Simple Homemade Laundry Detergent

In my continued effort to gradually remove unnecessary chemicals from our home, I have started to make my own laundry detergent. And since I need for things to be simple and inexpensive, this is what I make.

I grew up in a Tide® home, so naturally that is what I used when I moved out, and then started washing laundry for my own family. Not any longer. Here are the ingredients in Tide® Ultra as well as what it’s purpose is and the concerns for those ingredients.

Sodium Carbonate: removes water hardness. No concern.
Sodium Aluminosilicate: removes water hardness. No concern.
Sodium Sulfate: processing aid. No concern.
Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate: surfactant. Shown to be toxic to aquatic life.
Alkyl Sulfate: surfactant. Shown to be toxic to aquatic life, and cause skin irritation.
Sodium Percarbonate: oxygen bleach. No concern.
Sodium Polyacrylate: dispersant. Shown to be very toxic to aquatic life.
Silicate: processing aid. Shown to be moderately toxic to aquatic life.
Nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate: bleach activator. No known concern, no available data.
Ethoxylate: surfactant. High level of concern with causing infertility, and damage to the unborn child. Known to be a human carcinogen. Known to cause respiratory issues such as asthma.
Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) 4000: stabilizer. Interesting that there is no data available. PEGs are notoriously common carcinogens and known to cause reproductive issues.
Fragrance: fragrance. Bad for the environment, bad for skin, bad for neurotoxicity of mice. Your clothes may smell good, but you’ll act crazy.
DTPA (Pentetic Acid): chelant. Low toxicity to aquatic life.
Disodium Diaminostilbene Disulfonate: whitening agent. This is not degradable in the environment.
Palmitic Acid: processing aid. No concern.
Protease: stain remover. No concern.
Silicone: suds suppressor. Not enough data.
Cellulase: stain remover. No concern.

Now since there is a good chance you just skimmed over all those chemicals and scientific terms, let me point this one out to you again…

Ethoxylate: surfactant. High level of concern with causing infertility, and damage to the unborn child. Known to be a human carcinogen. Known to cause respiratory issues such as asthma.

Good grief!! Are you kidding me?!?!?!

Now, there are a lot of homemade detergents that include Fels Naptha and Borax. I did use this recipe for some time, until I read more about them.

Fels Naptha: Ingredients have potential for carcinogens, and respiratory complications.
Borax: Has high concern for reproductive, endocrine, and developmental complications.

So now, I make a very simple laundry detergent that I feel good about, and it is inexpensive!