How to Dissolve Soap Flakes

Soap flakes dissolve best in hot water, the hotter the better. However, please be aware that some garments may be harmed by washing in hot water...so always check your garment labels!

Soap flakes, at least Dri-Pak Soap Flakes, will also dissolve just fine in warm water.

The key is to "agitate" and to give it a little time.

In a Washing Machine

If you are using a washing machine, put in your Soap Flakes and let the machine add some warm water. Don't put your clothes in yet! Start your wash cycle and let the machine action agitate the soap and water for a good two or three minutes, then check the water. If there are no flakes floating in the water, they must have dissolved. If you see some flakes still floating around, agitate a couple of minutes more.

An alternate method is to start filling your machine with some hot water and Soap Flakes. Move your machine cycle forward to prematurely stop the filling, and agitate for a couple of minutes. Then, move the cycle backward. Finish adding cooler water, and go on to wash as usual.

Once you know how this process works for you, in your machine, it will become an automatic wash habit, you won't have to be checking the water all the time. Reading about this makes it seem much harder to do than it really is.

By Hand

If you launder a few items by hand in a bucket, tub, or sink, you can see everything as it is happening. You're doing it yourself. You are there. Hands in the water, eyes on what you are doing, you get the picture. Laundering by hand allows you to feel the entire process.

Start by putting some Soap Flakes in first, probably about a tablespoon's worth per gallon of water. Then, add some hot water and carefully swish it around. Maybe add more hot water if necessary. After it looks and feels as if the Soap Flakes have been absorbed into the water, you may want to add more water, perhaps cooler water. Then begin washing your fabric or garment. And no matter whether you launder by hand, or in a machine, always rinse well!

The Effects of Hard Water and What to Do About It

If you have extremely hard water, or if your water is quite cool to cold, or if you are using a whole lot of Soap Flakes, dissolving Soap Flakes may be more difficult.

If you have hard water, consider adding a water softening product to your wash water. There are a couple of them widely available, Calgon and Rain Drops. Dri-Pak has a wonderful old single-ingredient water softening product as well, Aqua Softna. However we do not stock this product in the USA as yet.

Washing soda, or Dri-Pak Soda Crystals (slightly different from washing soda), also offers water softening characteristics. The soda acts as a degreaser and as a laundry "booster" too. Washing soda or Soda Crystals adds more power to plain Soap Flakes. It will boost the power of most detergents as well.

Beyond using water softening products in hard water, you can simply use more soap. Although, as the soap attacks the minerals in the hard water; potentially, soap scum may be created. Most people want to avoid that!

Soap scum doesn't hurt anything unless it is left to build up for too long creating clogs. A good washing in hot water and Soda Crystals, no fabrics or garments - this is just a clean out - removes all but the toughest soap build ups in washing machines. Most people will not have to do this, however if you find yourself in a soap scum situation, Soda Crystals and hot water is your way out!

Using Cooler or Cold Water

If you intend to use Soap Flakes in cool or cold water, consider mixing up a small batch using very hot water. You can do this directly in your washing machine and add cold water after the flakes have dissolved. Also, remember that the cleaning power of Soap Flakes is diminished somewhat when you wash in cold water.

Another approach for cooler water washing is to make a Soap Flakes concentrate. Then, add the concentrate to your water, at whatever temperature. The concentrate ought to dissolve quite well as the soap has already been dissolved during the process of making the concentrate.

To make a concentrate, use very hot water. Not much, maybe a quart or two, just enough to dissolve the amount of Soap Flakes you wish to use. The "correct" soap-to-water-ratio will becomes obvious to you after one or two times doing this. Stir and watch the process. The mixture may become gel-like as it cools, but this doesn't hurt anything. You can always add more water at any time to thin it out.

You Can Do It

Using soap and water is not complicated, yet people always have questions. I'm one of those people! I found myself wondering and worrying the first few times I mixed in some Soap Flakes to my warm water. The dissolving is not "instant" in the way many modern products are. But Soap Flakes work just fine. Generations have used them successfully for over 100 years.

You can too! (MSO)
Click here to buy Soap Flakes

What Soap "Flakes" Look Like

What many people call soap flakes are not flakes at all. They are soap shavings, soap shreds, or perhaps are grated soap, not flaked soap.

The picture here shows Dri-Pak Soap Flakes, the brand we sell. You can click on the picture for a larger view. They are real flakes. So thin you can almost see through them. They are made on machines that are over 100 years old. For many years Lux Flakes were made on these machines. However while Lux Flakes were sprayed with a perfume, Dri-Pak Soap Flakes have never been perfumed.

There is nothing wrong with using grated soap so long as the soap base is of good quality and is willing to dissolve. Most bar soaps are made not to dissolve easily. No one wants their bar to vanish after a few uses. People often tell us of their experiences of grating bar soap into soap "flakes". In the majority of cases, it does not work well at all. Regular bar soap gets gunky, it simply is not made to be cut into chips and used for washing fabric.

Some bar soaps apparently do work when grated. Kirk's Castile, Fels Naptha, and homemade soaps can work well depending on the task at hand. Kirk's and Fel's are wonderful old soaps. But people often tell us something is not quite right for them. Not enough suds, too harsh. Some people report that bar soaps smell different or funny when they are used to wash fabric. The biggest gripe is that people get tired of grating!

Anyway, you can grate soap bars into "grated soap" but please don't call the result soap flakes. Also please be aware that most bar soaps will not work well in a grated form for washing fabric, however some may.

Hopefully, with this picture I posted, we can all see what soap flakes look like! (MSO)
Click here to buy Soap Flakes

A Few Soap Resources

Naturally I am partial to the MSO Distributing site because there is information there and you can actually buy Soap Flakes if you want to.

Another site, soap-flakes.com has product specific information on Soap Flakes including history, uses, and a few recipes.

The manufacturer of Soap Flakes, Dri-Pak, has a lot of neat products in addition Soap Flakes which we expect to carry at MSO Distributing later this year.

eAudrey is a helpful site with recipes and how to's related to soapmaking.

The Soap and Detergent Association offers good background on soap and detergent making and usage.

iVillage's GardenWeb Laundry Room forum is the place to be if you are interested in the details of laundering or are looking to buy a new washing machine. Did I say details? Be prepared, these are serious people offering amazing amounts of useful information. Be sure to check out their FAQ.

Allo Laverie, a French hand laundry service in New York city has a wonderful article comparing detergent to soap.

That's all for now... (MSO)
Click here to buy Soap Flakes

Starting Up

I've considered starting a blog for quite some time. What held me back was that I wasn't sure whether I could offer consistent updates. But what I realized recently is that there are many ways one can use a blog.

In my case, I expect to use this space as a lazy man's soap catchall that is searchable.

Finding useful information on soap, soap flakes, and natural cleaning products isn't that easy. Many search services are clogged with link after link of useless information. Paid ads have become less useful, even hilarious. Like "Looking for Soap Flake" at eBay or "Find Deals on Soap Flake and other Health & Beauty Products at...". They pay a fee to advertise but do not spell out the full name of the item! Other advertisers say, "buy soap flakes here" when in fact they do not sell them at all. Checking out such sources is time consuming and very often fruitless.

Again, the idea is to provide information here. With that said, let's get started... (MSO)
Click here to buy Soap Flakes