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So, my verdict on the suspiciously yellow washing liquid (which is well known in green/thrifty circles in France - I found my recipe here) is that it seems to be working well. The clothes are clean and smell, well, of fabric! You add half a mustard glass of the liquid (lovely French measurement there - think of those small Dijon mustard jars) to your wash, with some bicarb if it's white or white vinegar if the wash is coloured. The actual ingredient you're extracting from your ashes is potassium. Ben's only concern is that this might not be quite so kind to the clothes - neither the budget nor the earth is well-served if we have to go out and buy new clothes sooner. But those who use it swear by it, and so far, so good, with our clothes. Of course, we started with the dog's blankets, just in case...
PS just heard from Lulu Liz, a fantastic soap-making blogger - lye, which soap makers use, is a much more concentrated extract from ashes, and can really burn the skin. This stuff is milder but do remember what I said about gloves, and take other sensible precations...
13 comments:
That's fascinating! No doubt a very ancient cleaning solution, so hopefully it won't damage your clothing as I'm sure they could afford that even less in the past than most of us nowadays!
x
We have plenty of wood ash here...I'm VERY interested to see how this works on your clothes.
Jane x
So interesting, thanks for sharing :) have a happy weekend sweetie
Bee happy x
So are you then using your washer and this is the detergent.......I'm impressed!
I have tons of ash from the wood stove.
Have a wonderful weekend, Heidi
A very interesting post, wood ash is something we have a lot of here in the winter - wood fire burns almost continually during the winter months. Let me know how your fabrics tackle it...would be fun to try. Hope your weekend is a really good one, blessings Pam :-)
I think wood ash is Potassium Hydroxide, whereas Lye (caustic soda) is Sodium Hydroxide. At least from what I remember of a soap-making course I went on many years ago. You're right - the Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) is caustic (hence the name 'caustic soda' and when used in soap-making the mixture becomes extremely hot too so is handled with caution. Potassium Hydroxide made from wood ash as you describe is a much weaker solution, so is safer to a great degree. It can also be used for soap-making. I've never heard of it being used in this way for washing clothes, but have often been told to use the ashes themselves (dip a damp cloth into them) to clean the windows of my wood-burning stove. This works excellently!
Fascinating. I've heard of wood ash being used in the soap making process, but never just using the water - I hope you keep us posted on the results.
It makes me wonder who on earth thought of this method in the first place? Why would the thought of washing things in ash water ever come to mind? A piece of history we'll never know. xx
That is so interesting. I have often wondered about this, but never known of someone try it out. What a process though. So funny that you tried it first on the dog blankets - very sensible!
Sounds like a good science experiment if one has wood ash at their disposal. It sounds like a good use for wood ash that seems to redundant.
Also the old Italian way!
LOL at the dog's blanket :)
x
I have never heard of this idea, and it made me feel guilty for throwing ashes away. I usually put them in the garden as I read they were good for the soil. I shall await to hear if they continue to do well.
Hi! I have been using this for a few years: it is effective, cheap and ecological.(the white laundry got a bit dull though, but there are some tips to make it whiter).
To strain the ashes I use a suede microfiber cloth; and in it I lay an old cloth, napkin, some kitchen roll paper where most ashmud stay(I throw that away after) It avoids too much mess in the microfiber. And at the end I rinse and wash the microfiber cloth.
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