To those of you who have been using these "home made" detergents, are you experiencing any odor, mold or mildew issues? The reason I ask is because castile soap builds up into a gooopy, gel-like gunk if not properly rinsed. This could potentially cause problems in washers. Every home-made product I've tried - from detergent to fabric softener - has proven unsatisfactory. Either the products don't clean well, they risk building up in my machine or on my clothes or they just don't work. Price is not the only consideration, which is what appears to be driving this homemade laundry movement.

I don't know if you could, but it's worth a try. What a unique soap!!! Just do a bar or two and have your friends test it out.

Also, just an FYI, the reason you can't melt & remake the "soap" from the stores, is that it isn't soap at all..... What you buy in the stores, the commerically produced "soaps", are really detergent, NOT soap. The same basic ingredients are used to make comercially produced "soap" that are used to make laundry & dishwhasing detergent. That is why the comercially produced "soaps" have all those ingredients on the label-all chemicals- & why those products leave you with dry skin-all the benificial things like glycerin aren't there, or have to be added, but in such small quantities that they do no good. Once you have used good cold process soap, or M&P glycerin soap, you will see a trememdous difference in how your skin looks & feels & won't ever want to go back to store bought soap again. Okaay, time to step OFF the soapbox now....... Hazel

Here's the M&P information from the link above. Melt and Pour Soap: Technically, all hand made soap is "Glycerin Soap." In many commercial soaps, all the extra glycerin (formed naturally by the cold process soapmaking method) is harvested out. Thus, all handmade soap is glycerin rich (since hand made soapmakers donÂt harvest out glycerin in their soap). In todayÂs market, the term "Glycerin Soap" is commonly used to refer to clear soap. Generally, the clear soap has extra glycerin added to it to produce a very nourishing, moisturizing bar. Glycerin is a "humectant." It draws moisture to itself; the theory is that if you wash with glycerin soap, a thin layer of glycerin will remain, drawing moisture to your skin. Clear soap can be purchased in large blocks to be melted down, colored and fragranced, and placed into molds (or used to make loaves of soap to be sliced). This type of soap is called "Melt and Pour" and the artistry of melt and pour is called "Soap Casting." Melt and Pour is gaining in popularity because of its ease of use. There are no significant safety measures (other than basic common sense  donÂt put your hand in the hot soap, donÂt cut your finger off with the knife etcÂ) needed for soapcasting. Children can do it. ItÂs a great outlet for creative types. You can also make clear soap from scratch. This method involves all the aspects of cold process soapmaking, but takes it a few steps further by adding alcohol for clarity and a glycerin and sugar mix to suspend and enhance the clarity. It is a dangerous process because of the alcohol vapors. If you wish to make clear soap (which will not melt down like melt and pour  itÂs one pour only soap), please read "Transparent Soapmaking" by Catherine Failor. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to make clear soap from scratch. So to answer your question, yes and no.... I refuse to make CP soap in my home, because I'd have to LOCK up the chemicals. I have very busy inquisitive boys. And once they learned that I had "cool" stuff..they'd wanna try it too. If I wanted to make my "own" soaps, I'd much prefer to buy M&P in blocks and enhance it, or buy soap to rebatch by taking CP soap someone else made, grating and adding more liquids and cooking it down to make a "new" soap. But I don't need to, because I have wonderful friends who make it and send it to me to "test". LOL