After hearing about Autumn’s experience with using my Old-Fashioned Lye Soap in her homemade laundry detergent, I decide to tweak the recipe a bit and add some fresh-smelling orange essential oil. If you’d like to try making your own laundry detergent similar to Autumn’s, I found a great recipe at the Modern Cottage blog. I just replaced the Fels-Naptha soap with some Great Cakes Soapworks Old-Fashioned Orange Essence Lye Soap. Autumn recommended using a food processor to really get everything well-mixed, so that’s what I do. Here’s my recipe:

Homemade Powdered Laundry Soap
1 bar Great Cakes Soapworks Orange Essence Lye Soap
1 c Borax – 20 Mule Team (get it from Walmart or the grocery store laundry aisle)
1 c Washing Soda – Arm & Hammer (NOT the same as baking soda—generally sold in the laundry aisle at the grocery store)
1/4 c baking soda

Start by grating the lye soap with a cheese grater or your food processor. Insert chopping blade in food processor, add all ingredients and pulse to combine.

Directions for use: 1 Tbsp. for light loads, or 2 T. for large or heavy loads. Can add ¼ c. vinegar to the rinse cycle to soften fabrics and reduce static. Your clothes will NOT smell like vinegar. However, you can also add 20-30 drops essential oil (such as lavender, lemon, or tea tree) to one gallon vinegar for added deodorant and anti-bacterial properties. I skip the vinegar and just use unscented dryer sheets.

As you can see, I’ve also made more of the plain, unscented Old-Fashioned Lye Soap as well. Some folks like to make a paste and treat their poison ivy or poison oak with it. Of course the FDA has not endorsed this type of treatment and I can’t speak to its full efficacy. If you have a bad case, by all means, please see your doctor!