Do you have any scents that you’re absolutely averse to? Over the years I’ve become increasingly averse to many smells. It started with perfume as a kid (which gave me an instant migraine) and grew as I aged to include any number of commercial products – from shampoo to floor cleaner. This version has led me to making a number of my own DIY products.
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One of the worst smells for me is heavily scented laundry detergent. That synthetic fruity–floral smell makes my stomach churn. So for years, I’ve used this recipe. It has a light soapy scent, but frankly I’ve bored with it. I’ve also wanted to make something plant-based, and when I bought a bar of this sandalwood soap at our local coop, I was inspired.
As a body soap, I found it to be too heavily scented. (It made our whole house smell any time someone took a shower!) However, I thought that the heavy, earthy fragrance would be just right for detergent when diluted with other washing ingredients (as well as make my sheets smell dream-worthy).
So I got to mixing and, after a few loads of laundry, I realized how much I LOVE this new detergent!
Best part? You don’t need to buy costly essential oils for a delightful smell. There’s plenty of fragrance in the soap itself, which makes this detergent incredibly inexpensive to make.
To the recipe!
1 bar Chandrika Ayurvedic soap, grated
½ c. borax
½ c. washing soda
⅓ c. baking soda
Mix all ingredients in a food processor and store in an air tight container.
Use 1-2 T. per load
If you have a big laundry demand, you’ll probably want to make this in bulk. A quadruple batch would suffice for a while in our household of four. Just sayin’.
Enjoy! And sweet dreams.
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