also are NO dirtier then when i wash them with soap. 2) i didn't have to put them through a rinse.. so that saved a lot of time and effort. 3) i had soapwort, lemonbalm and vinegar available at the time so that is what i used. i can make the vinegar, and harvest the other herbs so this is wonderful. i'm thinking about buying some rare earth magnets to put in the sock also.. oh, i also took my sock after i was done with the laundry and put it in a jar and filled it the rest of the way with vinegar, this way next week i'll just pull the sock out of the jar and toss it in to the wash.
 
chad Christopher
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The reason for the magnets is to reduce static during agitation. Supposedly they help in degrading film. But i use them because i live in a humid climate, and lots of pets. So static reduction helps me stay hair free. But i believe they probably help clean also. I wont say much more for now, i want to save it for one big post. But thank you, im glad it worked for you. Lemon balm is delicious, to the pallet and nose, and also an antibiotic! I often use it in my 'detergent'. Details details, soon to come.
 
mary jayne richmond
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Update on the laundry sock... this is what went into my sock this week soapwort, yarrow, lemon balm, mullien. then i put the sock in a jar of vinegar that i had soaked orange peels in several monthes ago, then today i washed clothes with it and i'm still impressed with the results.. my clothes are just as clean with "the sock" as they were with detergent. i didn't put them through a rinse, i'll see if it becomes a problem. slight vinegar smell when i took them out of the washer, but after they were dry no vinegar smell at all.. I'm absolutely sold on "the sock" Chad any idea how long before i need to change out the herbs. after the laundry was done i squeezed out the sock the best i could and stuck it back in my jar of vinegar and topped it off with a little extra to make sure it was covered
 
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Hi Mary Jayne,

are you using dried or fresh herbs? The sock recipe is intruiguing. Are you using hot or cold water?

What are you washing? I'm curious about the not rinsing, because I thought the rinsing would also take away the oils and skin dust etc from clothes, sheets etc. How often are you wearing something before you wash it?
 
mary jayne richmond
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Hi Rose, i used dried herbs, the water is cool/warm i use rainwater and then add some hot water to it. i'm washing sheets, socks, underwear, towels, jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and i wear my jeans and sweatshirt for the week before i change them. i'm going to see if the not rinsing is a problem... i'm hoping not , it will save me alot of work
 
Rose Pinder
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Great experiment. I might try it in a washing machine. I've stopped using soap/shampoo etc on my hair. The trick seems to be having enough hot/warm water to allow the oils to move off and away. I do a vinegar rinse at the end.

What are the minerals in the recipe? Any idea what the salt does, and how much did you put in?
 
mary jayne richmond
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Hi Rose, i'm not sure what minerals go in, and i didn't put any salt in, i'm hoping to use the grey water for plants so i didn't want the salt in it. keep us informed on how it works for you.. this is a fun experiment
 
steward
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Thanks for this experiment.  I use only vinegar to wash with and not rinse [for my clothes only ... DH clothes, sheets and towels get a regular wash]

I am looking forward to trying this with herbs.
 
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Have you tried dried China berries?

They're available commercially as "soap nuts".

They work fairly well and I've used the effluent for watering plants with no visible adverse effects.
 
gardener
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Now that's something I've often wondered about. There are several species of soap nuts, including one that is native to my area. I've spent some time trying to find a wild one here, but all I find are many, many china berry trees. As much as they look alike I'd not seen anything that actually told me they would work in the same fashion. Have you actually used them, or have you used the commercially sold product? I would happily gather china berries for our laundry if I thought they would work.
 
Chris Barrows
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I've only tried the commercial China berries.

Couldn't hurt to try drying the local ones though. Might be a good experiment.

I found a tree about three years ago, but couldn't get any to germinate.
 
Casie Becker
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Well, looking again for information on this leads to one person on a different forum saying they tried china berries and they didn't work. Looking into what the toxic chemical in the berries actually is, it's related to the poisons in the neem tree. I added to an ongoing thread about uses for this tree, but unfortunately still didn't find any evidence that it contains saponins.

I might experiment anyways this year because I did find information on easy ways to use it in the house and so will be harvesting some this year for those purposes, anyways.
 
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I use a $100 dollar washer spinner from Amazon for my clothes and leech it to my driveway. I use barely any detergent use sun on black water hose to heat and wash clean to dirty. I made the whole winter 7b without hot water washing from water heater. I do use more water but way less detergent and have great clean clothes.
 
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We use the green ball things, although they are supposed to be worn out after 1000 washes and they are probably past that.

We find our clothes are just as clean as they used to be, without any kind of build up of perfume and gack that you get with detergent.

I would say the only down side is for our whites - sheets don't look as white as they used to. The scent (clean linen smell) and feel (clean, no stickiness) of our clothes more than makes up for that.

We usually also add a tablespoon or less of washing soda which softens the water (although our water is pretty soft already) and therefore helps the cleaning.

I think the 'balls' just work by bashing the laundry about a bit more to be honest but it's great that we don't use detergent any more
 
Anne Miller
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Linda, if you hang your linens and whites outdoors the sun will brighten them for you.
 
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Hi!  I love this topic!!  I was beginning to use a homemade detergent mix of 1/2 washing soda to 1/2 kirk's castile soap, blended together in the food processor.  I'm really glad that I learned that I don't necessarily need the soap.  

On a blog I read that:
"Vinegar and soap (vs detergent) cannot be used together. Vinegar is acidic, soap is basic (alkaline) and the two tend to cancel each other out. This is a common error in homemade cleaning products. If there is a little more vinegar than soap, then the vinegar is doing the cleaning. If there is more soap than vinegar, then the soap is doing the cleaning. I see the combination of soap and vinegar (and even vinegar and baking soda) and they are NOT chemically compatible."

of course I have no idea, but some recommend using a downy ball filled with vinegar, so that the vinegar is released during the rinse cycle, and doesn't interfere with the washing soda.    just wanted to put that out there.

anyway, for washing clothes with just herbs and vinegar....I LOVE it!  soapwart is especially intriguing.  on this amazing website called www.mum.org (http://www.mum.org/pastgerm.htm), I found the following tidbit:

"My grandmother knew a lot about herbs from her mother and taught me a lot (we used to make shampoo from soapwort, and it was the best to whiten old linen; I wonder if textile museums know that?)"

When I looked for more information about using soapwort online, everyone said that it had to be boiled in water (I assumed this was required to release the saponins), but I see from the experiences shared here that boiling the herbs in water is not truly necessary.  

What I would like to know, is: is it important to soak the herbs in the water and vinegar for a long time before using it?  if so, how long do you let the herbs soak?  in the case where you are extracting the sock and storing it in a jar of vinegar, do you simply take the sock out of the jar and put it in a vat of water and get to washing straight away?  or do you pour the jar of herbed vinegar in as well?

 
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I've used the western soapberry that is native to this area to wash laundry and my hair. It leaves both with a mild, slightly fruity smell. It works great. I do rinse the laundry. If I can find enough soapberries, I pick the seeds out, and run them through an old hand crank meat grinder on the fine plate (this is a lot like grinding raisins, they are sticky unless very dry) and roll them into about an inch across balls. I just drop one into a small pot of water and heat to release the soap, and add it to the washer (for a extra large, very dirty load of barn clothes - you would need less if you dont get as dirty). You can strain the water to get the bits of fruit skin off if you want, but I find they shake off on the clothes line. They can be very weedy trees and make babies and suckers come up all around them. I'm planning to try to plant a row of them in the pasture.
 
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E. Jen wrote:I've used the western soapberry that is native to this area to wash laundry and my hair. It leaves both with a mild, slightly fruity smell. It works great. I do rinse the laundry. If I can find enough soapberries, I pick the seeds out, and run them through an old hand crank meat grinder on the fine plate (this is a lot like grinding raisins, they are sticky unless very dry) and roll them into about an inch across balls. I just drop one into a small pot of water and heat to release the soap, and add it to the washer (for a extra large, very dirty load of barn clothes - you would need less if you dont get as dirty). You can strain the water to get the bits of fruit skin off if you want, but I find they shake off on the clothes line. They can be very weedy trees and make babies and suckers come up all around them. I'm planning to try to plant a row of them in the pasture.



If you plant them in the pasture - I hope you won't let any animal graze on that part. Every part of the tree is supposed to be poisonous to people and animals.

And since it is poisonous, is it safe to use it on you scalp? Our scalp absorbs what we put on it readily.

If this has already been answered in this post somewhere, my apologies. I read about the chinaberries and thought I'd better not try to grow them. Not outdoors anyway. Maybe in a greenhouse, away from the grazing animals.

OR - would grazing animals instinctively not eat the tree anyway?

Just my thoughts.
 
mary jayne richmond
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Update to washing clothes without soap. Ok… so its been severals years since it posted this original post, wow time sure flies! Here’s what i have been doing since January 2022, no soap at all….. i put the clothes in and slosh them around for about 3 minutes, theni let them soak for 20-30 minutes and then they wash for 15 minutes . I have to say they are no dirtier then when i was washing at the laundromat and no soap so the grey water can go directly on the garden in the summer. No rinsing means less hauling of water, summers are easier as we use rain water. Hope this update helps someone, it feels really weird not to use soap, we, e been programed that clothes have to have detergents to be clean, and i,m sure there will be some messes that will require a bit of soap now and again, but so far i,m thrilled with the results.  Less water, no money spent on detergents,  that a win win in my book
 
pollinator
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my additions are already mentioned -- i have used borax to clean laundry...or baking soda and borax. they both work quite well, are cheap and usually on hand for when i run out of laundry detergent.

i've definitely used some hand soap, castile soap, soft soap or even a small amount of body wash or shampoo in a pinch, just a tiny bit....but that was more in a pinch and not a long term plan.
dr bronners make a nice laundry soap, a little goes a long way, and bonus best bottle ever for reading as you shower =)

i really would consider making the switch to just small amount of borax, or borax and baking soda and/ or castile soap... my motivations with laundry soap is usually cheap and easily available but borax and baking soda are things i like to stock up on big amounts, definitely cheap and available. there have been some times when i did just use these primarily for months, having a nice stash of both.

using dr bronners all the time would get a bit pricey. i have been a bit curious to see what it takes to make Castile Soap from oils... and also dipping my toe into making natural body products and such, soap making is a new craft i am dabbling in. i recently purchased a bulk order with some unscented plain simple castile soap, it was much cheaper to buy that way. unsure though if this will be as good for clothes as it is for body washing.
 
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there are many plants with saponins, including ivy, boil some leaves for a bit, strain and use. Soapwort is another plant you can use. https://lovelygreens.com/9-natural-soap-plants-for-making-lye-free-soap/ Personally I use 1 cup vinegar and a tsp of salt, a bit of bicarb is I want things white and fluffy.
BTW egg yolk makes the best shampoo.
 
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Hi all! I don’t know if this “counts” since it relies on electricity but I recently purchased an ozonator that goes in the cold water line before the washing machine. It adds ozone to the water which shifts the ph and makes it so you can wash all laundry in cold water without detergent. I am quite happy this far with how it works. My dream is to capture rainwater for laundry and then to pump it out into the garden after washing with it. The product I purchased is called o3 waterworks, if you are curious. I am definitely going to try some of the suggestions in this thread for any extra stinky stuff!
 
Anne Miller
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I have been doing laundry without soap since 2018

I add a cup of vinegar and hang my laundry outside.

I have been very happy with the results.

I don't always wash dear hubby's clothes this way as they might need a little more of something.
 
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Has anyone tried soap nuts? I saw them advertised on Lehman’s. Grows on trees
 
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Amanda Papay wrote:Has anyone tried soap nuts? I saw them advertised on Lehman’s. Grows on trees




I have and I’m really happy with them! They are great for cloth diapers too mentioned earlier
 
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Anne Miller wrote:I have been doing laundry without soap since 2018

I add a cup of vinegar and hang my laundry outside.

I have been very happy with the results.

I don't always wash dear hubby's clothes this way as they might need a little more of something.



To be clear, are we talking distilled white vinegar or ACV?  Household concentrations?  
Thanks.
 
Richie Ring
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mary jayne richmond wrote:Update to washing clothes without soap... Here’s what i have been doing since January 2022, no soap at all…


Mary, does this mean just plain water?  No herbs, no vinegar, no borax, no salt or baking soda?

Are you using well water, city water or other (rain water, distilled, etc.)

 
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It is citrus season in New Zealand and I have been candying a lot of lemon peel.
The process involves bringing the peel to a boil and discarding the water.
I save the discard water ( a light lemon yellow colour), and use it in the place of detergent in the kitchen (from a spray bottle).
I also have a mix with a tiny amount of detergent in it, and I use this for heavily soiled items like burnt pots.
I have been meaning to try this in the laundry in the place of laundry detergent, but have not yet done so.
I think this kind of a cleaner is called lemoncelo.
 
Anne Miller
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Richie Ring wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I add a cup of vinegar and hang my laundry outside.

I have been very happy with the results.



To be clear, are we talking distilled white vinegar or ACV?  Household concentrations?  
Thanks.



I am just talking about the cheap white stuff,  ,,, not pickling, ACV or any certain %.

Though any of those would work if you have nothing else.

This cheap vinegar can also be used as a cheap natural fabric softener instead of that other stuff.

Plain water with nothing added like Mary Jayne suggested works too.  I just like a little boost from the vinegar.
 
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Our museum (Western Australia) used to wash/clean ancient old tapestry using soapwort herb (Saponaria officinalis) as it was gentle enough not to damage the fibers and it cleaned them
 
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