DIY NATURAL DISH WASHING LIQUID

I've been making my own natural laundry detergent for almost a year now and I'm really happy with it. Although I still have an outdated semiautomatic washing machine and the recipe by Welnessmama that I use is a HE washing machine friendly detergent, I'm still satisfied with the results it gets in my machine as well.More about this in another post, soon, insha'Allah.

The point is it was high time I moved on to a natural dish washing alternative as well. We just use so much of that stuff on a daily basis, who knows what we're flushing down the drain and what it's doing to the aquatic ecosystem.I like to do my research and know what I'm using and I've tried several times to look for the ingredients in these detergents and they are simply nonexistent on the packaging and that makes me really uncomfortable.

I've also had several of my customers request a natural/ non toxic dish washing alternative for the simple reason that they had small children. Young kids inevitably need lots of milk bottles/ feeders that are washed by domestic help and many a times dish detergent residue is left on them and this makes many mothers feel uncomfortable and prompts them to look for safer detergent options.

While I absolutely commend this huge step in making better and healthier choices for you and your family, I would also like to take this opportunity to urge all of you to try to think beyond the harmful things that might harm you and your loved ones and widen the circle of concern to what may affect the environment we all live in and will eventually affect all of us physically and SPIRITUALLY .As Allah says in the Qur'an, we have been left as stewards on this Earth to rule and look after for everything that has been left in our care;to use resources wisely and distribute it evenly and justly, to only use what we need and not give in to our greed and gather for this duniya(world) but rather use everything that surrounds us as tools to aid our ultimate goal, admission to the Eternal Place of Peace. All the riches and resources we've been blessed with also come with the responsibility of using them wisely and for the sake of our ultimate salvation.How seriously are we taking this responsibility? Just a bit of food for thought...

So I finally gave a recipe from brendid.com a try and, although I was supposed to use my handmade laundry soap for it, I actually used my Coconut Love Soap end bits to make it more accessible for all of you to make it but I'd rather recommend the use of the laundry soap, for which I've posted a tutorial here

The fact that this dish soap works really well prompted me to share it with you guys as soon as possible. As always, the recipe is simple, with few ingredients and quick to make.

Here are the ingredients I used:

1 cup (packed) Coconut Love Soap cubes

1 1 /2 cup water (1 cup to melt soap, 1/2 cup to dissolve washing soda)

1/3 cup washing soda (you'll find this at your hardware shops or you can make your own by baking your baking soda at 400F, mommypotamus will show you how)

1 tbsp glycerin

I really cannot take any credit for this recipe, I'm only trying to make the instructions easier to follow with pictures and locally available ingredients. See instructions in gallery.

Dissolve Soap

Melt the soap

Washing Soda

Mix

To use this dish washing soap, add a couple tbsp liquid to a bowl of hot water, dip your sponge and squish it a few times until a thick, rich lather forms and use it to wash your dishes. I found that this method encourages a reduced water consumption because you'll proceed to first lathering all your dishes and then rinsing them all at once rather than continuously running the tap to wash and rinse, so it's really a win win homemade alternative to invest your time and effort in.