Not liking homemade laundry detergent

annabelle.27

I have been using it for several months and I was really happy with it. However, I began to notice that our whites were no longer coming white. My son's socks were the first casualty, but I figured I'd just stop buying white stuff. However, now I'm noticing that my lights are getting dingy as well.

Our darks and towels are still coming out great, it's just anything light. I've tried using Oxyclean to freshen them up but with no luck.

Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do? I'm afraid that we've reduced our chemical impact and saved money, only to negate that by ruining half our clothes.

I use the liquid recipe- a bar of soap, some borax, some washing soda, mixed together and left to gel overnight. In my last batch I put in extra borax and washing soda, and use more detergent in each load, but it hasn't helped. We have an EnergyStar front loader that worked great when I used Tide.

LargeMargeSentMe

I tried a similar recipe, but powdered and had to give up on it!  Our dish towels were very dingy and the worst was that all our t-shirts still smelled like b.o.-- ewww.  I switched back to Kirkland Eco friendly. 

madladybride

I also use OxyClean and that REALLY helps! What kind of bar soap are you using? That may be causing the problem, too.

annabelle.27

Yes, I do use white vinegar in the rinse cycle. I use Ivory bar soap. I know some people use Fels Naptha or Castille soap but I've never seen it here in Canada.

I've never found OxyClean to do anything for me, even when I was using Tide and used OxyClean to get out a stain.

BlueMnM

how much detergent are you using per load? when i tried the liquid the recipe called for 1/2 cup/load. but i ended up having to use 1 to 1/2 cups to get the clothes clean. that is why i switched to powder.

another KT

how much powder detergent do you use?

doglove

Are you using a recipe that includes baking soda or not? If not, I would add 1/4 cup of baking soda to your white loads in addition to a downy ball of white vinegar. Baking soda usually helps keep our whites staying white.

juno

I've never been able to keep whites white with any combo of fancy macines, laundry detergent, vinegar, soap, pre-treaters, baking soda, washing soda, Oxyclean, bleach, and bluing (I've tried pretty much every combo).  Switching to the homemade powder hasn't been any better or worse to me.  They're always dingy.  I wish someone could give me the secret; I'd do just about anything on the white loads, impact be damned!!  Since I don't know the secret, I just stay with the homemade stuff. 

I started using bluing recently.  I think it has helped a bit, but I definitely didn't find that it helped as much as the interwebs promised it would. 

srs5624

Maybe this could help some people. I know it's probably not very EF, but I prefer things to retain their color. One of DH's favorite shirts is a white t-shirt he bought 5 years ago when he went to the ACL music festival... it's still bright white.

For clothes I use Purex Free and Clear and wash in cold water. For sheets/towels I use the same detergent and wash in hot water. I don't own fabric softener or bleach, I only use vinegar with the sheets/towels and I don't use any additives (oxyclean, stain pouches, etc). I spot treat stains with a Spray and Wash stain stick.

Here's my detergent:

And here's the stain stick: