Does homemade laundry soap actually clean?

The jar looks like a store detergent, so people expect a store detergent. It is not one. Detergent is a different kind of cleaner, built to work in cool water and to rinse out of a modern machine. Homemade laundry soap is grated bar soap, washing soda, and baking soda. Soap lifts ordinary dirt. It does not behave like the jug under the sink, and pretending that it does is how a load comes out stiff.

What this house puts in the jar

The laundry soap recipe is one cup of grated plain tallow soap, dried, two cups of washing soda, and one cup of baking soda. Two tablespoons for an ordinary load. Washing soda is sodium carbonate. It is not borax. It is harsh to eyes and to bare skin, so the jar gets a spoon and a label, and it does not sit where a child can take it for sugar. A frankincense or myrrh bar does not go in the wash. Scent is not cleanliness.

In a warm wash, the flakes dissolve. In a cold wash they often do not. The recipe says to dissolve the scoop in a cup of hot water first and pour that in. Skip that step and you get white specks on dark clothes. Those specks are undissolved soap. They are not proof that soap cannot clean. They are proof that the scoop went in as powder.

What it will not do

It will not smell like a perfumed detergent. It will not bleach a dish towel. Very dirty work clothes may want the oxygen booster on the wash page. Motor oil and clay ground into knees are a lot to ask of grated soap. A high-efficiency machine uses little water, so soap residue shows up faster. Use the two tablespoons, not a fistful, and run an extra rinse if the clothes feel coated. More soap is not a stronger wash. It is film.

• Ordinary family clothes, soap dissolved, two tablespoons: this is the job it does.
• Vinegar in the rinse compartment if you want a rinse. Never stir vinegar into the powder jar. Acid and soap undo each other.
• Wool and silk: not this powder. Cool water, a little grated plain soap, by hand.
• A stiff, waxy load: too much soap, or flakes that never dissolved. Rinse again. Use less next time.

Use it for the wash it can do. If you need a laboratory detergent for a specific mess, buy that detergent and say so. A homemade jar is not more righteous because it disappointed a grease stain. It is useful when you know what it is.