In this post; I mentioned an alternative to Zote soap available in Australia that I was excited about called Australian Botanical. Today I discovered another alternative called Velvet soap, found in the hygiene section of Woolworths supermarket. 
I am going to be honest; I love science... but in this case I am not sure of the why behind what I am finding just the what. It seems to me that certain soaps when made into washing powder will more readily dissolve day to day stains than others without having to rely on pre-wash soaks or stain removers. TBH after it is dry is when I usually notice the stain. The soaps that tend to be great are Knights Castile soap and Australian Botanical. They tend to bubble a little more as you wet the soap and recently I found that Australian Botanical and Velvet soap will also foam when heated in the microwave the way that Zote soap does on the internet. When heated and mixed with water the solution does not separate the way that other soaps do.
This soap is not suited to front loader machines, which require low suds powders.
I have tested it as the soap ingredient in Peta's recipe and a recipe uploaded to the Lawn to Lunch facebook group files (and now listed below). I will keep you posted over the next few weeks as to how I like them in my washing.
Mycook Method
As for Peta's recommendations; however 15 seconds is plenty for grinding and mixing. If you go for longer it sticks in the bottom of the jar and is a bit more time-consuming to remove.
No thermo-machine no worries
Method 1
- Use 1 cup of Lux flakes instead of grating a bar of soap for each batch you make.
- Add other ingredients in a large plastic container, pop the lid on and shake ingredients or stir with wooden spoon.
Method 2
- Chop Velvet soap or 125g Australian Botanical soap into dice sized squares. Pop on a clean plate and place in microwave for 90 seconds. You should have puffy little clouds on our plate. If not pop in for a little while longer.
- Allow to cool, place in a plastic bag and squeeze the soap clouds into crumbs
- Add other ingredients in a large plastic container, pop the lid on and shake ingredients or stir with wooden spoon.
Cara's Recipe
1 cup lux flakes
1/2 cup washing soda
2 litres of boiling water
Dissolve in saucepan on stove top.
Fill laundry tub with war water. Pour in solution and mix quickly to combine without lumps.
If you find it's still has too much soapy residue but you need that much to wash your clothes. I use vinegar as a fabric softener. If I hand wash anything I rinse it in vinegar water and all the soap is dispelled. Good luck.
**Cara recommends 1/2 cup of liquid in the wash and filling the dispenser with Vinegar
If you want to try this recipe but do not want to buy lux flakes (as you have heaps of bars of soap, or cannot find it at the shopping centre)... I recommend that you grind them in the machine then go about it the stove top way. Trying to thermo-fy this recipe just makes a huge mess.
Velvet Liquid washing detergent - A week or so on
The liquid separated into 2 parts, one big fluffy, slimy, white cloud on a watery base. When shaken the 2 liquids mix again well enough and seem to clean the clothes as well as any other home-made soap mix.
Sunight type Liquid washing detergent - A few weeks on
The liquid separated into 2 parts a very watery base and a yellow mat floating on top. Not nearly as exciting as the Velvet type but cleans laundry pretty much the same. I actually used woolies generic brand laundry soap in this recipe which made it somewhat cheaper.
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