How to Make 4-Ingredient Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent

For two years I’ve been buying homemade laundry detergent at a local art and craft show. When I ran out and had a few more months to wait for the next show, I decided I should make my own. Great decision!

I found a DIY laundry detergent recipe that is so easy to make, and since I control the ingredients, I know I have an all-natural and non-toxic laundry detergent.

Why is Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent Important?

The skin is the largest organ in the human body. Your skin can absorb chemicals that are used in products that touch your skin.

Have you  thought about the chemicals contained in most laundry detergents? Not all of those chemicals wash out in the rinse, so then they can be absorbed into your body through your skin.

Knowing that what you wash your clothes with will end up absorbed into your body makes it pretty important for your health to use non-toxic ingredients in your laundry detergent.

Global Healing Center lists 6 dangers of laundry detergent, all that revolve around it being bad for your health, bad for the environment, and the new laundry pods are a safety risk for children.

Budget-Friendly

This recipe makes a very large batch, so the cost of the ingredients will be $20-30. However, a typical load of laundry will get clean by using only 1 tablespoon of the DIY laundry detergent, so it will last a very long time.

If your washer has an extra large load capacity, you’ll use a heaping tablespoon, but still much more economical than store bought detergent. Depending on the initial ingredient cost, it’s estimated to be less than 10 cents per load.

How to Make Non-Toxic Laundry Detergent

After researching different recipes, I settled on this 4-ingredient non-toxic laundry detergent recipe. All ingredients are completely safe, and it works great. Our clothes come out clean, and the bath towels and linen are softer than with regular store bought detergent.

Making your own laundry detergent takes about 15 minutes and is super simple. Even the kids can help with this project. Basically you buy the 4 ingredients, grate the soap, and mix it up.

There are a couple items that will be helpful:

1. A large pan that will hold ALL the ingredients. I used a large turkey roasting pan. My friend uses a kitty litter box (used just for this recipe, of course, lol!) The larger the container, the less mess from powder flying around.
2. A cheese grater or, better yet, a food processor.  (Watch my video below, and you’ll understand why a food processor will save you time and elbow grease!)
3. Containers. To be environmentally friendly, reuse the Oxi Clean container. Just label the container so everyone in the family knows that it is laundry detergent, and not just Oxi Clean. I also reuse large plastic or glass containers that have a tight lid. Mason jars or plastic kitchen containers will all do the trick.

Four Ingredients

3 lb box of Oxi Clean Free (can also use Oxi Clean Baby)
4 lb box of Baking Soda
4 lb box of Super Washing Soda
4 bars of Kirk’s Original Coco Castile bar soap

The first 3 ingredients act as a laundry booster that will help fight stains. The baking soda will help deodorize the laundry. The bar soap is the detergent-like ingredient in this recipe.

I couldn’t find the Castile bar soap in the store, so I ordered it from Amazon. I got 5 bars for about $10. Instead of storing that 5th bar, I just added it to the batch of detergent. As an alternative, you can also use Fels-Naptha laundry bars.

Directions

1. Mix the 3 dry ingredients.
2. Grate the bar soap. A food processor can help make this easier.
3. Mix all 4 ingredients well.
4. Reuse the Oxi Clean container to hold the final detergent mix. Any container with a tight lid will work just fine.

Use 1 tablespoon per large load. I use a heaping tablespoon because our washing machine tub is extra large. So for two people, this recipe will easily last us a year.

Don’t worry that it doesn’t suds up, it will get your laundry clean.

Have a high-efficiency washing machine? This homemade laundry detergent  recipe does not contain a sudsing agent as an ingredient, so it is safe to use in a high-efficiency washer.

Learn With My 2-Minute Video

Watch my 2-minute video that shows the step-by-step process of making this non-toxic laundry detergent recipe:

Makes a Great Gift

Since this DIY non-toxic laundry detergent recipe makes a large batch, it  is also perfect to give as gifts.

Great for:

• Parents
• Grandparents
• New mom at a baby shower
• Anyone who is hard to buy for
• College students who hate spending money on expensive laundry detergent!

Give homemade laundry detergent a try and let me know how you like it!

PIN FOR LATER!