cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58998407
Fabric softener is a scam
this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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The homemade laundry detergent is so fucking good, though. No joke. My clothes have never felt cleaner. But can someone explain, if washing soda is just baked baking soda, why can't you just use the baking soda directly? If it's just to remove the moisture as they say in the pic, why bother doing it, since you're dumping it into water?
Also, get yourself a downy ball if your washing doesn't have the fabric softner section, and use vinegar. I love the way our laundry feels once we switched to vinegar.
baking soda
washing soda
I think it's a chemical reaction that dislodges the Hydrogen from the molecule. OP said "until the water evaporates". Seems to check out with the formula.
Also the "extra" carbonate group is dislodged as carbon dioxide:
2 NaHCO~3~ (baking soda) → Na~2~CO~3~ (washing soda) + H~2~O + CO~2~
Can you use it on colored clothes? Borax acts as bleach so I'm a bit skeptical.
In my experience, yes. HOWEVER, I'm one of those "welcome to the laundry gauntlet" type people. I do not care for my clothes the way I should. Everything just get washed with little regard, unless it's something hand made crochet or knit. But I've never noticed any bleaching or white spots.
You probably could, but IMO that's an excessive amount of borax in the recipe. Most washing mixes only use a tiny amount of borax, it's mostly soap/detergent and sodium carbonate (washing soda)
Baking soda is NaHCO~3~ , Washing soda is Na~2~CO~3~
Baking soda is (incorrectly) called "Bicarb" because there is twice as much Carbonate (CO~3~) per Sodium (Na). Heating it causes some to be released as water and carbon dioxide:
2 NaHCO~3~ → Na~2~CO~3~ + H~2~O + CO~2~
Awesome! I wouldn't call this "releasing moisture" though which, to me, implies a physical change. It's straight up providing the activation energy for a chemical decomposition.
My understanding of the washing soda is to raise the pH for saponification of fats and other non-polar compounds to dissolve in water. Saponification works best with more basic solutions which is why lye is used in soap making. By reducing the pH by adding vinegar you're neutralizing the washing soda to a degree because it reacts to create water with carbon dioxide and sodium acetate which overall makes a less effective detergent
Raising the pH helps with the detergent action, also the washing soda "softens" the water - calcium and magnesium in the water form carbonates, replacing the sodium in the washing soda.
So we're in agreement?