In recent years, many people have decided to do their own laundry. Gentler on the skin and better for the environment, natural laundry detergent respects the planet and our health by avoiding the allergenic and irritating chemicals of conventional laundry detergents (perfumes, preservatives, etc.). And with several washes per week, it also saves money. However, even if this know-how is very easy to acquire, not all the recipes found on the internet are equal (approximate dosages, ingredients not always qualitative, etc.). It may therefore happen that liquid detergent tends to harden over time. So, what to do when your homemade laundry detergent hardens and how to avoid it in the future?
Grandma explains everything to you so you don’t need to resort to washing powder!
Laundry that hardens: 3 tips to avoid it
The choice of soap: the main reason for hardening laundry
If it hardens, it is generally because of its composition, and more precisely its soap. Very often, the soaps found in stores are not real Marseille soaps. In its original recipe, we find in fact a very short list of ingredients: 72% olive oil and 28% caustic soda. However, manufacturers tend to add many ingredients, starting with glycerin and palm oil. However, the glycerin tends to hardencausing your soap shavings or flakes to return to their solid form over time. She can also seriously clog the machine and give a viscous appearance to your soap preparations.
You must therefore opt for a soap without glycerin to avoid solidification of the detergent. You can also use liquid Marseille soap or liquid black soap for your recipe.
Daily precautions to avoid seeing your laundry harden
To preserve your homemade laundry detergent and avoid problems in the long term, it is important to mix it well. If your laundry is shaken before each use and regularlythere is less chance that it will form blocks or take on a two-phase appearance. To do this, avoid filling the bottle to the brim. Leave a minimum of space so that you can shake the bottle well.
Salt to prevent solidification
Another grandmother’s tip is simply to add the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of salt per 500 ml of detergent. This prevents the soap from hardening.
How to save laundry that is hardening? 2 easy tips!
A trip to the mixer for your hardened laundry detergent
After 5 minutes in the Thermomix or blender, your laundry will return to a more liquid and less sticky form. The blender will in fact break up the soap shavings and soften the hardening glycerin.
Add a little hot water or vinegar
Adding water helps dilute the detergent and to give the laundry less time to solidify. If your laundry detergent does not contain no baking sodayou can also consider adding white vinegar which will also soften the fibers of the laundry. This will liquefy it enough to be able to use it. Here you might consider keeping some undiluted detergent for heavily soiled laundry and diluting the rest for use on the rest of the laundry. This way, you’ll have a formula powerful enough to remove stubborn stains when needed.
And for your next recipes, remember to follow our advice to avoid hardening, particularly with regard to the choice of soap.