[whitecrow]

Originally Posted by Nik

Anyone have experience with making your own washing, cleaning, etc products? E.g., toothpaste, soap, shampoo, something for clothes, etc...

Please, do share!

I am a soapmaker. I make all-natural herbal soaps using simple ingredients. I also make my own laundry detergent, toothpaste, aftershave, and household cleaners.

I make furniture polishes and finishes and lip balms. Tattoo balm, too.

You can make your own cleaners that do a better job than the commercial ones, without dumping chemicals in your body or down the drain. And you will save a huge amount of money. You will be using your resources to help yourself and your friends instead of some big corp.

I'd be glad to post an online class in soapmaking. I've written about it and taught it for years. It's easy and fun.

I've made my own toothpaste for 20+ years. I have not seen a dentist in 12 years - no need. Even a filling that fell out 4 or 5 years ago has given me no trouble.

Basically I use baking soda and tea tree oil. You can mix these two ingredients so that you have a paste and use this all by itself. However this is the way I make it now:

First I buy an ounce of powdered myrrh resin and dissolve it in 100-proof Smirnoff vodka. This takes a few days, shaking the bottle each day. When as much resin has dissolved in the alcohol as it will hold, I pour the vodka through a coffee filter to remove any particles, and into a bowl of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). This I let sit for a couple days until the alcohol is pretty much evaporated, so that I have a bowl of bicarb that is saturated with myrrh. Then I add my tea tree oil to make up the paste, and I also add a couple tablespoons of vegetable glycerin. This sweetens up the taste and gives it a nicer texture.

You can make a pound of this for the price of a couple tubes of Crest. Store it in a covered bowl until you're ready to use it. I keep a little in a small jar next to my toothbrush.

Laundry detergent is easy, and costs pennies:

You can make your own soap - plain coconut oil and 0% lye discount would work - or pick up a bar of Fels Naptha for about $1.69 in the laundry aisle. Grate the soap fine. Add 1-1/2 cups each of powdered borax and washing soda (sodium carbonate). It only takes a couple tablespoons of this mix to do a load. If you can't find sodium carbonate you can use sodium bicarb. Washing soda can sometimes be found in the laundry aisle, but more and more the stores don't stock it. Arm & Hammer is the usual brand, just like baking soda. It's also used to adjust the pH of pools, so you can find it in pool supply store. MalWart sells it under the name pH Plus.

Leave out the grated bar soap, and you have dishwasher powder. If your hard water creates a scum, use white vinegar in the rinse water.

More to come if the interest is there.