I'm glad to have found an easy to make substitute (of sorts) for commercial detergent. If you do try this method using warm or hot water, I would be interested to hear your results.
Very insightful video. I will definitely begin using ivy leaves for washing my clothes. Luckily, I have horse chestnuts where I live, I reckon they would be perfect for white clothes as they don't contain chlorophyll.
@@crazyflautist good idea with plain water. Can't try with horse chestnuts, we don't have them here. I do have soapnuts growing though, hopefully they'll make some day an I can use them as well.
Hi Anita. Thanks for your big effort. Really interesting results. I would recommend to use way more fresh leaves as you did and to cut them in smaller pieces. I dont have this kind of stains on my clothing so I am confident ivy leaves work good enough for my normal laundry. best wishes, WH
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I just dont care about it. With regular laundry soap from the shop whites became slightly grey over time or you have to use heavy chemicals to avoid it and that we all dont want anymore, right? I dont separate the laundry, whites with whites, jeans with jeans and other blue clothes... thats to much effort for me, so I just dont mind it and white T-Shirts I wear under a flannel shirt or a Pullover anyway. Best wishes, WH
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida Well... not to wear white clothes would be my solution in your case... Another thing I forgot to mention: together with using the liquid I make from ivy I sometimes put 2-3 handful fresh leaves, cut in small pieces into a sock, make a knot in the sock and put it into the washing machine. Best wishes, WH
Thank you for this! I actually clipped some ivy today for soap. Met a delightful gentleman that said his grandma used to use ivy for soap. Still wonder if this might be "healthier" to use since store bought has "brighteners" in it. Thank you again.
What a neat story! Did he elaborate how she did it? :) Yes it's healthier. For people and the environment. No chemicals in it, other than the washing soda I added for some. Let me know if it works for you.
ill prob just have to try it with my clothes. im old enough that im past the point where i care how clean clothes look, as long as i get most of the grime and most of the smell off the clothes. no one ever talks to me to say anything good or bad about anything and its not like im getting fired from work for imperfect clothes (if anything, i would save money in general due to not buying regular laundry detergent, rather than losing money due to losing my job), so i only focus on saving bank and finishing stuff >80% effectively.
What a super experiment, it must have taken you so long! Thank you very much🙏. I'm using fresh cut leaves directly in the washing machine, 10 leaves on 6kg laundry, for quite a while now for coloured and black wash. In the beginning I used essential oil for a nice smell and vinegar for softness. For some reason I stopped with that, but I think about doing that again. Do you or anyone know what to use or do to avoid sweat-smell spreading over the whole laundrybatch?
Anja, are you sure the smell is actual sweat smell or perhaps comes from the leaves? I would probably wash with a conventional detergent every 10th or so wash OR add vinegar to the final rinse.
I do have percarbonate and love it to whiten whites. I should run another experiment to see if it works well still, despite the leaves in the washer. Great suggestion!
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I'd love to see another comparison. I really don't have time to do it myself to be honest but I'm in Wales 🇬🇧 and ivy grows all over the place so it would be wonderful if it works. Some other channel seem to recommend leaving the leaves in the hot water to "infuse" for a good while before straining and using the liquid... For now I use African black soap (far cheaper here than castille soap though that works great too) with more or less percarbonate depending if it is a color load or a with load. I use a twin tub (washes better, not plumbed in and far cheaper) to do my laundry so I have zero experience with using natural soap in washing machine. It is hard work but with one of my children and my husband with horribly sensitive skin a normal washing machine and a commercial tab or whatnot is not an option. My whites used to become gray over time but that has totally gone since someone recommended percarbonate. Anyways very interesting video. Thank you!
Thanks for your comment. :) The few times I used it on dishes, I wasn't too impressed with the 'fat-cutting' ability. But perhaps I didn't use enough of it.
@@wanwan7613 - I put them in a little mesh bag and straight into the washer. I do think it would be smart to extract the soap and then add soap only as otherwise it renders the rinse cycle rather useless. But then, they really don't soap up that much. I reuse them in the baggie couple times.
Well it didn't occur to me, either. I have soap nut trees growing, but they haven't produced yet. Went down the rabbit hole and found out that ivy is full of saponins as well. Which I do have growing a plenty. 2 loads of darks done today. :)
This is a great video! What kind of ivy do you have? English? I think that’s what I have in my yard (If it’s a perennial fir my climate). Probably would make a good spot treatment if you could thicken to make a paste.
Yes, English, to be the best of my knowledge. :) Spot treatment would be great, I'm just not sure how shelf stable it would be. I'm going to try it on dishes next.
I used it on darks for about 6 weeks and was happy with it. Then quit, because the preparation is a bit cumbersome, and the shelf life short, which I think could be remedied by freezing individual portions for quick and easy access. But with my limited freezer space ...... :)
@@homesteadinginnorthfloridahow much washing soda do you add? I made a batch today with 100 leaves and 4 cups of water. It boiled down to like 2 cups if that
Well, for us here in Florida it acts like Kudzu or air potato. Just slower. It still takes over trees though and eventually harms them. But I do et your pint - pain is right. :)
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I have heard that the kudzu produces something - a fruit, or a root, that is edible. In fact I think I had something called kudzu jelly...? Is this correct? It's been so long that I simply don't remember.
I did a fresh ivy leaves wash with washing soda yesterdsy and attest that it works. However, it doesn't provide the fresh smell the washing liquid gives and thats whst i miss.
I'm glad to have found an easy to make substitute (of sorts) for commercial detergent. If you do try this method using warm or hot water, I would be interested to hear your results.
Very interesting! Thank you for your patience and meticulous attention to detail in preparation and explanation! :)
Thank you. It's hard to control for variables in a kitchen setting, but it was an interesting experiment. :)
Thanks for experimenting with dried leaves. I already knew fresh leaves worked.
What a wonderful experiment, I had been curious about different treatments.
Thank you for saving me the work!
Very welcome :)
Thank you for your wonderfully organized experiment/demonstration.
Thank you for your nice comment 🙂
Very insightful video. I will definitely begin using ivy leaves for washing my clothes. Luckily, I have horse chestnuts where I live, I reckon they would be perfect for white clothes as they don't contain chlorophyll.
That's awesome! I did not even know horse chestnuts contain saponins. Something new to explore. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for taking the time to do such a thorough investigation of this process. Very informative!
Thanks for your nice comment. :)
Fresh leaves are so easily available so Im interested in the use of the fresh leaves. They are available even in the winter! I find that amazing!
I used fresh leaves as well for comparison. Skip to 6min 15sec. At the end is the comparison of dried vs. fresh on stains. :)
Thank you for all of your hard work. Was super helpful. If you’d like your whites whiter you can always add aspirin
Seriously? First time I hear about this! Now I'll have to try! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Lemon juice for whites is good I hear
It would be interesting to test with just plain water too. Have you ever tried comparing with horse chestnut (conkers)?
@@crazyflautist - that would work, but I rather eat them. :)
@@crazyflautist good idea with plain water. Can't try with horse chestnuts, we don't have them here. I do have soapnuts growing though, hopefully they'll make some day an I can use them as well.
Hi Anita. Thanks for your big effort. Really interesting results. I would recommend to use way more fresh leaves as you did and to cut them in smaller pieces. I dont have this kind of stains on my clothing so I am confident ivy leaves work good enough for my normal laundry. best wishes, WH
Great tip! Do you use it on whites as well? If so, how do you deal with the 'greening' of the whites?
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I just dont care about it. With regular laundry soap from the shop whites became slightly grey over time or you have to use heavy chemicals to avoid it and that we all dont want anymore, right? I dont separate the laundry, whites with whites, jeans with jeans and other blue clothes... thats to much effort for me, so I just dont mind it and white T-Shirts I wear under a flannel shirt or a Pullover anyway. Best wishes, WH
@@wildhealth5030 that definitely makes it easier. Here in Fla, we can't hide murky whites under shirts. We would perish from heat exhaustion. LOL
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida Well... not to wear white clothes would be my solution in your case... Another thing I forgot to mention: together with using the liquid I make from ivy I sometimes put 2-3 handful fresh leaves, cut in small pieces into a sock, make a knot in the sock and put it into the washing machine. Best wishes, WH
@@wildhealth5030 thanks for all your hints :)
Thank you for all of your hard work. A suggestion for whites to be whiter is to add aspirin to your load of laundry
I should try that some day. Ms. Wages liquid bluing works, too.
Wow thank you for these efforts. So helpful for me!
Thanks for your comment. :)
Thank you for this video and all the effort put in.
Very welcome. Thanks for your comment. :)
Thank you for this!
I actually clipped some ivy today for soap. Met a delightful gentleman that said his grandma used to use ivy for soap.
Still wonder if this might be "healthier" to use since store bought has "brighteners" in it.
Thank you again.
What a neat story! Did he elaborate how she did it? :) Yes it's healthier. For people and the environment. No chemicals in it, other than the washing soda I added for some. Let me know if it works for you.
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I wish I would have taken the time to ask, but didn't want to be holding anyone up, ya know.
@@cfree001 I understand. I would have been the same. :)
This is amazing and answered somany questions. Thank you :)
Very welcome and thanks for the nice comment. :)
BRILLIANT AND THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR THIS EXPERIMENT!
Very welcome and thanks for the nice comment. :)
Great experiment!
Thank you, Helda 🙂
Try sun drying whites. It brightens them
I do. I don't even use a dryer. :)
Would like to see it done with boiled leaf saponin concentrate as well
One could reduce the liquid to concentrate it, but that seems a lot of use of energy for no good reason?
Thank you this was really helpful.
Thanks for your comment. :)
Loved it!
Thank you :)
ill prob just have to try it with my clothes. im old enough that im past the point where i care how clean clothes look, as long as i get most of the grime and most of the smell off the clothes. no one ever talks to me to say anything good or bad about anything and its not like im getting fired from work for imperfect clothes (if anything, i would save money in general due to not buying regular laundry detergent, rather than losing money due to losing my job), so i only focus on saving bank and finishing stuff >80% effectively.
Thank you
Very welcome :)
What a super experiment, it must have taken you so long! Thank you very much🙏. I'm using fresh cut leaves directly in the washing machine, 10 leaves on 6kg laundry, for quite a while now for coloured and black wash. In the beginning I used essential oil for a nice smell and vinegar for softness. For some reason I stopped with that, but I think about doing that again. Do you or anyone know what to use or do to avoid sweat-smell spreading over the whole laundrybatch?
Anja, are you sure the smell is actual sweat smell or perhaps comes from the leaves? I would probably wash with a conventional detergent every 10th or so wash OR add vinegar to the final rinse.
Baking soda, bicarbonate of soda in England. That sorts out sweat smells. I make homemade deodorant I use that in my deodorant and arrowroot.
You may have to add some percarbonate of soda. It whitens really well and seems good for desinfecting and as far as I know it is eco-friendly...
I do have percarbonate and love it to whiten whites. I should run another experiment to see if it works well still, despite the leaves in the washer. Great suggestion!
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I'd love to see another comparison. I really don't have time to do it myself to be honest but I'm in Wales 🇬🇧 and ivy grows all over the place so it would be wonderful if it works. Some other channel seem to recommend leaving the leaves in the hot water to "infuse" for a good while before straining and using the liquid... For now I use African black soap (far cheaper here than castille soap though that works great too) with more or less percarbonate depending if it is a color load or a with load. I use a twin tub (washes better, not plumbed in and far cheaper) to do my laundry so I have zero experience with using natural soap in washing machine. It is hard work but with one of my children and my husband with horribly sensitive skin a normal washing machine and a commercial tab or whatnot is not an option. My whites used to become gray over time but that has totally gone since someone recommended percarbonate.
Anyways very interesting video. Thank you!
thank you!!!
Very welcome! :)
Thankyou for showing the truth, I really wondered about the greenish Color on clothes. How do you find it working on dishes?
Thanks for your comment. :) The few times I used it on dishes, I wasn't too impressed with the 'fat-cutting' ability. But perhaps I didn't use enough of it.
Brilliant
Thank you :)
This is perfekt, thank u so much 🤗
Gern geschehen. :)
Would be interesting if you try experiment soapnuts.
Soap nuts work really well. So well, that I planted 2 soap nut trees a few years ago. Sadly, they aren't making nuts yet.
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida Do you boil the soap nuts then use the liquid or just pop the soap nuts in the machine? Which way is cleaner?
@@wanwan7613 - I put them in a little mesh bag and straight into the washer. I do think it would be smart to extract the soap and then add soap only as otherwise it renders the rinse cycle rather useless. But then, they really don't soap up that much. I reuse them in the baggie couple times.
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida Great, thank you so much.
@@wanwan7613 - very welcome :)
This is an idea that never occurred to me.
Well it didn't occur to me, either. I have soap nut trees growing, but they haven't produced yet. Went down the rabbit hole and found out that ivy is full of saponins as well. Which I do have growing a plenty. 2 loads of darks done today. :)
This is a great video! What kind of ivy do you have? English? I think that’s what I have in my yard (If it’s a perennial fir my climate). Probably would make a good spot treatment if you could thicken to make a paste.
Yes, English, to be the best of my knowledge. :) Spot treatment would be great, I'm just not sure how shelf stable it would be. I'm going to try it on dishes next.
I wonder how it does with smells? As in work clothes.
Good question that I can't answer. I was only focusing on the stain remoing power.
did you try hot water? I would love to see if it would make a difference
No, I didn't. But I have no doubt the results would be better.
What is washing soda?
Sodium carbonate
Are you still using it on the darker washes three months in? What is your experience?
I used it on darks for about 6 weeks and was happy with it. Then quit, because the preparation is a bit cumbersome, and the shelf life short, which I think could be remedied by freezing individual portions for quick and easy access. But with my limited freezer space ...... :)
@@homesteadinginnorthfloridahow much washing soda do you add? I made a batch today with 100 leaves and 4 cups of water. It boiled down to like 2 cups if that
@@andreagorman4457 I usually add 1/4 cup to a large load. I hope that helps. :)
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida how much washing soda do you add to your ivy liquid?
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida hi that helps in one aspect but not for the question. How much washing soda do you add into the ivy liquid?
It don't look like it takes any of the stains out
Definitely not the best stain remover from whites. This said, the store bought detergent didn't remove all the stains, either.
How does it smell?
Has no detectable smell to me.
It's just a weed. Not invasive. Weeds grow everywhere. They are a pain.
Well, for us here in Florida it acts like Kudzu or air potato. Just slower. It still takes over trees though and eventually harms them. But I do et your pint - pain is right. :)
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida I have heard that the kudzu produces something - a fruit, or a root, that is edible. In fact I think I had something called kudzu jelly...? Is this correct? It's been so long that I simply don't remember.
@@annep.1905 that's true. I believe everything on kudzu, except seeds, is edible. I never ate it. I haven't seen kudzu anywhere in my area. (Yet).
@@homesteadinginnorthflorida Thanks!😊
@@annep.1905 Welcome :)
No video just voice
That's odd. Plays fine for me.
I did a fresh ivy leaves wash with washing soda yesterdsy and attest that it works. However, it doesn't provide the fresh smell the washing liquid gives and thats whst i miss.
Interesting!
I thought so, too. I need to cook up more and see if ti would work as dish soap.
Thank you for making us this video it’s saves me a lot of time testing them all
Thanks for commenting :)