Musings from Marilyn

Posts Tagged ‘soap’

Well, I finally took the plunge and did what was the last holdout of my Eco-Friendly-Clothesline-Loving-Cold-Water-Washing-Laundry-Goddess status:  making my own environmentally friendly detergent.  I have been meaning to do this for years but finally got a nudge, okay, a push from a thread on the eBay Clothing Discussion board.  There was a lively discussion about making homemade detergent, and since I had all the ingredients (and laundry to do) I made up a batch of the powdered detergent.

There is a liquid version and a powdered version.  I chose the powdered version because frankly, it sounded a lot less complicated.  And the liquid version makes something like 792 gallons at a time and I don’t have the storage space.  Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit on the amount, but it was a staggeringly huge amount!

The powdered version is really simple:

• One bar of Fels Naptha soap – finely grated
• One cup of Borax
• One cup of Washing Soda or Baking Soda

I used the fine grate side of my grater to get the soap finely grated, kind of like Parmesan cheese.  It takes a bit of muscle but it goes pretty fast.  Then just mix the Fels Naptha in a bowl with the Borax and the Washing Soda.  Or you could mix it in a jar and shake it up (lid on, please ).  Now it’s ready to go and should look something like this:

Use 2 Tablespoons of powder per load.  Since 2 Tablespoons equals 1/8th cup, I found an old 1/8th measuring cup and keep it with the detergent.  If you are using warm or hot water, just add the powder to the load.  If you are using cold water to wash, you can put the powder into a little saucepan of water on the stove and heat until the soap melts, then add to your laundry load.

Today I washed a white load in warm water, and a dark load in cold water.  The detergent worked really well on both loads and the laundry came out very clean and soft.  Be aware that there are little or no suds, but it does clean amazingly!  There really is no scent either, just the very faint clean smell of the Fels Naptha, which I happen to adore.

It’s easy, it’s safe, it works, and it’s amazingly thrifty.  I haven’t done a cost analysis of this, but I’m sure it’s just pennies per load.  We don’t need a bunch of over-scented chemicals to get our laundry clean!  We can help the environment and help our pocketbook in one fell swoop.  So give it the old college try and you too, can be on the road to being a Laundry Goddess.  It’s fun!

~Marilyn Huttunen

I am a big fan of old-fashioned bar soap; those hard milled, dense bars that smell of  some strong floral combination.   Yup, love it!  The trend now is for liquid body washes to be used with those ghastly nylon scrubber things.  It’s rare to see a bar of soap in a soap dish in the bathroom anymore.

There are still bar soaps out there, to be sure.  But most times they are some gelatinous brightly colored glob that dissolves almost instantaneously.  It’s hard to find the old time stuff; the kind that was always present in every vintage bathroom soap dish.

I love the vintage ’40s and ’50s advertisements for bar soap in women’s magazines.  Such charm!  Such hope!  “It will leave your skin softer, smoother…flower-fresh and younger looking!” claims Cashmere Bouquet.  “For velvet-smooth Beauty Lather that caresses your skin, leaves your body glowing with a warm blush of fragrant loveliness, enjoy a beauty bath with Bath Size Palmolive”.   Or, for the ultimate prize of ‘catching a man’ using Woodbury facial soap, “Jim wed his Woodbury-beautiful bride at majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.”

I mean, really…who wouldn’t want to try bar soap after all those promises, vintage or not?  Just wash your face or take a bath with it, and presto…instant allure that no man will be able to resist!

I’m always looking for the old-time soap, and find it from time to time in interesting places like rummage sales and thrift stores.  I recently found a box of vintage thick, sturdy, tuberose scented French milled soap.  No doubt it was probably given as a gift, and then donated (I’m always grateful to those who donate).  The bars are just so solid, and the scent is divine.  It really makes taking a shower a lovely experience, and the bars seemingly last forever.

The scent of these vintage soaps is what gets me.  Such poignancy that touches some memory in the recesses of my mind.  The feel of the delicate lather gently cleaning, the softly scented skin as a result.  Just lovely.  Maybe those vintage ads are true!

Marilyn