The traditional washing powder always contains ill-wishers: many do not like its pungent odor, allergic reactions often occur, and the harm caused by the powders to the environment borders on an environmental disaster. A worthy alternative to such household chemicals is a do-it-yourself gel for washing clothes.
Home-made washing gel is quite simple to prepare, consists of generally available and inexpensive components, has many indisputable advantages over a purchased washing powder:
- safe for the environment;
- convenient for both machine and hand wash;
- does not cause skin irritation;
- can be used to wash children's clothes.
To make a gel for washing clothes, you need half a bar of classic laundry soap with a fatty acid content of at least 70%; 300 g of baking soda (you can take soda ash); litere of water; a pinch or a few drops of blue; favorite essential oil.
Laundry soap is rubbed on a coarse grater, poured with boiled water and stirred thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained. When the solution cools down a bit, soda and blue are added to it in such an amount that the mass acquires a pale blue hue.
To neutralize the smell of soap and give the gel a pleasant aroma, 5-7 drops of essential oil are added to the workpiece: peppermint, lemon, pine. Well removes the characteristic smell of laundry soap bitter almond oil. But before using such a natural fragrance, you need to make sure that none of the family members does not cause allergic reactions.
The washing gel is poured into a container with a wide neck, because after cooling, it will turn into a very thick mass, which is difficult to pour out of narrowed dishes; it is more convenient to use a measuring cup or spoon, immersed in a wide container.
When loading with a washing machine weighing about 5 kg, just 2 tablespoons of homemade gel is enough. Laundry detergent is placed directly in the washing drum, and not in the powder compartment, because the gel is too thick for him.
To give the washed laundry extra softness and completely neutralize the soap, 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar or a solution of citric acid can be added to the water when rinsing.
A homemade gel perfectly cleans both white and colored items, but when washing dark or bright fabrics, it is necessary to set the machine to an additional rinse to eliminate white streaks that soap sometimes leaves.
If you replace baking soda with soda ash, the washing effect will increase slightly, but remember that soda ash can cause allergies in people who are prone to diseases of the upper respiratory tract.
